Quick test: where is the signed lease from your landlord last year? If your answer is 'somewhere in Gmail', you have an email-attachment problem.
PDFs in email are not filed; they are buried. Here's how to dig them out and keep new ones from sinking.
Save attachments on receipt, not on demand
When a PDF lands by email, save it to `/Inbox/PDFs` immediately. Don't 'star it for later'. Don't trust 'I'll find it by searching the sender'. Two clicks now beats 20 minutes of searching later.
If you live in Gmail, the 'Save to Drive' button is the bare minimum — but a local copy in your inbox folder is better. Local files are always there; cloud files are there until they aren't.
Rename before you forget what it is
While the context is fresh, rename: `YYYY-MM-DD_<sender-or-counterparty>_<doc-type>.pdf`. Five seconds. Future-you will thank present-you.
The default 'attachment.pdf' or 'Scan-08-15.pdf' filenames are essentially invisible. Renaming converts the PDF from 'something I have somewhere' to 'something I can find'.
Process it like any other PDF
Run it through your normal pipeline: edit if needed, sign if needed, compress before forwarding. Then file in `/Archive`.
The trap is treating email PDFs differently. They're not — they're just PDFs that arrived by email. Same processing, same destination.
Reply with intent
If your reply contains 'see attached', be deliberate about it. Compress before attaching anything over 5 MB. Use a share link for anything over 20 MB. Mention the file's contents in the email body so search will find it by your words, not just the filename.
A good attachment is a found attachment six months from now.
FAQ
Should I delete the email after saving the attachment?
Archive the email but keep it. The metadata (sender, date, thread) sometimes matters. The PDF lives in your file system; the context lives in your email archive.
What if the email has 5 attachments?
Save all of them, then merge into one logical document if they belong together. A multi-page contract sent as 5 PDFs is much more useful as one.
How do I stop email being the source of truth?
Make your file system the source of truth. Email is a delivery mechanism, not a filing system. Treat attachments like deliveries — accept, log, store.
Can I auto-save attachments from specific senders?
Yes — most mail clients support rules that save attachments to a folder on receipt. Set up rules for high-volume senders (banks, accountants, suppliers) and you cut the manual save step.
The PDFs in your email are mostly invisible. Pull them out. Open Flint and process the last week of attachments — you'll find at least one you'd lost.