Editing Documents Directly From Outlook Attachments

It makes sense to open an attachment, make changes and sent it back. However, to be blunt, don't do it! Here's why:

Despite even Microsoft agreeing that process is purely intuitive, they do not endorse it for the risks it poses. I'm going to insert my personal opinion here by stating that I cannot fathom why after all these years Microsoft still hasn't blocked this "feature". Without getting too deep in the technicalities, to understand why this isn't feasible you have to understand how Windows handles temporary files. When you open a document Windows doesn't actually allow you to write directly "into" the original but rather it opens a temporary file and synchronizes the changes to the original. Think of Windows as proxying your access to the file. The reasons for doing that are both technical and safety related. Now enter the world of email, attachments and the infamous Outlook program. Do to the onslaught of security threats in email attachments Windows and Outlook do not treat attachments as it would normal files. They purposely store these types of files in a special folder that even the owner of the document(you) doesn't have direct access to. And that is the exact reason to avoid editing attachments; I reiterate: you do not have direct access to the file or even the folder that contains it. This means that even if you save the file by clicking the save icon when you close the program or your computer reboots, crashes or you sign-out for any reason you will not be able to recover the changes you made thus potentially losing valuable work and time.

Now what? you may ask. The solution is rather simple: when you receive an attachment you want to edit, save it to your computer (or network drive) then open it to make your changes. Now auto-recovery can save you if anything bad happens and the crisis can be avoided! Not to mention it'll be make a world of difference trying to find said file down the road compared to wading through your inbox for an attachment ;)