We can SEND or RECEIVE attachments through email. These are files that "ride along" with our email. 

SENDING

To send a file we start by clicking NEW MAIL.

Type the email address in the TO: box. You can also use the address book by clicking on its TO: icon. Go ahead and type in a SUBJECT and finish writing your mail. When you are done click on the ATTACH icon on the toolbar.

We are going to send a file called Happy.exe in the C:\Internet Files\programs folder.

The file selection box opens up. Now we have to "charge out there" and navigate our way to our chosen directory. Start by clicking the up-side down triangle next to the uppermost box.

From here we can see various locations in our directory tree. Select the C: drive, since this is the base, or root, of our hard drive. We will be able to see all of our folders from there.

Since we want to go to the Internet Files folder, we double-click on that.

That will bring us one level deeper in our folder structure. We want to go to the Programs folder since our file is located at C:\Internet Files\Programs\Happy.exe. Double-click on Programs.

There is our file. Now we select our file and press the OPEN button.

You have now attached a file. Feel good about it. Press SEND and give someone the experience of receiving an email with an attachment.

RECEIVING

Start by clicking SEND/RECV on the toolbar. 

If you receive email with an attachment it will look like this.

There is a paper clip next to it. Double-click on the email in the right-pane to open it.

After the ATTACH: label is our file sent as an attachment to us. You can double-click or right-click for options. We are going to double-click directly on the attachment.

This is your chance to save it to your hard disk and scan it with your virus scanning software, or you can be brave (or stupid), not have to time to worry, or just not know and select OPEN and press OK. At this point things will just work or they won't. Literally. And they may work for a while...and then it won't. It depends on how long it takes for the damage to be done...if there is any.

For our exercise we are going to save it to our C:\Internet Files folder. Check SAVE IT TO DISK and press the OK button.

Now we want to find our folder. If you can't remember directory structures, scroll up to the previous example. Anyway, if you don't know where you are, start from the C: drive. Select that.

Now double-click the folder you want to SAVE the file in. In our case it is Internet Files.

Now press the SAVE button. This will save our email file attachment in the C:\Internet Files folder. In other words, our file location is C:\Internet Files\Happy.exe.

Now we can go do anything we want with that file. If we are uncertain what it is, we might want to scan it quick with our anti-virus software before we execute it. It may be too late.

Have fun with attachments. They are one of the most useful things on the internet. 

 You can now open Windows Explorer and navigate to your new file.

There it is. Right where you put it. See, this file management is pretty easy stuff.