Is "Please find attached" outdated?
KeepReap Editorial
It is not wrong, but it belongs to a register most workplaces have moved away from — it survives from an era of dictated letters, and "find" is doing odd work when the file is visibly clipped to the message. Nobody will think less of you for it. A plainer sentence simply reads as though a person wrote it, and it gives you room to say what the attachment is for.
Ways to say it
I've attached
NeutralA2The plain modern default. Naming what changed, as in the example, does more for the reader than any choice of opening phrase.
ExampleI've attached the revised statement of work — the change is in section 4 only.
Attached is
FormalB1Still formal, but shorter and less archaic than "please find". Fits contracts, invoices and anything going into a file.
ExampleAttached is the signed copy for your records.
Here's the
CasualA1Internal messages and anyone you speak to regularly. Too light for a first email to a client.
ExampleHere's the deck from this morning — slide 6 is the one we argued about.
When not to use this
Do not swap to the casual forms in correspondence that may be quoted later — legal notices, formal complaints, anything a third party might read out of context. In those threads the slightly stiff register is doing a job: it signals that the message is a record rather than a chat. "Attached is" is the safe choice there, and "Please find attached" is not actually a mistake either.