Here's an Outlook macro I did a while back: [www.outlookcode.com]

It copies the attachment to your hard-disk, and then replaces it with a link in the e-mail. That way, you can keep your PST file small, but not lose the context of the attachment.

(I've only used it with Outlook 2003.)

bobbo33

I've been a long term user of EZdetach [www.techhit.com] for email attachment management and find it absolutely indispensable. This addin lets me Save/Detach the attachments with just one mouse click, without even having to open the message. It also integrates with rules wizard for automatic attachment saving, reattaches the detached attachments and has a bunch of other useful features.
It's not free, but given the amount of time it saves, it pays for itself pretty quickly.

thinkfloyd

@mayflyripper: Thanks, that was it.

acewave

Thunderbird also has this option. Just right-click on the attachment and you can delete it or all attachments in the email.

WayneZeigler

I am using Outlook 2003 with Exchange, and it works fine for me. They key to making this work is to open the message, not just read it in the viewing pane.

heavylee-again

[Outlook Attachment Remover Add-in] via gHacks

googeling

Like glynndaddy, I love Outlook Attachment Sniffer [www.rsbr.de] - it works automatically as emails arrive for any attachments over a certain size and type (e.g. only docs but not jpgs).

The piece I love the most is that it automatically re-attaches the original document when you forward the email! Definitely worth the $15 in my opinion. I use this on an Exchange server with Outlook 2007 (and had used it with 2003 as well).

randhirv

I'm with junkmail. I too use [www.mapilab.com] at a cost but it does the job. I love that an attachment can be removed and stored in a location on your PC that you can easily access via a link to that file. It reduced the size of my .pst by 50%.

gwhite13

I have tried this and after deleting some attachments, actual .pst file size did not change.

Isn't it supposedly automatically reduced?

rogal

Been using this one:
[www.mapilab.com]
for a couple of years now. Constantly sending 3-10MB files tends to strangle a PST pretty efficiently, so I had to do something.

AP has a great list of features, but it's not free.

junkmail

Slipstick lists several automated applications for removing attachments at [www.slipstick.com] I used the free Outlook Attachment Remover Add-in ([www.kopf.com.br]) which replaces the file with a link to a storage folder on your diskdrive. It will process a single message or a whole folder.

HumbleOpinion

If you want to preserve a record of the attachment and leave a link behind that will still open the attachment without taking up memory in Outlook, you can also try EZDetach by TechHit. Check it out at http://www.techhit.com/ezdetach/index2.html Misty http://Arrow-Tips.com Outlook best practices for executives and sales professionals http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4rsDrA-pUw video

WrightGalopamonster

Anything similar for Outlook Express? This could come in handy. I'm just dragging the email message outside of OE, and using a text editor I edit the .eml message and remove manually the attachment (is quite easy to identify it). Then I drop back the message in my inbox and voila!

I have the process above quite mechanized, and it does not take me more than a few seconds to clean up a message, but is a cumbersome procedure. Something like this add-on for OE would be very useful.

Clareman

For those having trouble with the button greyed out, in Outlook 2007, I think you have to fully open the message, you can't do it from your inbox view.

In Outlook 2003, if I remember correctly, you might have had to not only open the message, but click FILE > EDIT MESSAGE first.

There was an awesome shareware tool that I use to use with Outlook 2003 called OUTLOOK ATTACHMENT SNIFFER. You could set it to alway run or you could run it in a batch mode. It would go remove the attachments from the email folders you specified (with criteria like data range), save the file in a folder, then place a link in that email to the file.

I use to use this because my exchange folder at work was constantly reaching it's limit, but I still wanted to leave the messages themselves on the exchange server.

glynndaddy

I guess this is one of the common bits of knowledge that is not so common. I have been doing this for years at work with outlook 2000/2003 on an exchange account. I didn't realize it was news worthy. This is the first thing I do when I need to reduce my mailbox size to the allowed limits set.

Also, unless I am misunderstanding earlier comments, I have to point out that this DOES IN FACT work with exchange accounts, not just POP accounts. As I mentioned earlier, I have been doing it for years.

EracMan

I just learned this last week and it has already made my life a lot easier. What I'd really like to see is an attachment system where you can cc people but not necessarily send them the attachments, so they're informed but not bombarded.

Rivercat

FYI, here is an article that explains the POP account only: [email.about.com]

holocron

It only works if you are using POP access to the email account.

If you are connecting to an Exchange account or IMAP it does not work.

Otherwise, it is valid for Outlook 2003/7 -- but only for POP accounts.

holocron

It's grayed out in Outlook 2003 as well.

Secondly - a faster solution to save the attachment is just drag it off the e-mail into a folder (in 2003 at least).

I keep a shortcut to my "My Docs\Attachments" folder in my quick launch. All I do is drag and drop and review at my leisure. Since I have been keeping the attachments in my e-mails (and thus have to cull my PST regularly) cleaning out my attachments folder is part of my week "Junk Drawer" cleaning.

Boter

@acewave: Are you referring to the Reading pane? Open the email (ie. in a new window) and the option should be available then. I think it's Outlook's default behaviour to gray out the "Remove" option from the Reading pane.

mayflyripper

I tried it with my Outlook 2007 and the Remove option is greyed out. Any ideas why?

acewave

This works only for Outlook 2007 right?

djmikmik