Download all attachments from Outlook — one message, many, and every new one
Each version of Outlook puts the same button somewhere different. Across many emails, none of them has one.
How do you download all attachments from Outlook?
Open the message and use the attachment's drop-down: Save All Attachments in classic Outlook, Download all in the new Outlook and Outlook on the web. Each saves the files of one message. For attachments across many messages, Outlook has no built-in option: you need a VBA macro in classic Outlook or a Power Automate flow.
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Classic Outlook: Save All Attachments
Open the message, click the drop-down arrow beside the attachment icon and choose “Save All Attachments”. Microsoft documents it as saving all attachments from a single message, as separate files.
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New Outlook and Outlook on the web: Download all
Open the attachment's drop-down (on the web, the more-actions icon next to it) and choose “Download all”. The web also offers “Save to OneDrive”. In the new Outlook for Windows, saving everything to OneDrive compresses the files into one .zip first.
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Many messages: a macro or a flow
Select the messages and run a VBA macro, which only works in classic Outlook for Windows. Or build a Power Automate flow on the “When a new email arrives” trigger, which handles mail from the day it exists, not the backlog.
Which method downloads Outlook attachments across many emails?
Five ways to do it, compared on whether they reach old mail and whether they keep the signature images out.
| Method | Reaches mail you already have? | Keeps signature images out? | Upkeep |
|---|---|---|---|
| Save All Attachments (classic Outlook) | One message at a time | No. Every file in the message is saved | None, but entirely by hand |
| Download all (new Outlook, Outlook on the web) | One message at a time | No. Every file in the message is saved | None, but entirely by hand |
| VBA macro | Yes, on the messages you select | Only if you write that code | You maintain it; classic Outlook for Windows only |
| Power Automate flow | No. It runs when new mail arrives | Only through conditions you add on sender, subject or filename | You own the flow |
| Findest | No, not with Microsoft sign-in. Only mail that arrives after you connect Outlook | Yes. Files under 3 KB are skipped and a rule keeps only the documents it describes | Write the sentence once; the free plan covers 30 files a month |
Microsoft lists Save All Attachments, Download all and Save to OneDrive as ways to save all attachments from a single message (Microsoft Support). In the new Outlook, saving everything to OneDrive compresses the files into one .zip, which a Microsoft moderator describes as by design (Microsoft Q&A).
Why is there no button for thirty emails?
Every version of Outlook solves the single message, and Microsoft documents each save-all option as working on one message. Asking for the attachments of thirty selected messages is not a documented feature of the classic app, the new app or the web.
Both workarounds turn you into a maintainer. A VBA macro can loop through the messages you select, but the new Outlook for Windows does not support VBA at all. A Power Automate flow copies whatever its trigger matched, so signature images and logos land next to the invoices unless you add conditions on sender, subject or filename.
What does a save-everything flow leave behind?
By the end of the first month the OneDrive folder holds hundreds of files named image001.png and ATT00001.htm, with the invoices somewhere in between. Conditions on size or extension cannot tell a scanned invoice from a scanned brochure, so the folder is complete but not usable.
How do you keep the invoices and drop the logos?
A flow copies whatever the trigger matched. A rule reads the file first, which is why it can leave the signature images behind without a size condition.
“Save every attachment to OneDrive”
What a basic flow does. Every inline logo and signature graphic becomes a file, so the folder fills with image001.png within a week.
“Supplier invoices and credit notes. Not quotes, not images from email signatures.”
Excludes the two things that make an attachment folder useless — near-duplicates and decoration — by describing the document rather than the mail.
What lands in OneDrive?
One file per document, named from its own contents rather than from whatever the sender called it:
Invoice_Contoso-Ltd_2026-09-12.pdf
It is written to Finance Invoices 2026 in the OneDrive, SharePoint or Teams location you picked. Files under 3 KB — the usual signature graphics — are skipped before anything is read.
Findest files attachments that arrive after you connect Outlook; for accounts connected with Microsoft sign-in it does not work through the mail you already have. (“Archive past mail” exists, but only for mailboxes connected with an app password.) For the backlog, use the methods above. Outlook connects through a Microsoft consent screen rather than a password.
Questions about saving Outlook attachments
Can Outlook save attachments from multiple emails at once?
Not with a built-in command. Microsoft documents the save-all options per message. The workarounds are a VBA macro in classic Outlook for Windows or a Power Automate flow.
Can an Outlook rule save attachments automatically?
Not with the standard actions. The old “Run a script” rule action was switched off by a security update, and bringing it back means editing the registry, which is why most people use a flow instead.
Will Findest save the attachments already in my mailbox?
Not for Outlook connected with Microsoft sign-in: it only files attachments that arrive after you connect, so it stops the backlog from growing rather than clearing it. “Archive past mail” is only available for mailboxes connected with an app password.
Related questions
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Microsoft already ships an automation tool for this. It is worth being precise about where it stops being the cheaper option. Read it → — Move Outlook attachments into OneDrive without a flow
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Every invoice filed, without opening the mail
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