How to find all your attachments in Gmail on a Mac
Updated November 2026
Gmail has no page that lists your files, but its search finds every email that has one. Type has:attachment in the search box, or search and then click the Has attachment chip. Add filename:pdf for one kind of file, larger:10M for big ones, or from: for one person. In Apple Mail, type "attachment" in the search field and choose Message with attachments. Both show you emails, not files. For a list of the files themselves, you need an app that makes one.
Search Gmail for attachments
These searches work in Gmail on the web, in Safari or any other browser. They come from Google's own list of search operators.
| Type this | To find |
|---|---|
has:attachment | Every email with a file. Google says this includes inline images too. |
filename:pdf | Emails with a PDF. Use any extension, like filename:xlsx, or a name, like filename:invoice.pdf. |
larger:10M | Emails bigger than 10 MB, which almost always means a big attachment. size: finds a size in bytes. |
has:drive | Emails with a Google Drive link. has:document, has:spreadsheet and has:presentation find Docs, Sheets and Slides. |
from:anna@example.com | Emails from one person. from:me finds the ones you sent. |
older_than:1y | Emails older than a year. newer_than:2d finds the last two days. Use d, m or y. |
in:anywhere | Spam and Trash as well, which normal searches leave out. |
Put them together in one search. For example, has:attachment filename:pdf from:anna@example.com older_than:1y finds the PDFs Anna sent you more than a year ago. Gmail also offers chips under the search box after you search, such as From, Any time and Has attachment, if you'd rather click than type.
Free up Gmail storage
Your free Google storage is 15 GB, shared by Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos, and old attachments are often what fills it. Google suggests these two searches:
- Big files:
has:attachment larger:10M - Old files:
older_than:2y has:attachment
Save any file you want to keep, select the emails, delete them, then empty Trash. Google says the storage you free can take 48 to 72 hours to show.
Download attachments
- From one email: point at a file at the bottom of the message to download it or save it to Drive. With several files, Gmail offers to download them all at once as a zip file.
- From many emails: Gmail has no way to do this. Google Takeout downloads your whole mailbox as one archive, with the files inside the emails, but not a folder of files, and not just one date range.
- Add-ons and scripts can save attachments to Drive by rule. To do it, they need access to your mail and your Drive, so check who makes one before you allow it.
In Apple Mail
Apple Mail has no list of files either, but it can find the emails:
- Search: type "attachment" in the search field and choose Message with attachments from the suggestions.
- Save: select a message and choose File › Save Attachments, or drag a file to the desktop.
- Keep them handy: a Smart Mailbox (Mailbox › New Smart Mailbox) with a condition for attachments keeps those emails in one place.
Apple Mail also puts attachments between the lines of a message. Our guide How to keep attachments at the bottom in Apple Mail has the settings that help.
Where Lambda Mail fits
We make Lambda Mail, a Mac app for Gmail, so take this as our side of the story, kept to facts. Every way above finds emails that have files. Lambda Mail also lists the files themselves.
- An Attachments page in the sidebar of each account: every file you've sent or received, newest first, with a big preview beside the list.
- Kinds: All Files, Images, PDFs, Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations or Archives. Each one runs the Gmail search for you, like
has:attachment filename:pdf. - Search: what you type is added to that search, so
from:anna@example.comorlarger:10Mworks there too. - Use a file: Space for Quick Look, open it, save it, drag it out, or jump to the email it came in.
- Light on your Mac: the list comes from Gmail's outline of each message. A file downloads only when you select, open or drag it.
In every message, Lambda Mail keeps attachments in a bar at the bottom, never between your lines. It works with Gmail and Google Workspace on macOS 14 and later, and the beta is free.
More guides
Sources, read November 2, 2026: Google, Refine searches in Gmail, Search in Gmail, Manage your storage in Drive, Gmail & Photos and How to download your Google data; Apple, Search for emails in Mail on Mac, View, save, or delete email attachments in Mail on Mac and Automatically sort incoming emails in Mail on Mac.