Okay I get it now
I use a mail client (outlook 2007). If I go to web mail I can do what you said, but it doesn't work that way with Outlook the images are changed to a different format and when you right click you either have a link option or a copy option. Properties are not viewable.
Sooo if you go to web mail you can skip all the converting and just save to disk as long as the pic is in the right format.