February 14, 2015

Download Blocked Gmail Attachments

I was checking some old Gmail messages and I noticed this warning: "Anti-virus warning - 1 attachment contains a virus or blocked file. Downloading this attachment is disabled." It turns out that the .rar archive was "blocked for security reasons" and I can't download it.

There are some file types that are blocked by Gmail, but .rar is not one of them. Here's the list: ".ade, .adp, .bat, .chm, .cmd, .com, .cpl, .exe, .hta, .ins, .isp, .jse, .lib, .lnk, .mde, .msc, .msp, .mst, .pif, .scr, .sct, .shb, .sys, .vb, .vbe, .vbs, .vxd, .wsc, .wsf, .wsh". It turns out that the archive included a few .bat files inside a .zip archive and "Gmail won't accept these file types even if they're sent in a zipped format".

Anti-virus warning in Gmail's web interface

How to download the blocked attachment? I couldn't find a way to do this from the web interface. Gmail disabled the download button and the "save to Drive" button. Not even the "basic HTML" Gmail interface lets you download the file and the "download all" link only lets you download all safe attachments.

Fortunately, you can use other mail clients: Outlook, Thunderbird, KMail, Apple Mail. Surprisingly, Gmail's Android app lets you download blocked files or save them to Google Drive. Gmail's iOS app doesn't let you download blocked attachments, but you can save them to Google Drive. I also checked the built-in mail clients from iOS and Mac OS X and it's easy to download all attachments. To open archives in iOS, install an app like iZip first.

Gmail's Android app
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34 comments:

  1. UnknownAugust 11, 2015 at 3:24 AM

    Workaround : Simply access the same mail via gmail android app.. u can download it . no issues.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnudeepAugust 13, 2015 at 11:51 PM

      Using Show Original, Save That Content On Desktop in Text File.
      Now Rename That Text File To [FileName].eml extension.

      now double click that file and download that file.

      Enjoy...:)

      Delete
    2. woloAugust 22, 2015 at 10:31 PM

      ...Assuming you have any email client installed in your system.

      Delete
    3. Ashok kumarSeptember 29, 2015 at 12:43 AM

      thanks Anudeep....

      Delete
    4. UnknownOctober 15, 2015 at 4:11 AM

      Thanks Anudeep, I cut out an additional step. Save as "all files" namefile.eml
      I was getting worried for a moment

      Delete
    5. טוביהNovember 4, 2015 at 3:40 AM

      thank U very much, Suraj Jain, Android made it.

      Delete
    6. JohnLNovember 19, 2015 at 8:34 AM

      Nice. Thanks!

      Delete
    7. UnknownDecember 3, 2015 at 8:12 AM

      You are awesome Anudeep.

      Delete
    8. srikanthpasunuriDecember 9, 2015 at 12:49 AM

      Thank You suraj..i got it

      Delete
    9. UnknownJanuary 13, 2016 at 12:39 PM

      gmail app is the simpliest solution. then transfer it to any other mail account that supports the format

      Delete
    10. thamiMay 10, 2016 at 10:56 PM

      Thanks Anudeep

      Delete
    11. UnknownMarch 4, 2017 at 1:07 AM

      Thanks to you for gving just simple idea

      Suraj JainAugust 11, 2015 at 3:24 AM
      Workaround : Simply access the same mail via gmail android app.. u can download it . no issues.

      Reply

      Delete
  2. UnknownOctober 21, 2015 at 5:12 AM

    Thanks Anudeep. An awesome help!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. ✓¡ǥηεsħOctober 24, 2015 at 10:39 PM

    Yes! it allowed to save from android app. Thank you very much :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownNovember 11, 2015 at 1:52 AM

    I'm sure buying smartphone isn't affordable. but i'll chose to use a safe "Mail Attachment Downloader" instead for PC.
    Google needs to fix the system.

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownNovember 11, 2015 at 1:54 AM

    They fail at making their own virus scanner.
    Sorry bud. *Shrug*

    ReplyDelete
  6. Priyada MohananNovember 24, 2015 at 6:19 PM

    Click this link
    http://programming-bca-mca.blogspot.in/2014/11/access-to-attachment-gmail-regards-as.html .
    I accessed the blocked contents.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Life's WaterfallMarch 3, 2016 at 3:06 AM

      This link is really great. It works perfectly as described. Thanks for sharing!

      Delete
    2. UnknownApril 30, 2017 at 8:20 AM

      Super Super Super.. It worked!! :)
      Thank you!

      Delete
  7. Vineeth sasiJanuary 11, 2016 at 3:28 AM

    just "sign in" your mail in Android device then download blocked file easily

    ReplyDelete
  8. UnknownJanuary 27, 2016 at 7:24 AM

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  9. AntelopeeyesMarch 22, 2016 at 9:45 PM

    Thanks a lot Man!

    ReplyDelete
  10. InfoChefMarch 25, 2016 at 10:24 PM

    worked thank u

    ReplyDelete
  11. DrewApril 20, 2016 at 7:26 AM

    Mine was in Drafts which made the Android GMail solution the simplest but I used the save to Drive option as it was a ZIP for a Windows box. Then I was able to download from Drive and open it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. RohithMay 4, 2016 at 11:20 PM

    tq so much ......... recovered very imp file...

    ReplyDelete
  13. UnknownMay 20, 2016 at 9:22 PM

    Another easy solution. Use GMAIL on another browser. I tried IE 11 and was able to download everything fine

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownJuly 23, 2016 at 11:43 AM

      Hi Paul. Scary stuff from Google. Ended up having to save the original and open in Thunderbird email app. Then was able to retrieve. Guess time to move on from Gmail as Google made a fundamental change which almost cost me a lot of lost time.

      Delete
  14. AnonymousFebruary 24, 2017 at 9:41 PM


    Very simple steps , thanks for providing this ,as this will provide us solution How to deal with Gmail instantly ,I was also strugglinf for the same to send high resolution images to my friends yahoo mails ,because everytime I suppose to do so I find attachements did n't receive to another person .but why this happens ,I searched a lot for the solution and got solution from here https://gonetech.net/gmail-technical-support-phone-number/

    ReplyDelete
  15. KaviMay 2, 2017 at 11:06 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  16. MichałMay 16, 2017 at 10:04 PM

    Thank you very much. It was a great help. I don't know why they let me attached zip file with .sas files and send it to myself, and after that they do not allow me to download or send it anywhere or upload to Google Drive. Especially upload to Google Drive solution should be available in gmail web client.

    ReplyDelete
  17. HKAMay 19, 2017 at 11:22 PM

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  18. lrq3000July 15, 2017 at 7:03 PM

    The Android app trick still works, thank's a lot!

    ReplyDelete
  19. FuckGoogleAugust 19, 2017 at 11:20 PM

    Fuck Google! Why I can't download my own file? Who give google the authority to block my private email file?

    ReplyDelete
  20. frednvcSeptember 25, 2017 at 7:59 AM

    Workaround that worked for me:
    1. Click on the arrow next to the reply button and choose "show original"
    2. Click on the link "Download original"
    3. Open the downloaded text file
    4. Copy the block of code below the line: Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="yourfilename.js"
    5. Use an online base64 decoder: https://www.base64decode.org/
    6. Paste your copied block of code and click decode, it will download your js. Also tested with zip files.

    ReplyDelete

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