Yahoo! Mail Tutorials

Working Safely With Email Attachments

Avoiding Computer Viruses Receiving Attachments Opening and Saving Attachments Sending Attachments

Opening and Saving Attachments

When you click the link to an attachment, Yahoo! Mail uses Norton AntiVirus™ to automatically scan the file for viruses. Virus scanning can often "clean" a file that does have viruses, so you can safely open and download the file onto your computer.

However, not all viruses can be detected and cleaned. There is a risk involved whenever you download email attachments to your computer or send email attachments to others. As provided in the Terms of Service, neither Yahoo! nor its licensors are responsible for any damages caused by your decision to do so.

 

Here’s How

  1. Open the email message with the attachment. (Remind me how).

  2. Click the file name or thumbnail to allow Yahoo! Mail to scan the file.

    Click the file name of the attachment.Click the thumbnail or the file name of the image attachment.

    Norton AntiVirus scans the attachment and displays the results above the message header.

    • If Norton AntiVirus detects a virus, you can’t download the file.

      If a virus is detected, you can’t download the file.Enlarge

    • If Norton AntiVirus doesn’t detect a virus, you can download the file.

      If Norton AntiVirus doesn’t detect a virus, you can download the file.Enlarge

  3. To download a virus-free attachment, click the Download File button.

    Click the Download File button.

    The File Download window prompts you to open or save the file. (The appearance of this window varies, depending on your operating system and other factors.)

  4. You can click the Open button to view the attached file in its original application (such as Microsoft Word or Acrobat Reader), or you can click the Save button to download the file and save it on your computer.

    Tip: When you open a file without saving it, your browser automatically downloads it to a temporary location on your computer. When you close the file, your browser deletes the temporary file.

 

What’s Next

You can attach files to email messages that you send.

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Words to Know

  • Attachment: a separate file included as part of an email message; for example, a multimedia or document file.
  • Download: to transfer a file from a remote computer to your computer.
  • Message header: the information used to deliver an email message, including the To, From, Date, and Subject fields.
  • Scan: the process of checking files to see if they contain known viruses.
  • Virus: a computer program that attaches itself to other programs and causes harm to computer software, data, and/or hardware, often undetected until it is too late.