File Vault: Stop Losing Attachments in Old Threads
workcmd File Vault automatically indexes every attachment in your inbox - PDFs, spreadsheets, documents - and makes them searchable without touching a server. Lock the vault with a password when privacy matters.
Email has become, accidentally, one of the most common ways that files get shared in a working context. A contract comes in via Gmail. A spreadsheet arrives from an accountant. A Google Docs export lands in your inbox from a collaborator who didn't share the Doc directly. A GitHub Actions report gets emailed as a CSV. None of these were designed to be permanent - but they end up as the only copy you have. workcmd File Vault treats your inbox attachments as a document layer worth organising.
How to use File Vault to find a specific attachment
Open the workcmd sidebar and click the File Vault tab. Use the search bar to type a filename, sender name, or subject line fragment. Filter by file type using the dropdown - PDF, XLSX, DOCX, CSV, or image. Filter by date range to narrow the results. Click any result to jump directly to the email thread the file was attached to. If you want to save the file locally, click the download icon next to the result. You don't need to know which thread the attachment was in or remember who sent it - the vault indexes that for you.
What File Vault does
workcmd automatically detects and indexes every attachment that arrives in your inbox - PDFs, XLSX files, DOCX files, images, and Google Drive links. They're saved locally on your device, not in any cloud. You can filter by file type (PDF, XLSX, DOC, image, or Drive), search by sender, subject, or filename, and retrieve them without hunting through months of threads. If the vault contains files you'd rather keep private from others who access your machine, you can lock it with a password - unlock is required before the contents are visible. There's also a storage usage indicator so you can see how much space the vault is using.
Why local-only storage matters here
This is one of the areas where workcmd's privacy approach has practical consequences, not just theoretical ones. File Vault gives you zero cloud access to your attachments - nothing leaves your device. For files that contain sensitive information - client contracts, financial statements, legal documents, HR files - that's a meaningful distinction from attachment tools that sync to external servers. The vault is yours and it stays on your machine.
How to set vault storage preferences and limits
Open workcmd settings and navigate to File Vault. You can set a maximum vault size - by default it's uncapped, but most users set a limit of 1–2 GB. You can also choose which file types to index (PDF only, or all supported formats), and set a retention window - for example, only index attachments from the last 12 months. The storage usage bar at the top of the vault tab shows how much space is currently in use. If you hit the limit, workcmd will prompt you to clear older files before indexing new ones.
The use cases that make this feel essential
Procurement teams looking for a supplier agreement from six months ago. Finance managers retrieving a Stripe statement that isn't in their accounting software. Recruiters finding a candidate's resume without scrolling through a long email chain. Sales reps locating the latest version of a proposal they sent before the follow-up call. These are all common situations where Gmail's native attachment search fails because you don't remember enough about the thread to find the file.
Make inbox cleanup repeatable
workcmd helps teams reduce recurring noise, keep local context, and move faster across the tabs where work already happens.