Because a Pocket PC has limited memory, email attachments are not automatically downloaded to the device. Instead you'll see a message in the body of the email like those shown below.  

Windows Mobile 2003 se	WM6.1
If you want to retrieve the attachment, tap Edit > Mark for Download	If you want to retrieve the attachment, tap the hyperlinked message

The next time you retrieve email, the entire message and attachment will be downloaded to the device. 

Windows Mobile 2003 se	WM6.1

The attachment in this example is a PDF file.  Since I have a PDF Viewer installed on my Pocket PCs (Adobe Reader on the Windows Mobile 2003se device and Adobe Reader LE on the WM6.1 device), I can tap the attachment to open it in my default PDF viewer.

Windows Mobile 2003 se	WM6.1

Instead of opening the file, you can press and hold the stylus on the file, select the "Save As" option and save the file to the folder and location of your choice on the device.

Windows Mobile 2003 se	WM6.1

Save Memory: Store Attachments on the Storage Card

To conserve memory, set the option below to store all downloaded attachments directly to the storage card.  Open up the Messaging application, then:

Windows Mobile 2003 se	WM6.1
Tap Accounts > Accounts > Storage tab	Tap Menu > Tools > Options > Storage tab

Other Memory Saving Options

By default, email is downloaded on a moving 3 day protocol and only message headers are downloaded, but you can change these options.  Open up the Messaging application, then follow the instructions below:

Windows Mobile 2003 se	WM6.1
Tap Accounts > Accounts > select your messaging account Tap Next > Next > Next > Options > Next Change the setting as desired, Tap Next	Tap Menu > Tools > Options > select your messaging account Tap "Edit Account Setup" > Next > Next > Next > Next  > Next Change the "Download message" setting as desired.  Choice include today's messages, the past 3, 5, 7, or 30 days or all messages Tap Next

You can choose the amount of data you wish to download automatically whenever you retrieve email.  Choices include:

Windows Mobile 2003 se	WM6.1
Get full copy of message Get message headers only.  A portion of the message by selecting "Include" and specifying the amount (in kilobytes) of the message you'd like to retrieve	Entire message Message headers only, Anywhere from 2 to 50 KB of the message (along with the header).

The message headers and bodies are stored in main memory, so be careful about the amount of days and message size you select or else you'll fill up the device's main memory. 

It is never a good practice to use the device as your primary data repository for email (or anything else for that matter).  At the very least, take care to backup the device regularly.

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