How to Open Email Paper Clips

You can open email attachments, signified by the paper clip icon, if you have the appropriate program.

The paper clip icon signifies there is an attachment in your email. This icon is used in a wide range of email clients, including online services like Hotmail and email software like Outlook. Opening an attachment is a combination of clicking to open the attachment and having the appropriate program to display the attachment. Some attachments, such as .exe and .scr, may be disallowed from opening, because of the high incident of virus infection associated with their use in email.

Instructions

1. Open your email program and open the email that contains the attachment. There may be a small paper clip icon next to the email in the list. That one is just to tell you there is an attachment on the email, but you will need to open the email first to access the attachment.

2. Click the large paper clip icon on the individual email. The attachment may be sent through a virus scanner before becoming available, so you may need to wait a little bit before it opens. If you already have a program that can view it, it should open up. If you receive a warning such as "blocked" or "malicious program," you shouldn't open it, because there is a danger of a virus. If you receive an error stating "Windows can't open this file..." then you may need additional software or to set an association.

3. Look under the error message for the full file name of the attachment. The extension, or the part ofter the ".", will cue you in on the type of program required. .Jpg, .gif, .png, .jpeg and .tif require a graphics program. .Doc and .docx requires Microsoft Word or Open Office. .Xls requires Excel or Open Office. If in doubt, you can search Google for the extension to gain insight as to its requirements. Use the format ".ABC extension" in your search.

4. Click the circle next to "Select a program from a list of installed programs" and click "OK."

5. Click the appropriate program, such as a graphics program, word processor, etc, and click "OK" to open the file with the selected program. If you don't see the program, you can click "Browse" to locate it manually in a Windows Explorer type setting. If you check "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" then Windows will remember your settings and use them next time it encounters the same file extension.

6. Associate a file type manually in Windows 7 by clicking the Start orb, typing "Make a file type always open in a specific program" and pressing Enter. On the resulting screen, you can select the file extension and click "Change program" at the top to change the associated program, similar to the previous step. This is also useful if you accidentally associate an inappropriate program with an extension.

Tips & Warnings

• If you don't have an appropriate program, you may be able to search for and download one from the Internet to use. Searching the file extension, using the format ".ABC extension" is a good start to finding out what program will open it. You can then search for that program or a free alternative.

References

• Info Barrel: How to Open an Email Attachment
• Dynamic Webs: Opening Attachments
• Windows BBS: Email Attachment, Paper Clip