A sender email client, in response to a request to send an email with attachment, determines whether a recipient of the email has distributed storage separate from an incoming email server of the recipient for storing email attachments. If so, a location server is consulted for the distributed storage's network address and its availability is determined. The send request is then serviced accordingly. An email service, in response to receiving an email with attachment, determines whether a recipient of the email has distributed storage for storing email attachments. If so, its network address and availability are likewise determined. The attachments are forwarded to the recipient's distributed storage for storage, when it becomes available. An email recipient client, in response to a request to access an email attachment, retrieves the attachment from the recipient's distributed storage or the incoming email server, as appropriate.