File Cannot be Virus Scanned in Gmail; Here’s How to Download
A few days ago, I received an email from a client with a .rar file attached. When I looked at the file carefully with the intention of downloading it, I saw a clear red warning—not virus scanned.
But, I thought, okay, let me download it anyway. But nope, Gmail gave another message: “File cannot be virus scanned.”
So, ultimately, it didn’t let me download the file at all directly from the Gmail inbox.
Now, since I know my way around tech, I figured out a way. But then I thought, what about people who don’t know this stuff? They would just give up.
So, here I am, writing this guide to help you download any such file with the similar warning. No complicated tricks, just easy-to-follow steps.
Why Gmail Shows This Warning
Let’s fix this problem together. But, before that, you should understand why Gmail shows such warnings that restrict users from downloading the files.
Gmail has a built-in virus scanner. It scans files before you download them. But it cannot scan some files like .rar, .zip, or other encrypted files.
It simply blocks these files to protect you from viruses. But, it is actually not fair to simply restrict the download of a file just because you cannot scan it for the virus.
But sometimes, you trust the sender, and you know the file is safe. That’s when you need a way to download it without caring about the “virus not scanned” warning.
Method 1: Save it to Google Drive
This is the easiest way to download a .rar file from Gmail. So, if Gmail is not allowing you to download the file due to virus not scanned error, you can first save it to Google Drive and then download the file from there.
Steps to download the file using Google Drive:
- Open your email with the attachment.
- Instead of clicking “Download,” click “Save to Drive” (the little Google Drive icon).
- Now, go to Google Drive (drive.google.com).
- Find your file there.
- Right-click on it and click Download.
- Google Drive may still show a warning, but this time, it lets you download the file anyway.
Pro Tip: However, the above steps worked for me, but if it still refuses to download, right-click the file, click “Make a copy,” and then download the copy.
Read Also: How to Add Google Drive to Your Computer?
Method 2: Forward the Email to Another Email Service
Gmail blocks the download, but other email providers might not. So, the trick here is to forward the email to another email account with a different provider like Outlook, etc.
Steps to forward the email and download the file:
- Open the email in Gmail.
- Click the Forward button.
- Send it to your another email address (Outlook, etc.).
- Now, open that email in the other email service and try downloading the file from there.
Why this works? Some email services don’t have the same strict virus scanning as Gmail. So, when you forward the file to any email service provider other than Gmail, you get no warning and can easily download the file.
Method 3: Ask the Sender to Upload to any Cloud Storage Platform
If none of the above-mentioned methods work (which is very rare), you can ask the sender to upload the file to any cloud storage platform like Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive.
It’s the easiest way to get a file that Gmail is not allowing you to download. Just ask the sender to upload the file on Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive directly and share the download link with you.
With that link, you’ll be able to download the file easily without any virus checks. It’s that simple.
Final Words
Now you know how to download files even when Gmail says, “File cannot be virus scanned.”
I provided with multiple methods to overcome this problem. As mentioned above in this blog post, you can try the Google Drive method first. It’s the easiest and fastest method.
If that doesn’t work, you can forward the email to your other email account with a different email service provider.
And if nothing works, you can just ask the sender to upload it to a cloud storage provider so that you can directly download the file from there
Hope this helps! Let me know which method worked for you.
