Email attachments You can send files, folders and other items within an email along with the mail message itself. Items which have been added to emails are called attachments. Adding an attachment to an email creates a copy of the item for the recipient of your email you will still have the original file or item to use for yourself. Attachment types Most email attachments are files such as Word documents, photographs or PDF files. However, there is a range of other items you can attach to an email including: Outlook items such as emails, tasks or contacts Business cards giving contact details for other people Calendars to show your availability* There are also certain items which can be included within the email message itself such as pictures, shapes and charts these items are not usually counted as attachments. *This should only be used for external contacts. To show your calendar to MMU staff and students, using an email attachment isn t the best method it s better to share the calendar directly using the calendar sharing options. For more information please see the calendar sharing guide on the IT Services website. Adding file attachments to an email To add files to your email, first create the email. When you have opened a new email: Click the attach file button on the home tab of the ribbon Browse to the file you want to attach and click on it to select it Click the insert button The file you have attached will then appear below the subject line of your email. You can click on the file to open it if you wish. To add a file to your document, click the attach file button
Browse to the file you wish to attach and select it Click the insert button to add the file to your email Any files you have attached will appear here you can click on the file name to view the file Attaching folders to an email In Outlook, you cannot attach folders directly to an email. If you wish to attach a folder, you must first compress it into a zip file. The zip file can then be attached to your email. Your recipients will have to unzip it in order to open the folder and view its contents most computers will do this automatically. To compress and attach a folder: Create your email Click the attach file button on the home tab of the ribbon Browse to the folder you want to attach Right-click on the folder and choose send to from the menu From the sub-menu, choose compressed (zipped) folder Press enter to accept the file name for your new zip file Click on the zip file to select it Click the insert button to attach the file to your email
To attach a folder to your email, click the attach file button Browse to the folder you want to attach and right-click on it Choose send to from the menu On the sub-menu, click compressed (zipped) folder
Press enter to accept the file name on your new zip file or type a new name Click insert to add the zipped file to your email Any zip files you have attached will appear here
Attaching Outlook items to an email Outlook items such as emails, contacts, contact groups and tasks can be attached to an email and sent. For example, if you had a new person joining a project you were working on, you could send them an email to welcome them and attach to it any emails or tasks relating to their role in the project. To attach an Outlook item to your email: Click the attach item button on the home tab of the ribbon From the menu, choose Outlook item In the look in box, click on the location of your item In the items box, find the specific item to be attached and click on it to select Click OK to add the item to your email To attach an item from within your mail account such as an email or task, click the attach item button Click Outlook item on the menu In the look in box, click on the location of the item you will send Find the item to attach in this box and click to select Click OK to add the item to your email
The Outlook item you have attached will appear here Business cards and calendars Both business cards and calendars can be shared as email attachments using the attach item button. However, there are better ways of sharing these item types which are covered in the Outlook calendars and Outlook contacts guides.
Opening and saving attachments Outlook allows you to preview and open attachments from within the email message. If you need to make any alterations to the attached files, or you want to delete the email to free up space in your inbox, you will need to save the attachment first. Viewing an attachment To view an attachment within the email message window, click once on the attachment. A warning will appear in the message window. To view the attachment, click the preview file button. The attachment will then appear in the message window. To return to the message, click message. To view an attachment, click on it once here A warning will appear in the message window Click preview file to see the attachment
The attachment will show here, but you will not be able to edit it and some file types may not display correctly Click here to return to the original message Opening an attachment If you want to open an attachment using the right program for the file type, you should double-click on it. This will then open the file in a new window. You will be able to make edits to the document, but if you don t save the document to a new location following an edit, you will not be able to save any of your changes even if you click the save button. You should use save as in the new window to create a new copy of the document on your computer before editing it, as the copy you have opened is stored in a temporary location so you will not be able to save any changes. To open an attachment, double-click on it here
Saving an attachment If you want to make changes to an email attachment, or to save it elsewhere to free up space in your inbox, you should right-click on it and choose save as from the menu. You will then need to browse to the location where it should be saved and click the save button. You should then open the saved version from your computer rather than the email to edit the file. To free up the space in your inbox, you should then remove the attachment from the message. To edit an attachment or save a copy, right-click on the message and choose save as from the menu Browse to the location where the file will be stored Click the save button
Saving multiple attachments at once If a message has several attachments, you can save some or all of them to the same location at once: Right-click on any one of the messages Choose save all attachments from the menu Select the attachments to be saved use ctrl+click to select or deselect messages Click OK Browse to the location where the files will be stored Click save You should then be able to open the files from their new location and edit them. To save several attachments at once, right-click on any one of them Choose save all attachments from the menu Use ctrl+click to select the attachments to be saved Click OK
Browse to the location where the files will be stored Click the save button Removing attachments Once you have saved your attachments elsewhere, you can remove them from your messages to free up space in your inbox. To do this, right-click on each attachment and choose remove attachment from the menu. The attachment will no longer appear in the message. When you close the message, you will be warned that the attachments have been changed. You should click Yes to permanently delete the attachment. NOTE: this will cause the attachment to be permanently removed. Do not do this unless you are sure you have saved the file elsewhere. To permanently remove an attachment, rightclick on it and choose remove attachment