How to Remove Attachments From Emails

Learning how to remove attachments from emails will cover you in at least two different situations. You can delete files you mistakenly attach to outgoing emails or delete attachments sent to you with incoming emails. Both are simple processes. Email attachments are any files that are added, or "attached," to an email for download.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Outgoing Emails

1. Locate where the attachment bar is. Once you go through the process of attaching a file to an email, an indicator bar should appear to let you know the file has been attached. It will most likely appear below the subject line of the email, or at the bottom of the window. It will usually just feature the name of the file, and the file size, in the form of a hyperlink.

2. Find the button to detach your attachment. There should be a button to the right of the file that you can click to unattach your emails. This will either come in the form of the words "Remove Attachment" or as an "X." Either version will accomplish the same action. If you don't see anything, try placing your mouse over the attachment listing.

3. Click the unattach button, if it is there. If, for some reason you don't have one, you can just open a new email, and copy the body of your email into the new window. This doesn't technically remove the attachment but accomplishes the same goal. Once you have your new email set up, close the old email and continue on from there.

Incoming Emails

4. Open the email that has the attachment you wish to delete. Attachments can take up space and should be removed. However, you can save attachments directly to your computer to free up space in your in-box and not lose the file.

5. Go into the File menu, and select "Save Attachment." There may be an additional option that says, "All Attachments." Select this, if you wish to save all the attachments in the email. A dialog box should appear, with the attachments highlighted.

6. Navigate to the folder where you wish to save the attachments. This can be accomplished within the dialog box that appears. You can make a new folder, which is recommended, to isolate your attachments from the rest of your files. This helps in organizing your computer, and allows you to find attachments easily on later use.

7. Delete the attachments from the email. Go back into the original email, and right-click on the attachment. An option to delete the attachment from the message itself should appear. Select that you want to do this. The attachment should be removed from the message. You can do this step directly, if you don't wish to save the attachments to your computer for later.

Tips & Warnings

• Putting attachments on an external hard drive will save them, and it will also free up space on your computer.