# Outlook Express **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 28, 2003, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express/158130 "2003-02-28T14:57:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Carnal\_knowledge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@Carnal\_knowledge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnal_knowledge)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express/158130/1 "2003-02-28T14:57:01Z")
I had an email attachment blocked by my security settings. After changing the security settings to allow the attachment, how do I go about getting the email again (without having the person resend it)? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express/158130/2 "2003-02-28T15:11:26Z")
If you have Outlook Express configured to delete messages from the server after retrieving them, it’s gone. There’s nothing to do but get them to send it gain. ---
**Author:** ![aeropl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@aeropl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aeropl)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express/158130/3 "2003-02-28T16:00:09Z")
Depends how you have your outlook configured. Usually old mail is archived in the deleted mail folder. Click find on the toolbar, and search for a word you know was in that email. Be sure to pick “all folders” the Search In option. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express/158130/4 "2003-02-28T16:08:06Z")
Not if Outlook Express was set to block certain emails. It would have gotten deleted at the server side and never downloaded. ---
**Author:** ![Carnal\_knowledge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@Carnal\_knowledge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnal_knowledge)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express/158130/5 "2003-02-28T16:21:05Z")
Well, that’s what is interesting because it took a while for the email to download, so I suspect that it did DL the attachment, then told me I couldn’t look at it. If that’s the case, I should look in the deleted mail folder? The email itself is still in my Inbox, so I’m not sure that I would find it in the deleted folder, but I’ll look…where would it have put an attachment that got DL’d, but not “approved”? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express/158130/6 "2003-02-28T16:23:08Z")
I think that’s right; Outlook applies rules after downloading the message, but Outlook Express does it before. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express/158130/7 "2003-02-28T16:29:22Z")
(to Q.E.D.) ---
**Author:** ![Carnal\_knowledge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@Carnal\_knowledge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnal_knowledge)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express/158130/8 "2003-02-28T16:33:32Z")
Thanks. So let me see if I can get this right in my head. Express took the extra time downloading the email and the attachment, then decided the attachment was a risk, and deleted it BOTH server side and on my side? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express/158130/9 "2003-02-28T16:38:31Z")
I think that’s about right, yes. It has to download the attachment to actually look at it, but if it determines it may be dangerous it deletes it. You can set Express to retain mesages (including attachments) on the server for some limited amout of time. It won’t delete them during that time, even if an attachment is determined to be possibly dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![Carnal\_knowledge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@Carnal\_knowledge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnal_knowledge)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express/158130/10 "2003-02-28T16:46:28Z")
Hmm, this kind of gets back to my original question. If the message and attachment still reside server side, and I change my security settings to allow the download, how do I go about getting it? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express/158130/11 "2003-02-28T16:59:11Z")
Check Tools \> Accounts. Highlight the account in question, and click the Properties button. Then click the Advanced tab in the Properties dialog. See if “Leave a copy of messages on server” is checked. If not (and it probably isn’t, since that’s the default), it’s a moot point. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express/158130/12 "2003-02-28T17:06:06Z")
Carnal: _Most_ client software that draws mail from POP3 servers deletes the mail on the server side, period. It then decides whether or not to give it to you or delete it based on whatever rules you or the mail client author built into it. For the record, not letting you even see it is the only way to protect you from certain ActiveX/Javascript attacks that have existed in the past. I’m not saying Microsoft was smart enough to make that the motivating factor for their actions, but it could be… ---
**Author:** ![Carnal\_knowledge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@Carnal\_knowledge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnal_knowledge)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express/158130/13 "2003-02-28T19:33:17Z")
Yep. It’s kind of interesting what happened. I went home at lunch, and unchecked the box to delete attachments. Then went to the email in question, and opened the attachment (which was a zip file). I opened the zip, but couldn’t open the contents of the zip (.pdd adobe pic files), which didn’t surprise me too much. Anyway, that’s the post-mortem. Thanks for all your help. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express/158130/14 "2003-02-28T23:59:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Carnal knowledge \* > \*\*Thanks. > > So let me see if I can get this right in my head. > > Express took the extra time downloading the email and the attachment, then decided the attachment was a risk, and deleted it BOTH server side and on my side? \*\* I don’t think it would necessarily have to download the whole thing; the message and attachment are just a single combined file on the server, that is true, but POP3 protocol includes an optional dommand TOP, which retrieves a specified number of lines of the message text; I believe it is technically possible for a mail client to download the message only, not the attachment - I’m not at all sure that this really _is_ the case with Outlook Express, however, the POP3 client on my PalmOS machine can retrieve the text portion of messages which have attachments far too large to fit in the entire memory of the device, so it can’t be downloading the whole thing and throwing part away (it can’t even be downloading as much as will fit because I would have noticed - I use a mobile phone to connect it to the net).