How to Outlook Delete Attachments Without Deleting Emails?
Are you looking for methods to Outlook delete attachments? Worry not! We will explore the best methods to delete attachments in Outlook email, so read this blog till the end to know everything!
Many Microsoft Outlook users struggle with their quickly filling account storage, and one of the major reasons behind this is the large number of email attachments that come with many emails. If you are one of many Outlook users looking for solutions to remove Outlook email attachments, this blog post is perfect for you!
Reasons to Delete Email Attachments on Outlook
Many reasons necessitate urgent attachment deletion in Outlook, and we will discuss some of them in the following points:
- Storage Space Clearance: Since your Outlook account has a set storage limit, deleting attachments from emails becomes crucial for efficient performance. Attachments like videos and documents take up maximum space in your account, and an uncountable pile-up of these attachments will make your account run slowly and even corrupt your data file (PST and OST).
- Clutter Deletion: Another reason to Outlook delete attachments is clutter reduction. Old attachments make your account look messy and pose email navigation challenges. Hence, deleting the attachments will help you lessen the storage load on your account and smoothen email accessibility.
- Slow Performance: The Outlook desktop app and the web version perform slowly due to the accumulation of many email attachments, ultimately finishing your account storage. Thus, it becomes necessary to delete attachments in Outlook account to ensure perfect app and web version performance.
- Data Loss: Ultimately, ignoring accumulated email attachments may disrupt your Outlook account functionality, corrupting the entire data (PST/OST) file and wiping out the entire data from your account, which becomes impossible to recover.
These reasons tell us the necessity to remove attachments from Outlook email. We will now explore the solutions to remove all the email attachments, so keep reading!
Read More: How to Extract Outlook Attachments?
Effective Solutions to Delete Attachments in Outlook
We will now discuss two methods to delete email attachments on Outlook – manual and automated. Let’s begin this section with the manual method!
Manual Method for Outlook Attachment Removal
We will mention two workarounds to remove email attachments from your Outlook account manually.
#Workaround 1: Remove Attachments Using Outlook Desktop App
If you use the Outlook desktop app on your computer, follow these steps to remove the attachments from your account:
- Open the Outlook app on your computer.
- Now, open the email containing attachments.
- Right-click on each attachment (or select the dropdown arrow) and select Save to OneDrive or the Download/Save As option to save them on your OneDrive account or local system (computer) beforehand. Another method is to click the Download All option and save them on your computer in a ZIP file.
- Next, select the dropdown arrow next to an attachment, and click on the Remove attachment option to Outlook delete attachments. In case of multiple attachments, select the first attachment, press the Shift key on your keyboard, and then choose the last attachment. Now click the Remove attachment option.
- Save the changes and close the email. Repeat the same process for other emails having attachments.
#Workaround 2: Delete Email Attachments With Outlook.com
If you prefer accessing your Outlook account on a web browser, follow these steps to delete email attachments on Outlook:
- Log into your Outlook account on the Outlook.com site.
- Open the email with attachments.
- Right-click on the attachment and select Remove from the menu to delete it. Confirm the attachment deletion if prompted. However, don’t forget to save it beforehand.
- Repeat the same process with other attachments.
These two workarounds to Outlook delete attachments look easy but pose some limitations. One is the lack of a bulk attachment deletion facility. The second is the time taken to individually remove attachments from all emails in your Outlook account. Hence, the manual method is unattainable to delete email attachments from Outlook. We will now discuss the best method for attachment deletion in the following section, so keep reading!
Professional Way to Delete Attachments in Outlook Email
Now that the manual workarounds to Outlook delete attachments are not feasible to implement, we will mention the best method for quick attachment deletion – automated software. The software we discuss here packs many features for removing email attachments from your Outlook account. This software is the SysTools PST Compress Tool. It is compatible with Outlook versions 2000, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021 (32-bit & 64-bit) on Windows computers with Windows OS 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10 (32-bit & 64-bit), 11 (64-bit) & Windows Server 2008 / 2012 / 2016 / 2019 / 2022.
This software helps you to Outlook delete attachments by providing you with four options – Remove Attachments (deletes the attachments permanently); Remove and Save Attachments in a Folder (removes them from your account and saves them in a folder on your computer); Compress Attachments (reduces the size of the attachments while keeping them in your emails); and Remove and Compress Attachments in a Folder (removes the attachments from your account, compresses them, and saves them on your computer).
Going by the name, this software compresses (reduces the size) your Outlook PST data file to ensure you get more space for your account. Moreover, this software works without opening the Outlook application, thus making the attachment removal process easier.
Steps to Use Dedicated Tool to Outlook Delete Attachments?
- Install and run the automated tool on your Windows computer.
- Click on Add File(s) or Add Folder(s) button to add PST file(s).
- Moreover, you can click on Search Files button to find the PST data file(s) on your system.
- Select the desired option from the following: Remove Attachments /Remove and Save Attachments in a Folder /Compress Attachments /Remove and Compress Attachments in a Folder.
- Click on Next button and select or deselect the folder(s) according to your preferences.
- Next, select your preferred destination for the resultant compressed file(s) by clicking the Change button.
- Press on Next button again, and choose the preferred attachment deletion folder (Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Journal) under the Select Item Types section.
- Use Date Filter for selective attachment deletion.
- You can also use Attachment Filter to compress attachments based on their size and extension.
- Finally, tap on Next button to Outlook delete attachments.
Note: Try the demo version of the software to compress the first fifteen items per folder and compress the first fifteen items for the bulk compression process.
Conclusion
MS Outlook is one of the best email clients for both personal and professional communication. However, users struggle with their quickly filling account storage due to email attachments. We discussed the reasons and best solutions to Outlook delete attachments in this blog post.
The reasons mentioned here necessitate an urgent attachment deletion from Outlook to make space for new emails and other data. The manual workarounds to remove attachments from Outlook look easy but pose some limitations. Hence, the automated software described in this blog post is the best solution to delete attachments in Outlook emails without data loss.
