Email attachments date is not preserved when saving

[sunorain]

If I save attachment from Outlook email into separate file, attachment file
gets date when it was saved, not when it was received actually by email
(though it should).

On the other side I noticed that some attachments (could not discover
pattern) are saved with their original date, not "moment of saving" date.

Are there any means to force Outlook to save attachment files with date /
time when message was received for easier sorting?

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Its fixed in Outlook 2003 and up on WinXP and better, at least for exchange
accounts. Otherwise, no, there isn't a way to force the date. If I recall
correctly, two weeks seemed to be the point when the behavior changed.



--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]



Outlook Tips by email:
mailto:[email protected]

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
mailto:[email protected]

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

If I save attachment from Outlook email into separate file, attachment file
gets date when it was saved, not when it was received actually by email
(though it should).

The file system kowns nothing about the properties of the message as a mail
item. When you convert that message to a file, its date will be the file
creation date, which is the date you save the message as a file. A mail
message is not a file until you save it.

On the other side I noticed that some attachments (could not discover
pattern) are saved with their original date, not "moment of saving" date.

This is natural because the attachment was originally a file. The encoding
process retains the original file date information when the message gets
attached and recreates that data when the attachment gets saved again as a
file.,

Are there any means to force Outlook to save attachment files with date /
time when message was received for easier sorting?

There are likely to be tools you can find on the Internet that will allow yo
to manipulate the file attributes. Google should find them for you. This all
begs the question, though, of why you want to keep the messages external to
Outlook and why you think that's better that leaving them in Outlook.

 

[sunorain]

Not sure I fully understand reply, on single user system (vista+office2007)
nothing is "fixed"

 

[sunorain]

I miss your logic.
yes, FS doesn't know date - but Outlook should report it to FS by setting
correct date of file when it's saved.
And what is "natural" if some attachments get correct date and others do not?

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

I miss your logic.
yes, FS doesn't know date - but Outlook should report it to FS by setting
correct date of file when it's saved.

No application I know "reports" a date to the file system. The file system
uses the date the file itself gets created and that's the date you drag the
message to the file system.

And what is "natural" if some attachments get correct date and others do
not?

A message dragged to a file system folder is not an attachment.

 

[sunorain]

sorry to say that your previous comment was nonsense plus you extrapolate
your ideas to my actions instead of reading what I have done.

1) files do not create "themselves", as well as FS does not create files.

2) sometimes saved Outlook attachment have their original file date,
sometimes (mostly) they get today's date, and you stubbornly continue to
ignore this simple fact of inconsistency.

 

[Phil]

2) sometimes saved Outlook attachment have their original file date,

sometimes (mostly) they get today's date

I can confirm Outlook definately is inconsistent with saving
attachments' original date. I have had a very similiar problem and
found a workaround (imperfect at that):

Similiar problem: My colleague and I both work for the same company,
on the same network, have the same model laptop, the same WinXP SOE
(standard operating environment), the same versions of MS Office 2003
SP3 and even the same email. And yet, when he saves an attachment from
an email to the file system, it seems to always have the original
file's date. But when I do the same, the file's date is always set to
the current time. Furthermore, if I try to overwrite the saved file by
repeating the Save Attachment procedure with the same file, the
Windows 'Confirm File Replace' dialog shows the second file's date as
"(unknown date and size)".

Workaround: By fluke, I discovered that if I save the attachment by
selecting File / Save Attachment from the menubar, and rename the file
(a one letter change or addition is enough) within the 'Save
Attachment' dialog window, the saved file magically receives its
original file date (rather than the current date).

Conclusion: Seems to be a bug in Outlook. What is going on
Microsoft!!!???

I hope the workaround helps anyone frustrated by the issue!

Are there any means to force Outlook to save attachment files with date /
time when message was received for easier sorting?

PS As for your other original question about saving with the date
received, if you can't find a solution with an Add-in or the like you
could always program a solution with a VBA macro (if you're keen -
sorry I'm not).

 

[Just Joe]

2) sometimes saved Outlook attachment have their original file date,

I can confirm Outlook definately is inconsistent with saving
attachments' original date. I have had a very similiar problem and
found a workaround (imperfect at that):

Similiar problem: My colleague and I both work for the same company,
on the same network, have the same model laptop, the same WinXP SOE
(standard operating environment), the same versions of MS Office 2003
SP3 and even the same email. And yet, when he saves an attachment from
an email to the file system, it seems to always have the original
file's date. But when I do the same, the file's date is always set to
the current time. Furthermore, if I try to overwrite the saved file by
repeating the Save Attachment procedure with the same file, the
Windows 'Confirm File Replace' dialog shows the second file's date as
"(unknown date and size)".

Workaround: By fluke, I discovered that if I save the attachment by
selecting File / Save Attachment from the menubar, and rename the file
(a one letter change or addition is enough) within the 'Save
Attachment' dialog window, the saved file magically receives its
original file date (rather than the current date).

Conclusion: Seems to be a bug in Outlook. What is going on
Microsoft!!!???

I hope the workaround helps anyone frustrated by the issue!

PS As for your other original question about saving with the date
received, if you can't find a solution with an Add-in or the like you
could always program a solution with a VBA macro (if you're keen -
sorry I'm not).

This inconsistency in attached file date-stamping still exists in Office 365, and Phil's solution still works. I actually didn't even have to change the file name as he described. Earlier today I saved a set of files attached to emails received in January by dragging & dropping them from the various emails to my destination folder in Windows Explorer. Every one got date-stamped 2/3/2022. I just went back and did Phil's File/Save As method and every one of them updated to the date in January that I received them.