Open or save attachments

Open attachments in classic Outlook

Most of the time, you'll see attached files in the Reading Pane, directly under the message header or subject. Occasionally, you'll see the attachments in the message body.

Double-click the attachment icon to open the attachment.

Save attachments in classic Outlook

To save the attachment, choose the drop-down arrow to the right of the attachment icon to open the attachment menu.

Choose Save As to save one attachment to your computer or cloud storage location. Choose Save All Attachments to save all attachments from a single message. By default, all of your attachments will be saved in your Documents folder, but you can choose a different location each time you save attachments.

You can also save an attachment by dragging and dropping the attachment from your email message to your desktop.

Open attachments in Outlook on the web or Outlook.com

Most of the time, you'll see attached files in the Reading Pane, directly under the message header or subject. 

Single click or double-click the attached file to open it. Depending on if you're using a work or school account or a personal account, the file might open automatically in Preview or it will open in the file type app (such as Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.

Or select the dropdown of the attachment and choose how to open based on the file type. For example, if it's a Word file, select Edit in Browser or Edit in Word desktop app.

Save attachments

1. To save the attachment, choose the drop-down arrow and select Download or Save to OneDrive.
   
   Click Download to save one attachment to your computer or cloud storage location. Click Download all to save all attachments from a single message.

2. Choose the folder where you want to save your file and select Save. The save location defaults to the last folder you saved a file to.

You can also save an attachment by dragging and dropping the attachment from your email message to your desktop.