Unable to Save Attachments from Android Messages

[jut87]

I am unable to download photos/attachments from the Android Messages app any longer. When I click the disk icon in the top right with a photo open in the app, I get the message ""couldn't save 1 attachment". I've tried clearing the cache, clearing the data, uninstalling/reinstalling the app, toggling permissions for storage, with no change.

I have saved a picture as recently as Sept 6, 2018. I'm running an LG G6 on Verizon. The last system update was applied on Sept 22, 2018 (VS98820d), so it seems like that update could be the issue. It doesn't seem like the Oreo update was the issue, since I could download attachments after that.

I'm open to any and all suggestions. Otherwise, I'm likely to switch back to LG Messaging or the Verizon Messenger+, even though I dislike both of these compared to the Andriod Messages app. Thanks.

 

[lunatic59]

it seems like that update could be the issue.

I don't think so. I have pretty much the same setup and I can save attachments from Messages.

Take a look at Messages>settings>advanced and see if you have auto-download MMS set to off. It could also not be able to save to your photos Messages Album location. Have you done anything like delete albums from photos? Out of storage space?

Just a couple of things to look at.

 

[jut87]

Also, for what it is worth, the app allows me to download pictures I have sent, but not pictures I have received in the message string. Just another weird nuance to this.

 

[jut87]

Take a look at Messages>settings>advanced and see if you have auto-download MMS set to off. It could also not be able to save to your photos Messages Album location. Have you done anything like delete albums from photos? Out of storage space?

Auto-Download MMS is turned on and has been.

Also, the Messages folder is still there (Internal Storage > Pictures > Messages). And the other odd thing is that if I try to save a picture I sent in a message string, it will save it to the Messages folder. However, if I try to save a message received, I get the "couldn't save 1 attachment" error.

Storage doesn't seem to be an issue either. I have over 5GB free of the 32GB internal. I have over 50GB free on my card too.

Is there a way to change the folder these get stored to? Would be interested to see if that changes the behavior.

 

[lunatic59]

Hmm, try this one ... instead of tapping the disk icon, try long-pressing the attachment (image?) and then taping the share icon and share it to whatever options you might have that would put it in a folder on your phone. I tried sharing it to Photos, Dropbox and X-plore file explorer and all three saved the file.

 

[jut87]

So, I got it to work finally (after 2 hours of playing with things). I moved all of the pictures currently saved in Internal Storage > Pictures > Messages to my SD card. Now that this folder was empty, I was able to save to the folder again. I have no idea what changed. There was 110MB of pictures, so I cant imagine there was a storage issue considering I have 5GB of internal free.

 

[lunatic59]

Do you sync that folder to the cloud? Maybe your cloud storage was reaching capacity, even though your phone still had space?

 

[jut87]

The folder wasn't sync'd to my Google Photos previously so I don't believe cloud storage was the issue.

 

[svim]

If you go into your Settings >> Apps >> Messenger menu and tap on 'Permissions', is 'Storage' enabled?

 

[Dannydet]

Change your messaging app to Textra and check your results

 

[jut87]

Thanks for the replies. Permissions was not the issue. I toggled that several times without any change in results.

I had also tried the LG Messenger app and was able to download pictures from that app.

As I stated, I was able to get this working again by emptying the Internal Storage > Pictures > Messages folder.

 

[erobinson]

I was having the same issue on my phone.
No images sent to me would download anymore.
I looked in the Messages folder (Internal Storage > Pictures > Messages), and saw that all the downloaded photos were named image_01 through image_99.
It appears there's a limit on this, as when I deleted the last few files, I was able to download images again, until I hit 99.

I hope this helps someone. I know it's been driving me nuts the past day.

 

[lunatic59]

Good catch! Thanks.

 

[jacobjames36]

If you are unable to save Attachments on your phone then I have a solution for you, that might solve your problem of saving Attachments to your phone. You can use professional software that can easily download your attachments from your email. You can use Softaken IMAP Attachment Extractor Tool. This tool can help you quickly and safely export attachments from various IMAP servers, such as Gmail, Yahoo, Office 365, AOL, G Suite, and others. You only need to provide the host address, username, and password of your IMAP account, and the tool will do the rest. You can choose to extract attachments from all or selected mail folders and save them to any location on your system.

This method only works in Windows Operating System. After downloading attachments from the above software, then you can simply transfer the whole attachments folder to your Phone. That's it.