Attachments in Outlook

     All email browsing solutions work diffently.  My favorite one is gmail (from Google) since it keeps the "threads" of the conversation together in the inbox.  It makes seraching for something very easy and fast, which makes sense, since Google's search algorithms are the envy of the computer industry.  Attachments remain with the original thread, and can be easily referenced.

     Microsoft's Outlook, considered by some the industry standard, is different.  Its properties can be set by technology administration.  Attachments are very important to some emails.  Sales reports, documents, publications for review, and Powerpoint presentations can be attached to an email and sent to a second party.  However, if that message is replied to, the attachment may or may not be included on the reply.  Some administrators set attachments only to be attached to the sending email.  If modifications are necessary, it must be saved to the recipient's computer, edited, saved, and then reattached on a "reply" email.  The main reason for this is to save storage space, since, if an attachment is connected to every email of a communications thread, the file grows in size exponentially each time an email is sent, depleting storage capabilities.

     For some administrators, however, this isn't a problem.  Sometimes, attachements are dropped from "reply" emails, but are kept intact for "forward" emails, since forwarding usually means that the sending person want the recipient to see the attachment.

     If your unsure as to how your email solution operates, test it before assuming that your attachment will stay an attachment through the course of the eConversation.

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