With the introduction of the Internet, e-mail has become one of the most used means of communication in the world. Even with the introduction of new technologies, such as text messaging and video calling, email continues to be used by most internet users as it is a free and reliable tool. E-mail also allows you to include files attached to messages to be sent. Once received, they can be downloaded and saved on your computer. There are several ways to save an email attachment on your PC, depending on the email provider you are using.
Steps
Method 1 of 4: Using Yahoo Mail
Step 1. Log in to your email account
Open your Internet browser, type www.yahoo.com in the address bar and press the "Enter" key.
- Click on the email icon at the top right of the screen, and log in with your email address and password.
- Alternatively, you can connect to https://mail.yahoo.com. In this case you will not have to click on any mail icon, just enter the password and click on the "Login" button.
Step 2. Go to your inbox
Once logged in, go to your inbox by clicking on the respective link in the menu panel on the left of the window.
All email service platforms basically offer a common graphical layout, with the menu panel located in the left pane of the window
Step 3. Open the message with the attachment you want to save
After clicking on the inbox, click on the message with the attachment you want to save.
Messages with attachments can be identified by a paperclip mark placed next to the email name
Step 4. Scroll through the message content
View the message body on the Yahoo Mail interface, then scroll down. All files attached to an E-Mail are usually listed at the bottom of the text.
Step 5. Click "Download" next to the file name
- In the case of images, click on the arrow located in the lower right corner of the thumbnails to download them.
- Wait for the file to complete the download.
Step 6. Go to the "Downloads" folder on your computer to view the saved attachment
Double click on the file to open it.
Method 2 of 4: Using Google Mail
Step 1. Log in to your email account
Open your Internet browser, type www.mail.google.com in the address bar and press the "Enter" key.
On the Gmail page, enter your username and password in the fields provided
Step 2. Go to your inbox
Once logged in, go to your inbox by clicking on the respective link in the menu panel on the left of the window.
All email service platforms basically offer a common graphical layout, with the menu panel located in the left pane of the window
Step 3. Open the message with the attachment you want to save
After clicking on the inbox, click on the message with the attachment you want to save.
Messages with attachments can be identified by a paperclip mark placed next to the email name
Step 4. Scroll through the message content
View the message body on the Google Mail interface, then scroll down. All files attached to an E-Mail are usually listed at the bottom of the text.
In Google Mail, attachments are represented by the use of thumbnails, regardless of whether they are documents or images
Step 5. Place the mouse cursor over the attachment thumbnail
Two buttons will appear: an icon with a down arrow and the Google Drive icon.
Step 6. Download the attachment
Just click on the down arrow on the thumbnail and the browser will start downloading the file.
Step 7. View the saved attachment
Wait for the download to complete, then open the "Downloads" folder on your computer (you can find it inside the "Documents" folder) to view the saved attachment.
Method 3 of 4: Using AOL Mail
Step 1. Log into your email account
Open your Internet browser, type https://my.screenname.aol.com/ in the address bar and press the "Enter" key.
Enter your login details in the appropriate fields and click on "Login"
Step 2. Go to your inbox
Once logged in, go to your inbox by clicking on the respective link in the menu panel on the left of the window.
All email service platforms basically offer a common graphical layout, with the menu panel located in the left pane of the window
Step 3. Open the message with the attachment you want to save
After clicking on the inbox, click on the message with the attachment you want to save.
Messages with attachments can be identified by a paperclip mark placed next to the email name
Step 4. Read the message header
The header contains the details of the message and is placed at the top of the body of the email. In AOL, attachments are highlighted in this section, not at the bottom of the message.
Step 5. Download the attachment
Attachments in AOL do not appear as thumbnails, but as links. Also, there is no "Download" button. Just click on the attachment link and it will automatically download to your computer.
Step 6. View the saved attachment
Wait for the download to complete and open the "Downloads" folder on your computer (you can find it in the "Documents" folder) to view the saved attachment.
Method 4 of 4: Using Outlook
Step 1. Log into your email account
Use the Live.com mail server.
Enter your login details in the appropriate fields and click on "Login"
Step 2. Go to your inbox
Once logged in, go to your inbox by clicking on the respective link in the menu panel on the left of the window.
All email service providers basically have a common layout, with the menu panel located in the left pane of the window
Step 3. Download the attachment
In Outlook, attachments are included in both the header and the lower body of the message. Attachments included in the header are highlighted by a link, while attachments included at the bottom of the message are highlighted by a thumbnail.
- In both sections, next to the names of the attachments, you will find the link "Download in Zip format". To save the attachments, click on the "Download as Zip" link to start the download.
- If the sender of the email is unknown or not listed in your contacts, a small window will appear asking you to confirm before downloading the attachments. Just click on "Unlock" to confirm and start the download.
Step 4. Extract the downloaded attachments
Unlike other Internet email services, attachments downloaded from Outlook are saved in ZIP format. ZIP files are simply compressed folders. To open the attachments, right click on each file and select "Extract File" from the drop-down menu.
Once you have extracted all the contents of the ZIP folder, you will be able to open the saved attachments
Advice
- Beware of spam messages. Never download attachments from emails marked as spam.
- Do not save attachments from unknown senders as they may contain harmful malware.
- Before opening saved attachments, scan files using the antivirus program installed on your computer.
