how do i open attachments without saving them

I guess I will have to, it is just hard to believe that microsoft has a way to open the file and it doesnt save it anywhere,

Actually the file must be saved to the computer to a systems cache folder so the correct application can open it,,whether Windows or Mac.

By default Apple mail deletes attached files when the email is deleted. You can change this in: Mail > Preferences > General:

For your computer to display the file, it has to read it from somewhere. If the file is on external mail servers or cloud storage, then it has to be downloaded to be read.

I take it this is all using web-based mail clients, rather than Apple's Mail app? At least you should be able to create a separate folder for mail downloads, save the files there, and then purge it every day/week/month.

Windows will still download the file SOMEWHERE: but presumably does so to a temporary location without telling you.

If you use Apple's Mail app, then it will store them in a hidden Mail Downloads folder, which can be wiped regularly.

Very aggravating. I get a lot of emails from trusted sources that need to be viewed. This is cumbersome and frankly, at times it is more convenient to VPN to my work PC and handle it that way when dealing with the volumes I sometimes do. However, I never really thought about proportion, but a number (perhaps all) of my emails with attachments open up with the option to open the attachment as a web page (visible on my system at the end of the file name). If all you need to do is take a peek . . . .

Sorry, if yours does not give you that option I am not tech savvy enough to tell you how to do it.

Double click the icon for the attachment and it will open in the application used for that filetype.

Microsoft does save attachments when you double-click. It is just that they hide the files in the SecureTemp location. That introduces a whole slew of unique problems on its own.