diff --git a/helpdesk/forms.py b/helpdesk/forms.py
index 7222a2cd..013ab270 100644
--- a/helpdesk/forms.py
+++ b/helpdesk/forms.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
 from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.utils import timezone
 
-from helpdesk.lib import send_templated_mail, safe_template_context
+from helpdesk.lib import send_templated_mail, safe_template_context, process_attachments
 from helpdesk.models import (Ticket, Queue, FollowUp, Attachment, IgnoreEmail, TicketCC,
                              CustomField, TicketCustomFieldValue, TicketDependency)
 from helpdesk import settings as helpdesk_settings
@@ -228,28 +228,10 @@ class AbstractTicketForm(CustomFieldMixin, forms.Form):
         return followup
 
     def _attach_files_to_follow_up(self, followup):
-        attachments = []
-        if self.cleaned_data['attachment']:
-            import mimetypes
-            attachment = self.cleaned_data['attachment']
-            filename = attachment.name.replace(' ', '_')
-            att = Attachment(
-                followup=followup,
-                filename=filename,
-                mime_type=mimetypes.guess_type(filename)[0] or 'application/octet-stream',
-                size=attachment.size,
-            )
-            att.file.save(attachment.name, attachment, save=False)
-            att.save()
-
-            if attachment.size < getattr(settings, 'MAX_EMAIL_ATTACHMENT_SIZE', 512000):
-                # Only files smaller than 512kb (or as defined in
-                # settings.MAX_EMAIL_ATTACHMENT_SIZE) are sent via email.
-                try:
-                    attachments.append([att.filename, att.file])
-                except NotImplementedError:
-                    pass
-        return attachments
+        files = self.cleaned_data['attachment']
+        if files:
+            files = process_attachments(followup, [files])
+        return files
 
     @staticmethod
     def _send_messages(ticket, queue, followup, files, user=None):
diff --git a/helpdesk/lib.py b/helpdesk/lib.py
index 3bf24ff9..73d309c0 100644
--- a/helpdesk/lib.py
+++ b/helpdesk/lib.py
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ lib.py - Common functions (eg multipart e-mail)
 """
 
 import logging
+import mimetypes
+import os
 
 try:
     from base64 import urlsafe_b64encode as b64encode
@@ -17,22 +19,25 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     from base64 import decodestring as b64decode
 
-from django.utils.encoding import smart_str
+from django.conf import settings
 from django.db.models import Q
+from django.utils.encoding import smart_text
 from django.utils.safestring import mark_safe
 
+from helpdesk.models import Attachment, EmailTemplate
+
 logger = logging.getLogger('helpdesk')
 
 
 def send_templated_mail(template_name,
-                        email_context,
+                        context,
                         recipients,
                         sender=None,
                         bcc=None,
                         fail_silently=False,
                         files=None):
     """
-    send_templated_mail() is a warpper around Django's e-mail routines that
+    send_templated_mail() is a wrapper around Django's e-mail routines that
     allows us to easily send multipart (text/plain & text/html) e-mails using
     templates that are stored in the database. This lets the admin provide
     both a text and a HTML template for each message.
@@ -40,7 +45,7 @@ def send_templated_mail(template_name,
     template_name is the slug of the template to use for this message (see
         models.EmailTemplate)
 
-    email_context is a dictionary to be used when rendering the template
+    context is a dictionary to be used when rendering the template
 
     recipients can be either a string, eg 'a@b.com', or a list of strings.
 
@@ -53,68 +58,52 @@ def send_templated_mail(template_name,
     fail_silently is passed to Django's mail routine. Set to 'True' to ignore
         any errors at send time.
 
-    files can be a list of tuple. Each tuple should be a filename to attach,
+    files can be a list of tuples. Each tuple should be a filename to attach,
         along with the File objects to be read. files can be blank.
 
     """
-    from django.conf import settings
     from django.core.mail import EmailMultiAlternatives
+    from django.template import engines
+    from_string = engines['django'].from_string
 
     from helpdesk.models import EmailTemplate
     from helpdesk.settings import HELPDESK_EMAIL_SUBJECT_TEMPLATE, \
         HELPDESK_EMAIL_FALLBACK_LOCALE
-    import os
 
-    context = email_context
+    locale = context['queue'].get('locale') or HELPDESK_EMAIL_FALLBACK_LOCALE
 
