Attachment Extractor

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In Brief

Attachment Extractor is a Thunderbird extension.
Just select the messages containing the attachments you want to extract and select 'Extract Attachments' and this extension does the rest. No more having to go through each message to extract the attachments!

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Features

• Extract attachments to the default Thunderbird download folder.
• Extract attachments to a specified folder.
• Extract the attachments from an entire Thunderbird message folder.
• Toolbar button. Just go to customise toolbar and add it.
• Can automatically intelligently rename files to avoid replacing existing files.
• You can choose to mark messages as read and or delete them after attachment extraction.
• Localised into many different languages.
• Progress Dialog to inform you of which message and attachment is currently being extracted
• Optionally notifies you when its done extracting, if more than 1 message is selected.
• New: Internal Detaching can suppress confirmation on every email.
• New: Now supports deleting and detaching* of attachments. *(with internal detacher).
• New: Can filter attachment extraction based on the filename of the attachment.

Localisation and Translation

Following the localisation of AttachmentExtractor, it will work fine with the following language versions of Thunderbird:

• US-English (en-US)
• UK-English (en-GB)
• Czech (cs-CZ) [contributed by Cony]
• Dutch (nl-NL) [contributed by Mark Heijl]
• French (fr-FR) [contributed by Xavier Robin]
• Italian (it-IT) [contributed by Luana Di Muzio]
• Slovak (sk-SK) [contributed by Jacen]
• Spanish (es-ES) [contributed by Proyecto Nave]
• Swedish(sv-SE) [contributed by StiffeL]
• Japanese (ja) [contributed by Premier]

If you run Thunderbird in a different language than those listed there then this extension may not properly work with your installation. Localisation (translation) is now carried out through a great project called BabelZilla and their online interactive translation system called "Web Translation System". Its really easy to do so if you can read and translate the extension into any other language that isn't on the list join up there and get translating!

To Use

Once installed, just select the messages containing the attachments you want to extract, right click, and select 'Extract Selected Attachments' from the context menu. This will extract all the attachments from all the messages you have selected to the default Thunderbird download folder. If you want to choose the destination this time, select 'Extract Selected Attachments To..." to save to a folder of your choice. You can also access these functions from the 'Tools' menu in a 'Extract Attachments' submenu. There is also a Toolbar button you can add which gives you one-click extracting - left click to extract selected to default; right click to extract selected to a specified folder.

Please see the Changelog for a full description of changes and feature additions/changes.

Warning

Even though this project has reached the 1.0 milestone it should still be regarded as inherently a work in progress. Most of the functionality is achieved by leveraging existing Thunderbird functionality in a more efficient way, so it should be safe. Some of the functions involve modifying your emails, but warnings are displayed as appropriate.
In summary, I take absolutely no responsibility of the actions of the add-on, either unintended or otherwise and my liability as the author is limited to the amount your paid to get the add-on (i.e. £|€|$0).

Download

Download from addons.mozilla.org

The add-on is available via the Mozilla organisation, directly from AMO. AttachmentExtractor, like all add-ons now, requires Editor approval so updates are available a time afterwards - normally about 5-10 days.

Get the current release from the Download page at AMO.

Privacy Policy

From version 0.9.5, (previous versions had different strategies), the first time you run Attachment Extractor the extension loads a window with cut down version of the changelog on this website. To do this a page is loaded with the extension name and version as parameters (so I can display the correct version). I don't collect any information off you or your Thunderbird installation/profile, personally identifiable or otherwise. All the source is freely available in the XPI if you don't believe me.
If you are of a paranoid disposition then put on your tin-hat and make sure you aren't connected to the internet when you first use Attachment Extractor. Once the preference attachmentextractor.firstuse is set to the current version number of the extension then no further contact will be made. Or I suppose you could edit the extension yourself or the default preferences file.