Attachments can either remain on the server or be downloaded to your Mac, depending on the type of file and the option you specify in Account Preferences. For example, images, PDFs, video, and audio files are always downloaded, and they’re displayed in the body of the email. You can choose whether other types of files are downloaded by doing the following:
Sign in to iCloud to access your photos, videos, documents, notes, contacts, and more. Use your Apple ID or create a new account to start using Apple services. In the Mail app on your Mac, choose File New Message. Move the pointer over the From field, click the pop-up menu that appears, then choose the account for which you have a personal certificate in your keychain. A Signed icon (containing a checkmark) in the message header indicates the message will be signed when you send it. On Apple's built-in Mail app, create a new email message by clicking the 'New Message' icon. In the new message window, click the paperclip icon to add an attachment.
- Launch Mail.
- Click the Mail menu and choose Preferences.
- Select the Accounts button and the Account Information tab.
- Choose an option next to Download Attachments.
Whether you download attachments or leave them on your mail server, they take up space somewhere. And if you get lots of attachments that can mean occupying quite a bit of space. Remember, it’s not just documents, PDFs and photos that are sent as attachments, company logos and other images in email signatures are attachments too. The solution is to delete those you no longer need, perhaps after archiving them if you think you may need them in the future.
How to delete Mail attachments in messages
- In Mail, locate the message which has the attachment you want to delete. If you’re having trouble finding messages with attachments, you can click the View menu and then Sort by > attachments.
- Click on the message.
- Select the Message menu in the menu bar and choose Remove attachment.
- Repeat for every message whose attachment you want to delete.
You can remove attachments from multiple messages at the same time, by shift-clicking on messages to select them and then choosing Message> Remove attachment. If you want to remove all the messages with attachments, as well as the attachments themselves, you can select all the messages that have attachments in one go and delete them.
How to archive attachments before you delete them
- Repeat steps 1 and 2 above.
- Move the mouse pointer to the line above the body of the message and you’ll see five icons: trash, reply, reply all, forward, and attachment.
- Click on the attachment icon and choose Download All.
- Choose a location to save the attachment and select Save.
How to remove attachments from your Mac in one go
![Attachments Attachments](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126406269/532987018.jpg)
Recent versions of macOS have a feature that allows you to optimize storage space on your Mac. One of the ways in which it does this is to remove Mail attachments. Here’s how to use it.
- Click on the Apple menu and choose About this Mac.
- Choose the Storage tab and then press Manage.
- Click on Mail in the left hand sidebar. Underneath, you’ll see how much space attachments are currently occupying.
- Select attachments and press Delete.
How to manually remove Mac Mail attachments in Finder
If you’re running a version of macOS that doesn’t have the Optimize storage feature, and have too many attachments to remove one message at a time, there is another way. Mail stores attachments you’ve downloaded in your Library folder. You can locate them and drag them to the Trash to free up space. However, that will only delete those you’ve downloaded and free up space on your Mac, it won’t remove them from your email provider’s server. Here’s how to find and remove them.
- Click on the Finder icon in the Dock.
- Choose the Go menu and click Go to Folder.
- In the text box, type the following: “~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail Downloads/“
- Press Go.
A Finder window will open at that location, showing you the contents of the Mail Downloads folder. Inside Mail Downloads are lots of other folders. And inside those folders are the attachments you’ve downloaded. To find out what’s inside each folder, you’ll have to open it. However, if you just want to delete everything Mail has downloaded, you can drag all the folders to the Trash.
That’s not the only place Mail stores attachments, however. There are also attachments in ~/Library/Mail/V6. Again, there are lots of sub-folders inside the V6 folder, and some of them contain mailboxes. Some of those mailboxes have attachments folders in them. Tracking down attachments this way could take hours, or even longer.
How to remove attachments from Mail the easy way
If you want to free up space used by Mail quickly and easily and delete attachments in bulk without having to locate them in Finder, there is an easier way. CleanMyMac X has a utility specially designed to remove Mail attachments.
- Download CleanMyMac X and then launch it.
- Click on Mail attachments tab.
- Press Scan.
- Click Clean to remove them at once.
- If you’d prefer to look over the attachments before deleting them, scroll through the list of attachments and uncheck the box next to any you want to keep.
- Press Clean.
CleanMyMac can also delete attachments from third-party email clients, like Outlook and Spark. Therefore, if you use these email apps, you can easily locate unneeded attachments and delete them in a few clicks. With the help of CleanMyMac X, you can also scan your Mac for other junk files, malware threats, and speed up your machine. All that in a few clicks.
Attachments in Mail can occupy several gigabytes of disk space on your Mac. Manually removing them to free up space can be a long and laborious process. If you do decide to use a manual method, deleting them from within Mail is the safest option. However, it’s much easier to use CleanMyMac X to do the job. And remember, even if you delete attachments on your Mac, if you use an IMAP account like iCloud mail or Gmail, your attachments will remain on the server and can be retrieved when you need them.
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![Attachments in apple mail Attachments in apple mail](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126406269/464845195.jpg)
Email messages that are digitally signed or encrypted can offer enhanced security when sending or receiving email.
Send digitally signed and encrypted emails
Mail Mac Attachments As Icons
A digitally signed message lets your recipients verify your identity as the sender; an encrypted message offers an even higher level of security. To send signed messages, you must have a personal certificate in your keychain. To send encrypted messages, the recipient’s certificate must be in your keychain.
- In the Mail app on your Mac, choose File > New Message.
- Move the pointer over the From field, click the pop-up menu that appears, then choose the account for which you have a personal certificate in your keychain.A Signed icon (containing a checkmark) in the message header indicates the message will be signed when you send it.
- Address the message to recipients.An Encrypt (closed lock) icon appears next to the Signed icon if your keychain contains a personal certificate for every recipient; the icon indicates the message will be encrypted when you send it.If you don’t have a certificate for every recipient, you must send your message unencrypted. Click the Encrypt icon to replace the closed lock icon with an open lock icon.
Some mailing lists reject digitally signed messages because the signature is treated as an attachment. To send the message unsigned, click the Signed icon in your message; an x replaces the checkmark.
Terminal huawei for mac. Note: If for some reason your certificate isn’t associated with your email address, or if you want to use your certificate with a different email address, Control-click the certificate in Keychain Access, choose New Identity Preference, and provide the requested information.
Receive digitally signed and encrypted emails
In the Mail app on your Mac, a Security field in the header area indicates whether a message is signed or encrypted.
- A signed icon (a checkmark) appears in the header area of a signed message. To view the certificate details, click the icon.If the message was altered after it was signed, Mail displays a warning that it can’t verify the message signature.
- A lock icon appears in the header area of an encrypted message. If you have your private key in your keychain, the message is decrypted for viewing. Otherwise, Mail indicates it can’t decrypt the message. See If Mail can’t decrypt emails.
If you want to include encrypted messages when you search for messages in Mail, set the option in the General pane of Mail preferences. The option enables Mail to search individual words, even though the message is stored encrypted.
Email Attachment Icon
See alsoUse personal certificates in Mail on MacUse SSL to connect to the outgoing mail server in Mail on Mac