The following add-ins will help you manage the attachments you receive on an email. Most of these tools are used in Outlook; a few are for use with Exchange server.
Many of these utilities will remove attachments from the email message and can replace them with links to the attachment on your hard drive, allowing you easy access to the attachment while keeping your mailbox or personal folders smaller.
You can use VBA to save attachments to the hard drive. See Save Attachments for sample code to save attachments the delete them from the message, or Save Attachments to the hard drive to save the attachments but not delete them from the message.
Others will remind you to add attachments (and subject lines) to outgoing email, compress (zip) attachments, or allow you to unblock attachments blocked by the security features of Outlook 2000 and higher.
See More Information for links to VBA Samples to save attachments and check for missing attachments and blank subject lines.
More Information
Housekeeping and Message Management Tools for Outlook
Housekeeping and Message Management Tools for Exchange Server
How to Save Email Messages to the Windows File System
Mail Tools for Outlook
Compose Tools for Outlook
VBA: Save Attachments to hard drive (Outlook-Tips.net)
VBA: Attachments: Save the selection to the harddisk (VBOffice.net)
VBA: Attachments: Delete the selection (VBOffice.net)
VBA: Check for subject before sending (VBOffice.net)
How to use VBA code samples
Hello Diane-
I'm using Outlook 2007 on a Windows 7 desktop. I often receive emails with other email messages (.msg) as attachments. I would like to creaete a rule that would extract these attachments and place them in an Outlook folder, not a Windows file folder.
All the add-ins I've seem here appear to be focused on saving attchments in Windows file folders rather than Outlook mail folders. I believe I need an Outlook Script or Custom Action (not sure which is the correct terminology) to do this.
Please advise whether you know of a way to do this, either via standard Outlook rule actions, an off-the-shelf add-in, or if I need to create my own custom add-in. I have an IT background, but have never programmed in VB and am not familiar with how to create add-ins.
Thanks for any advice you can provide.
I believe you would need to save it to the hard drive them import it into outlook. I have macros on the site that do each - you'd need to put them together.
Hi Diane.
My question is on setting up a default folder for Outlook to look into when I press the 'Attach file' button. At present, it opens a list of around 10 'recent items' (I don't know if it is recently used for attachments, or recently opened in their respective software, or recently created, etc.). If the file I want to attach is not on that list, it gives me the option 'Browse this PC'. It is here that I would like it to point to a specific folder on my PC. However, it seems to usually (but not always?) default to the "C:\Windows\System32" folder, for reasons I cannot understand. Is there a way of forcing it to always default to my chosen folder (namely "D:\Data") through the Registry?
You can't set it in the registry. It should default to the last used folder - or has in the past - or the Documents folder. Are you accessing files in that folder?
Try this: browse to your desired folder and add a file to a new message. Save the message as a draft then close outlook and restart. Does it default to the last used folder?
I did exactly as you asked me to try, and the answer is no: it did not default to the last used folder, i.e., the one (D:\) from which I chose the file to attach to the message I had saved to the Drafts folder before closing and re-starting Outlook. Instead, it defaulted to a sub-folder of that directory (D:\Word\), which was the one 'offered' to me when I wanted to attach the file from the parent (D:\) directory on the message created on the previous session of Outlook.
My question about setting it on the Registry is because I thought that Outlook must extract 'instructions' on which directory to use when the 'Browse this PC' is chosen, from 'somewhere' and I thought such somewhere is always the Registry. Isn't this the case? Can't one write/edit a key on the Registry giving instructions for Outlook to always use a specific folder when the Browse this PC option is chosen? Or maybe a Macro in Outlook itself?
Outlook keeps the last used folder in memory and should go back to Documents (or the default folder in Word if you changed it). You can't have a different Insert Attachments folder for Outlook - the office apps all use the same folder. Check Word's Options - Save dialog to see what is set there.
You can set a different Save Attachments folder by editing the registry. (When i did that and saved a file, the Insert attachment defaults to System32 the next time i go to insert a file.)
I recommend pinning the folders you use most to the Quick Access/Favorites list in Windows Explorer - everything is a click away.
It looks like this might be a bug - it should be fixed in an upcoming build (8/18 if using Insider build, Sept for most subscriptions.)
Thank You for all your research. I have one question. Do any of these solutions run as a service. I am looking to have this process run without leaving Outlook open. We created a system to do this in Lotus Notes but we are switching to Outlook. I like Outlook so much better. I just don't want to leave it open all the time.
No, they do not run as a service. Sorry.
This article seems well researched, informed and it certainly is complete. In fact it is so complete that I have difficulty to pick out the best Outlook 10 email attachment manager. Could you please suggest the best plug-in? Or the best 2 or 3 plug-ins? My main goal is to reduce my pst file as Outlook has started to become unresponsive. I also care about functionality (Userr friendly), reliability (not slowing down or crashing Outlook) and compatibility (if I should upgrade to Outlook 2016).
Any of the addins in the Tools in the Spotlight section are good. As for user friendly and functionality, that is in the eyes of the user. :) My needs might not be your needs.
Let me say I am VERY WARY of shareware & Freeware and have the trainwreck experiences to justify it.
Outlook Attachment Remover will do the trick is kick-ass!
It installs easily-runs fast- and has zero impact on resources.
Has many options on how to process the attachments including full removal, archiving to a folder on your hard disk or deleting. I am an IT Recruiter and process THOUSANDS of important doc. I downloaded this tool this morning and turned it loose. This thing has burned through over 40K attachments in a few hours with ZERO duplication no restarts or freezes.
If you want to downsize your PST it will make it happen!
In Outlook 2013:
1) Is there an add-in or way to block sending emails with attachments that have specific words in the file name?
2) Is there an add-in or way to block sending emails with attachments that have specific words in the attachment?
That would be content control - although mostly, it's an exchange server-side feature (so users can't disable it). You can use an 'after sending' rule or a macro in outlook to warn if you don't have a lot of keywords to search, or an addin if you have a long list of words. Offhand, i can't think of any content control addins for outlook, but what few there are would be on the exchange list - https://www.slipstick.com/addins/content-control-tools-for-exchange-server/
Thank you, I managed to resolve the issue, after manaul rip of Outlook from registries and then online repair, and it worked !
Diane I am happy that you replied so quickly ! wow ! yes the documents are already saved. well can we talk on lync if possible ?
Sorry, I don't use Lync. Free support is available here or in Outlook forums . I offer paid support using GoToMeeting.
Hi, I have office 2013 pro plus /outlook/imap profile/Godadday
open a word document>file>share>share as attachment
and when i add a body to the Email and send it, the person recessives the email and only attachment is shown. there is no body (No message)
It only happnens when we add signature or right text in HTML format, the plain text is visible.
if you click Save before sending, do they see the content in the body?