Abstract: The invention relates to a method and system for handling E-mail messages in a communication system. According to the present invention in a communication system comprising one or several intermediate receivers any attachment in an E-mail message is detached in the intermediate receiver and stored. Furthermore the attachment is replaced with a reference to the stored attachment before the E-mail message is forwarded to the recipient. With the use of the present invention the attachment of the E-mail stays always as close as possible to the receiver location. Changes to E-mail handling components on the sender's side and in the transmitting network are not necessary. Since storage and transmission of redundant data is suppressed, there are considerable savings of transmission cost, disk space, and mailing time.