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Gmail won’t download attachments [QUICK SOLUTIONS]

5 min. read

Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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Key notes

A fewGmailusers have found that they can’tdownloadfilesattachedto their emails onWindows 10. The documents stopdownloadingafter selecting to save them to HDD.

So if that’s a familiar scenario, this is how you can fixGmailattachmentsthat aren’tdownloading.

What can I do if Gmail attachments won’t download?

1. Check that Gmail supports your browser

First, check you’re openingGmailemails in one of its supported browsers.Gmailworks in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer and Edge, which are its supported browsers.

As such, Vivaldi, Maxthon, and Opera are not amongGmail‘s supported browsers. Also note thatGmailrequires JavaScript and cookies switched on in browsers.

If you want the latest and greatest browser available right now, check out our best picks.

2. Use Mailbird email client

Switching to an email client has some considerable advantages.

First of all, Gmail and others are quite heavy web apps, which means that the browser will consume more memory and CPU to display the content. Since we use email all the time, most likely there’s always one or two tabs permanently open for emails.

Using an email client offloads that effort from the browser, making it snappier. It also means better offline support. UsingMailbird,the winner of most popular Mail alternative 2020as your primary email client is even better.

Why? Because you can connect your Gmail account and have all your attachments readily available on your computer. You can also connect other providers for increased productivity.

Going one step further means you can connect your other favoritecalendar appsor messaging apps (Whatsapp, Facebook, WeChat, etc.) and have them all in one central place. No more tab switching with the websites you visit.

Other powerful features:

Easily and safely connect Gmail to Mailbird using IMAP port 993 for SSL and SMTP port 587 for TLS.

⇒Get Mailbird

3. Update the browser

Perhaps you areunable to download attachments from Gmail in Chrome. Make sure that your browser is the most updated version.

You can update Google Chrome by pressing theCustomize Google Chromebutton and selectingHelp>About Google Chrome.

The browser will then automatically update if it’s not the latest version. You can also ensure that any browser is the most updated version bydownloadingits installer from its website and then reinstalling the software.

4. Uncheck theDo not save encrypted pages to disksetting

Some Gmail users have fixed Gmail email attachments that aren’t downloading by deselecting the Do not save encrypted pages to disk set.

5. Switch off the Gmail Labs setting

Gmail includes a variety of experimental settings inGmailLabs. However, they are only experimental settings that might not always work. If you have lots ofGmailLabs settings selected, switching off those options off might fixGmailattachments.

The quick way to switch those options off is to add ‘labs=0’ to the end ofGmail‘s URL.

Your Gmail settings are out of date? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

6. Switch off antivirus software

Antivirus software can hamper both email client software and webmail. To ensure that isn’t the case, switch off third-party antivirus software.

You can usually do that by right-clicking anti-virus utilities’ system tray icons and selecting a disable or exit option from their context menus.

Can’t open Task Manager? Don’t worry, we’ve got the right solution for you.

7. Clear browser cache

Clearing browser caches can often be an effective resolution for a variety of web issues and frees up hard drive space. How you clear the cache varies from browser to browser.

If you have any other suggestions or questions, leave them in the comments section below and we’ll surely take a look.

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Gmail won’t download attachments [QUICK SOLUTIONS]#

What can I do if Gmail attachments won’t download?#

1. Check that Gmail supports your browser#

2. Use Mailbird email client#

3. Update the browser#

4. Uncheck theDo not save encrypted pages to disksetting#

5. Switch off the Gmail Labs setting#

6. Switch off antivirus software#

7. Clear browser cache#