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Download Mail attachments to Downloads folder
Authored by: pbodifee on May 14, '10 11:04:38PM

I am not sure why attachments are downloaded in "Mail Downloads", I think to be able to modify the attachment while preserving the original.

As a test I deleted a few of these files and went back to the original mails containing these deleted attachments. As soon as I accessed the attachment in the mail using an external program (e.g. using quick look), the attachment reappeared in the folder 'Mail Downloads'. An embedded video will play without 'downloading' as long as no external program is used.

As the OP suggested these files can be deleted. At least version 4.2 of Mail has a setting in preferences > general called "remove unedited downloads' which can be set to 'when Mail Quits'. And it does exactly that: it deletes any file placed in the folder "Mail Downloads" which you haven't modified. However after the setting has been set, so any previous placed files need to be trashed manually.

Mail Downloads should eventually only contain attachments you modified. The original attachments are still in ~/Library/Mail/<mail_account>/<mailbox>/Attachments, unless you used the remove attachment function in Mail.

One caveat, you need to quit Mail from time to time. Something to keep in mind.



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