Delete Attachments in Gmail Without Deleting Email
⚠️ Important: If you only want to delete attachments and leave the message body intact, you should know that Gmail doesn’t support this option, and you’d need third-party apps to use it.
Fortunately, there are workarounds to help you preserve emails but delete their unwanted attachments.
1. A safe manual method
- Download the attachment to your device or save it to Google Drive.
- Copy the email content.
- Compose a new email to yourself without the attachment and paste the content.
- Delete the original message.
2. Method for sent emails
High-size attachments in Sent Mail also consume storage. You can forward these emails to yourself without the attachments. Create one folder (Gmail label) for these messages, or use several folders to organize them per the original sender.
Once you’ve saved the original messages, delete the original message that contained the attachment.
3. Use another email client
Another way to delete unwanted attachments but keep the messages intact is by using another email client like Apple Mail, Outlook, or Thunderbird.
However, some of these methods involve manipulating Gmail. You should ensure your email is backed up properly before trying to separate attachments from messages. Try these methods with 1-2 unimportant messages first before using them to bulk delete attachments.
- Open the Mail app.
- Select the message with the unwanted attachment.
- Choose Message → Remove attachments.
- The attachment will now have a text saying that the attachment was manually removed.
- IMAP accounts, such as Gmail, will also have the attachments deleted on the mail server.
Using MS Outlook:
If you’re using Outlook, here you can find the guide on how to use a certain code to extract the attachment and delete it successfully. The code can be manipulated in the VBA Editor from the Developer tab.
Using Thunderbird:
Just like Apple Mail, Thunderbird offers a straightforward way to delete attachments without deleting the email body.
- Open Thunderbird.
- Select the message whose attachment you want to remove.
- Go to Message → Attachments → Detach all.
- Click OK on the dialog box to confirm you want to delete the attachment.
You can confirm that the operation is successful by revisiting Gmail. You should still see the original email but without the heavy attachment.
Deleting Emails with High-Size Attachments in Gmail
If your goal is to free up storage, the only native Gmail method is deleting the entire message that contains the attachment. Gmail offers a quick method to delete large emails using search operators:
- In the Search bar, type has:attachment.
- Press Enter to see the search results.
- From the results, select the emails you no longer need and click the Trash icon.
- Deleted messages are sent to the Trash folder, where they’ll stay for 30 days before being permanently deleted. They’ll continue to occupy space during this time, and you won’t see a change in your storage space until they’re completely gone.
- If you need to immediately free up space, go to Trash. Choose the emails with high-size attachments and click on Delete Forever, or just choose the Empty Trash now option.
- At this point, you should see your storage space improve. If you still need to free up more space, repeat the process while searching for other attachment sizes.
Use Clean Email to Clean Up Gmail Storage Faster
If you need a faster way to free up Gmail storage, Clean Email offers an intuitive filtering system so you can quickly find the messages you want to delete.
- Open Clean Email and go to Suggestions.
- Review the grouped messages and choose the desired action, such as Trash (moves messages to the Trash folder) or Delete (permanently deletes messages without needing to empty the Trash folder).
- Confirm the action.
You can also automate the task of cleaning your Gmail inbox using Auto Clean rules. These automated rules can filter large and old emails and delete them automatically. Moreover, the created rules can be reviewed later and paused or edited if your preferences change.
💡 Cleaning hint: For example, you can filter large unread promotional emails older than 6 months and create a rule to move them to Trash automatically. This rule will auto-delete emails in Gmail so you can constantly maintain sufficient storage space.
Delete Recent Emails with Attachments on iOS / Android
The Gmail mobile app supports the same functions you can do on the webmail interface.
- Open the Gmail app.
- Go to the search bar and use the same search query has:attachment. Optionally add larger:[size] to the search.
- Review the emails and choose the ones you want to delete.
- Swipe left on each message to quickly delete them.
Other Solutions to Clean Up Gmail Storage
Apart from getting rid of storage-heavy attachments, there are other ways to clean up storage in Gmail.
- Delete old and bulky files like photos, videos, and audio files. Since Gmail shares storage with Google Drive and Google Photos, you should check these apps for any bulky files you don’t need. Get rid of them, and you’ll quickly restore your storage space.
- Keep attachments to a minimum. Consider alternative methods to share high-size files, such as file transfer sites or cloud storage platforms. The fewer attachments you receive on your email address, the more storage space you’ll have.
- Unsubscribe from unwanted junk mail. Receiving tons of emails can also eat up your storage limit. Clean your inbox and delete all promotions in Gmail. Remove your email address from old mailing lists and refrain from using it to sign up for promotional offers.
You may be reaching the limit of your storage space, but with the right tools and best practices, you can enjoy a more spacious Gmail inbox.
