A reader asks: "Every attachment I receive is marked "read-only" by default in Outlook. Is there a way to remove the default of read-only that is attached to all incoming email? I do not want to have to open every email before saving it. I have poked around but can't seem to find the necessary setting that I can change."

You're not going to find a setting to change this. Anytime you open an attachment from the reading (or preview) pane or by right clicking on a message and choosing View Attachment, it will be read only. If you open the message then double click the attachment, it's not read-only, although changes will be saved to the attachment on the message (if the message remains open) and in Outlook's SecureTemp directory, not in My Documents. You need to use Save as to save attachments to a location you can find them in.

If you're opening the attachments only to save them, you can skip a step by either right clicking on the attachment in the message header or use Outlook's File, Save Attachment menu. Use the File, Save attachment menu if you are saving multiple attachments from an email.

When you need to edit the attachment, open it from the hard drive, not from the message. Saving the attachment doesn't change how Outlook works and opening it from the message does not open the copy you saved.