Why is Gmail Not Downloading Attachments? Let’s Discover!

Mark Regan
Published: April 16th, 2025 • 4 Min Read

Although Gmail is a prime choice for many users and a widely used email client, users sometimes face issues in downloading attachments. In many cases when users can’t download attachments from Gmail, they get concerned as it contains important data which they cannot afford to lose. Gmail not downloading attachments issues can occur due to multiple reasons from outdated browsers to Gmail space issues. In the following article we will walk through various factors responsible for the attachment issue in Gmail and guide our users with a comprehensive guide to fix the issues using both manual and advanced solutions.

Why is Gmail Not Downloading Attachments?

Slow or weak internet connection can be one of the biggest factors for which users can’t download attachments from Gmail.
Gmail provides 15GB of free storage space and if users have exhausted their storage space or in a borderline to storage limit, in such cases users can’t download attachments from Gmail.
Gmail only has a size limit of 25 MB for attachments. In cases where the attachment size exceeds the limit, Gmail does not download attachments
A lot of times a person uses an outdated browser, due to which Gmail experiences trouble in downloading attachments.
Sometimes Gmail uses spam detection features or the antivirus software on your system may not allow Gmail to download attachments.
In many cases the trouble temporarily occurred on the Gmail server, which may take to resolve the issues leading to the attachment download problem is Gmail.

Steps to Follow to Fix Attachment Issue in Gmail

Check your internet connection if it’s working properly or not or you can switch to a more stable connection to download Gmail attachments.
Users can check their storage space and free up the space in case it exceeds the limit or upgrade to a higher storage plan.
In case the attachment file size exceeds the 25 MB limit, the user can request the sender to send the attachment through Google Drive.
Update your browser, clear your browser cache, remove extensions, or user can also open Gmail on a different browser or incognito mode. ‘
Check your antivirus settings as they may block the attachments to get downloaded on your system.

Ideal Software to Fix Attachment Download Problem in Gmail

Although the above mentioned troubleshooting steps can solve download attachments issues but not necessarily those are always successful. They may be time-consuming and need technical expertise to accomplish it. Therefore, we have advanced software for users who need to actively manage email attachments without disruption. The BitRecover Email Attachment Downloader Wizard easily and smoothly exports attachments from the email without any issues. The efficient software is capable of extracting attachments across all the emails individually in case the user only needs attachments and not the complete email body.

In case a user is looking to backup both emails and attachments along with it, they can choose our advanced software BitRecover Email Backup Wizard to completely backup their Gmail data without any data loss.

Quick Steps to Download Gmail Attachments:

Firstly, download and run the software on your P.C.
Next, go to the email source list and select Gmail from there.
Now, fill the Gmail credentials and press the Login button.
Then, in the saving option list select Extract Email Attachments option and select the desired email to download attachment.
Finally, select the destination path and download the Gmail attachment on your system.

Exclusive Features of the Software

The software is capable of exporting multiple attachments in a single process without facing any issues.
You can save your attachments in your desired format like PNG, PDF, JPEG, etc. as the software provides multiple saving format options.
Users can select emails to download attachments from based on specific criteria like date range, subject, email address, etc.
The software keeps the attachment quality intact as original after exporting it from the email.
It’s a trusted and reliable application with a clean interface to facilitate the smooth download of attachments from Gmail.

Conclusion

In the following article we learnt the different troubleshoot steps to defeat the downloading issues of Gmail attachments. As the manual steps are quite time-consuming and not necessarily successful in some cases, we recommended our users with the perfect software for quick and smooth download of Gmail attachments.