Mac Mail leaving every email attachment on my computer

dory

Hello, wasn't sure where to put this but I hope this is the right spot.

Basically, I have the Mail client set up, and I love being able to see when I get an email straight away.

Problem is when I ran a search for something I noticed the Mail client had left every photo ever sent to me on my laptop - some are ones I would not like popping up if I ever had my laptop plugged in for a PP presentation.

So, question is. Is there a way to have the Mail set up, but for it to not leave any lasting files/evidence on my laptop?

Thanks.

Sad Professor

I'm not quite sure what you mean. Mail downloads emails, including attachments. That's what email clients do. If you don't want a particular email anymore, delete it. That should clear all the attachments as well, unless you saved it somewhere else. If this is a really big issue you might be better off using webmail instead.

dory

I just didn't think it'd store every attachment on my computer forever more.

I can't even find the folder in which my mails are. Just now if I search my computer for 'school' I get all the emails with school in them, and photos from attachments etc.

What might solve this is if I can delete them from Mail and yet still have them on gmail on the actual webmail site. Is this possible?

Sad Professor

If you don't want emails and their attachments showing up in Spotlight you can exclude them in System Preferences > Spotlight.

Re: deleting emails, it depends how Mail is set up. If it is using POP3 then deleting messages in Mail won't delete them from the Gmail server. But if it is using IMAP then anything you do in Mail will be synced with the Gmail server.

Liameter

The way that an email client works is that the message plus attachment (actually a single file) is downloaded from the server to your computer. You can't view it unless it is downloaded.

In future, when a message arrives with something you don't want to keep, either delete the message or click on the menu bar "Message" and select "Remove Attachments".

If you wish, you can "Save" the attachment somewhere safe (e.g. an external drive or a password-protected folder), which simply makes a copy, and then delete it from Apple Mail, as above.

You might find your old attachments if you look at
Home -> Library -> Mail -> Attachments

ashleey

You mean in the mail downloads folder? Go to that folder periodically and clear its contents. If you are using gmail though, all mails including deleted ones will be in your all mail folder unless you go into it via a web browser and delete them.

Liameter

ashleey wrote: »

You mean in the mail downloads folder?

Actually I didn't, but you are correct.
Home -> Library -> Mail Downloads

ashleey

Sorry. I wasn't being smart. It took me a while after I moved to a mac to find this out. I guess it's similar to one of windows famous temp folders without the disorganisation.

Liameter

No need to apologise. My memory failed. It's a while since I last emptied my Downloads folder and I'd forgotten where it was and what it was called!

cornbb

Open Mail, open Preferences. Choose the mailbox you want to change. Click the Advanced tab. Under "Keep copies of messages for offline viewing" select "All messages but omit attachments".

Voila, problem solved.