Tuesday Tip: A Quicker Way to Attach Files in Outlook

By David Gracey

For better or worse, Microsoft Outlook has pretty much become the center of my work universe. I’m a slave to it. Neither young enough nor cool enough to use instant messaging as my main method of communication, I am sticking with Outlook.

In a typical workday, I send a lot of attachments by email. For years, I would locate the file I wanted to send, right click on it, then choose SEND TO > MAIL RECIPIENT. This was convenient. However, the new email would not use my signature and it would insert some nonsensical message in the body, which I would inevitably delete and then type my own message.

But there is a better way to attach a file that you’ve recently viewed or edited to an email. Here’s how:

1. Create a new email in Outlook
2. Type your email as usual
3. Just prior to hitting SEND, attach your document by clicking the ATTACH FILE button in the toolbar. When you click that button (wait for it…), a list of recently opened files appears. Simply click the document you want to attach!
4. Hit SEND and “whoosh,” away it goes!

The best thing about this technique is that you don’t have to remember where you saved the file. Have you ever found a document on the web and downloaded to God-knows-where? Or have you ever edited a Word document and forgotten where you saved it? Well worry no longer! That file is at the top of the drop-down box for you to pick.

Admittedly, I’ve become a lot more lazy using this method, so I’m sure there are documents scattered all over the place. But who cares? I’m able to find a document immediately after (or while) working on it and send it quickly, without losing my Outlook signature or formatting.

Truly awesomeness.