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Attach Files to E-Mail with Outlook Express

by Bill Santry
March 2, 2003

Want to send an e-mail attachment to friends and family? Here's a step-by-step guide for Outlook Express users.

"Enclosed you will find..."

The following steps are applicable for Microsoft Outlook Express. Be aware that Outlook and Outlook Express are different programs entirely. The steps are slightly different in "regular" Outlook.

  • Upon opening a new e-mail composition window, you should see something similar to the following

  • Fill in the To: and Subject: fields and write your message in the body of the mail composition window
  • Click on the Insert File button in the tool bar (the paperclip) and select File Attachment... from the drop-down menu. If the paperclip button is not visible, click on Insert at the top of the window and select File Attachment.. from the drop-down menu.
  • A new window will open that looks something like this:

  • Unfortunately, the file we want to attach is not in the Desktop folder. But by clicking on the drop-down arrow at the end of the Look in: box, we can change the location.
    IMPORTANT: You MUST know the location of the file you wish to attach beforehand.
  • In this example, the file we are going to send is called BASICS.TXT and is located on a diskette in the A: drive. After clicking on the drop-down arrow, we select the A: drive to get a list of the files contained on the disk.

  • After clicking on the file we want to attach, clicking on Open will attach the file to your e-mail message.
  • Now click on the Send button in the message composition window and the file is on its way. You can also click on File in the top left corner and select Send Message... from the drop-down menu.

That's it! Your file attachment is now on its way, along with the rest of your e-mail message. You can now use this same procedure to e-mail any kind of file to anyone in the world!