The Case of the Missing Thunderbird Attachment

If you have been working in Eudora, you might be expecting to clean up or backup the location where Thunderbird holds your attachments.  You might look for this location, but you will never find it.

Why? Thunderbird does not store your attachments in a permanent location.  On a Windows machine, any attachments you open will be placed in a temporary location (eg. temp) that is periodically emptied.  If you want to keep an attachment, it's up to you to save it somewhere permanent.  Here's how:

1. In Thunderbird, open the message that contains the attachment.
2. Right-click the attachment and select Save.
3. Save the attachment to a permanent location.

Tip: Don't forget to do a little clean up on the location you choose for saved attachments.  Something you need to keep this year may not be useful 5 years from now!

Thanks to Marti Lindsay, Life Science Library for suggesting this tip!