where are my email attachments after I’ve opened them????

I have a conversation string but my first opened email had several important word/pdf  attachments. I opened them. I replied thank to the email but I can no longer get to/see the email attachments I need to use and save onto my desktop. Why is this and where are they. In the Outlook mail window I can see a paperclip which indicates the attachments are there but when I open the email conversation they are not there! WHY oh WHY does Outlook do this? sooo frustrating. I have had my Hotmail account for about 15 years - aaaargh.... Please advise - I've checked all the answers and all the forums and I cannot find the solution.