How to delete an attachment yet retain the message in Lotus Notes

How to delete an attachment yet retain the message in Lotus Notes

Document number: 13023

A single attachment can cause a mail file to grow significantly. Attachments typically are quite large and take up a lot of space. After receiving an e-mail message with an attachment, space can be conserved in the mail file by doing any of the following:

Delete the message: If the message or attachment does not need to be retained after they have been viewed, the message should be deleted. Once the message with the attachment has been deleted, it will no longer take up space in the mail file.
Detach the attachment and delete the message: If the information contained in the attachment must be retained, detach it to the appropriate location on the computer's hard drive. If the message is no longer needed, it can be deleted after the document has been detached. For additional information , see Eureka! document 10076 — How to detach a file from a Lotus Notes document.
Remove the attachment and retain the message: If both the message and the information contained in the document attached should be retained, the attachment can be removed from the message so that it takes up less space in the mail file.

Removing an attachment yet retaining the message.

NOTE: After removing an attachment from or deleting a message, the mail file size will not automatically reduce. The compact server task must run in order to reduce the actual mail file size. Automatic compacting runs nightly Sunday through Thursday on all mail servers. If the mail file size must be reduced immediately, please contact Technical Support Operations for assistance.

To remove an attachment yet retain the message:

Open the message that contains the attachment and detach the attachment if needed
Select Actions from the menu bar and select Edit Document from the drop down list.
Highlight the attachment by dragging the mouse over it and press the {Delete} key.
- A pop up window that says, "This operation cannot be undone. Would you like to proceed?" will appear. Click Yes.
- If the attachment has been detached to the hard drive, it is a good idea to note the location of the attachment and the file name in the message where the attachment used to be.
Example: If an an attachment was detached to the c:\apps\notes\data directory on the computer, type c:\apps\notes\data\file name where the attachment appeared in the message. That way, it is easier to recall the attachment associated with a specific message if it needs to be referred to in the future.
When all attachments have been removed from the message, click the Save and Close or Save and File button to save the edited message.
If neither of those buttons appear, press the {Esc} key and select Save only to close the message

The attachment will no longer appear in the saved message.

NOTE: If the sender of a message selected the Prevent Copying delivery option when the message was sent, the attachment cannot be removed.

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