How to view without downloading

I am new to mac and am running os 10.3.9. Is there a way to click on an attachment in an email and view it without downloading the attachment to my desktop. Sometimes I just want to look at it and don't want to clutter my desktop with all the downloads. Any ideas?

You have to download the email and hence attachment to your mail account. Open the attachment and if you dont want it hit the trash or trash the desktop copy.

*Moved thread to appropriate forum - Question on OS X email client -> Not just anything goes in Anything Goes*

A similar question (don't mean to hijack the thread; I'm not sure if I should create a new one or add to an existing), but with this picture: http://mms.nps.gov/mora/cam/mountain.jpg

Is there a way in Safari to open it in the browser? It works fine in Firefox (opening either a new window or a new tab), but in Safari, it downloads it to the Downloads folder.

Tigerotor77w said:

A similar question (don't mean to hijack the thread; I'm not sure if I should create a new one or add to an existing), but with this picture: http://mms.nps.gov/mora/cam/mountain.jpg

Is there a way in Safari to open it in the browser? It works fine in Firefox (opening either a new window or a new tab), but in Safari, it downloads it to the Downloads folder.

Click to expand...

This is my question exactly. I don't want it to download to the folder or the desktop. I just want the attachment to open up in a new window. Why should I have to take an extra step to move it from the desktop to the trash. That seems really lame.

Are you using the Mail app? When I get an attachment with picture it usually just shows up in the message window. And I tested it out on a document and it opened in the right application without downloading to the desktop (or my downloads folder). Maybe this is something they've changed since 10.3.

Tigerotor, that's just a weird website, that's all i can say, cause most of the time images will just open in the browser. I tried to go to just mms.nps.gov and it says not found. Where did you find it?

When I open up my email from a company email account it downloads attachments to the desktop. I can't use Mail with the corporate email. When I use Mail it just opens up in the window like it should. Also, when I click on a .pdf file on a website or something, it downloads. Help!

So how do you access your email? Through a website? If so, then I think it's up to the website service to determine how it handles attachments.

Are you using Safari? I don't believe Firefox will let you view pdfs in the browser, unless there is a plugin or something. I've never had a problem with Safari viewing pdfs in the browser.

AlyciaAnimation, the referring website is www.nps.gov/mora . The link that I posted is under the "Paradise Web Cameras" section.

Magneto said:

Also, when I click on a .pdf file on a website or something, it downloads. Help!

Click to expand...

It does for me, too, depending on the website. I don't remember where I saw it, but there was an options pane for "Viewing PDFs in browser." Of course now I can't find it...