Viewing attachments in an email

How RedactBox surfaces email attachments and what file types are supported.

Last updated 8 days ago

When you open any email that has attachments, you'll see an Attachments tab at the top of the preview, alongside Body and Headers. The number in the tab label tells you how many files are bundled with the email.

The Attachments tab is split into two panes:

  • Left rail β€” a list of every file in the email. Each row shows the filename, file type, and size. You can scroll the list, click any row to preview it, or use the up/down arrow keys to step through them.

  • Right pane β€” the preview of whichever file is currently selected. If nothing is selected, you'll see a "Pick an attachment to preview" placeholder.

Inline images vs. attachments

Some emails contain small images that are referenced inside the HTML body itself β€” things like signature logos or embedded screenshots. These are called inline images and behave a bit differently from normal attachments. RedactBox shows them in a separate expander below the main attachment list, so they don't clutter the view but are still accessible if you need them.

Supported file types

RedactBox can preview the following file types directly in the browser:

  • PDF documents

  • Images β€” JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, BMP

  • Word documents β€” .docx

  • Spreadsheets β€” .xlsx, .xls (with sheet tabs)

  • Plain text and code β€” .txt, .md, .log, .json, .xml, .csv

Other file types (zip archives, executables, SQL dumps and similar) show a "No preview" state with a download button β€” RedactBox won't try to render them in the browser, since that would either be unsafe or produce a misleading result.

Files larger than 50Β MB

Attachments larger than 50Β MB aren't stored, so you'll see a Too large badge next to them with no preview or download option. Most webmail providers cap individual attachment size at around 25Β MB, so this rarely comes up in practice. If you need a file that's been flagged as too large, ask the sender to share it through a file-transfer service instead.

Keyboard shortcuts

While the Attachments tab is open:

  • ↑ / ↓ β€” move between files in the left rail

  • Home / End β€” jump to the first or last file

  • Esc β€” close the email preview