-    if hasattr(context['queue'], 'locale'):
-        locale = getattr(context['queue'], 'locale', '')
-    else:
-        locale = context['queue'].get('locale', HELPDESK_EMAIL_FALLBACK_LOCALE)
-    if not locale:
-        locale = HELPDESK_EMAIL_FALLBACK_LOCALE
-
-    t = None
     try:
         t = EmailTemplate.objects.get(template_name__iexact=template_name, locale=locale)
     except EmailTemplate.DoesNotExist:
-        pass
-
-    if not t:
         try:
             t = EmailTemplate.objects.get(template_name__iexact=template_name, locale__isnull=True)
         except EmailTemplate.DoesNotExist:
-            logger.warning('template "%s" does not exist, no mail sent',
-                           template_name)
+            logger.warning('template "%s" does not exist, no mail sent', template_name)
             return  # just ignore if template doesn't exist
 
-    if not sender:
-        sender = settings.DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL
+    subject_part = from_string(
+        HELPDESK_EMAIL_SUBJECT_TEMPLATE % {"subject": t.subject}
+    ).render(context).replace('\n', '').replace('\r', '')
 
     footer_file = os.path.join('helpdesk', locale, 'email_text_footer.txt')
 
-    from django.template import engines
-    template_func = engines['django'].from_string
-
-    text_part = template_func(
+    text_part = from_string(
         "%s{%% include '%s' %%}" % (t.plain_text, footer_file)
     ).render(context)
 
     email_html_base_file = os.path.join('helpdesk', locale, 'email_html_base.html')
-
     # keep new lines in html emails
     if 'comment' in context:
-        html_txt = context['comment']
-        html_txt = html_txt.replace('\r\n', '<br>')
-        context['comment'] = mark_safe(html_txt)
+        context['comment'] = mark_safe(context['comment'].replace('\r\n', '<br>'))
 
-    html_part = template_func(
+    html_part = from_string(
         "{%% extends '%s' %%}{%% block title %%}"
         "%s"
         "{%% endblock %%}{%% block content %%}%s{%% endblock %%}" %
-        (email_html_base_file, t.heading, t.html)).render(context)
+        (email_html_base_file, t.heading, t.html)
+    ).render(context)
 
-    subject_part = template_func(
+    subject_part = from_string(
         HELPDESK_EMAIL_SUBJECT_TEMPLATE % {
             "subject": t.subject,
         }).render(context)
@@ -123,19 +112,16 @@ def send_templated_mail(template_name,
         if recipients.find(','):
             recipients = recipients.split(',')
     elif type(recipients) != list:
-        recipients = [recipients, ]
+        recipients = [recipients]
 
-    msg = EmailMultiAlternatives(
-        subject_part.replace('\n', '').replace('\r', ''),
-        text_part, sender, recipients, bcc=bcc)
+    msg = EmailMultiAlternatives(subject_part, text_part,
+                                 sender or settings.DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL,
+                                 recipients, bcc=bcc)
     msg.attach_alternative(html_part, "text/html")
 
     if files:
-        for attachment in files:
-            file_to_attach = attachment[1]
-            file_to_attach.open()
-            msg.attach(filename=attachment[0], content=file_to_attach.read())
-            file_to_attach.close()
+        for filename, filefield in files:
+            msg.attach(filename, open(filefield.path).read())
 
     return msg.send(fail_silently)
 
@@ -254,7 +240,6 @@ def text_is_spam(text, request):
     # False if it is not spam. If it cannot be checked for some reason, we
     # assume it isn't spam.
     from django.contrib.sites.models import Site
-    from django.conf import settings
     try:
         from helpdesk.akismet import Akismet
     except:
@@ -286,6 +271,32 @@ def text_is_spam(text, request):
             'comment_author': '',
         }
 
-        return ak.comment_check(smart_str(text), data=ak_data)
+        return ak.comment_check(smart_text(text), data=ak_data)
 
     return False
+
+
+def process_attachments(followup, attached_files):
+    max_email_attachment_size = getattr(settings, 'MAX_EMAIL_ATTACHMENT_SIZE', 512000)
+    attachments = []
+
+    for attached in attached_files:
+        if attached.size:
+            filename = smart_text(attached.name)
+            att = Attachment(
+                followup=followup,
+                file=attached,
+                filename=filename,
+                mime_type=attached.content_type or
+                mimetypes.guess_type(filename, strict=False)[0] or
+                'application/octet-stream',
+                size=attached.size,
+            )
+            att.save()
+
+            if attached.size < max_email_attachment_size:
+                # Only files smaller than 512kb (or as defined in
+                # settings.MAX_EMAIL_ATTACHMENT_SIZE) are sent via email.
+                attachments.append([filename, att.file])
+
+    return attachments
diff --git a/helpdesk/management/commands/get_email.py b/helpdesk/management/commands/get_email.py
index e5b40c41..0bf4c0a3 100644
--- a/helpdesk/management/commands/get_email.py
+++ b/helpdesk/management/commands/get_email.py
@@ -11,34 +11,31 @@ scripts/get_email.py - Designed to be run from cron, this script checks the
                        adding to existing tickets if needed)
 """
 
+from datetime import timedelta
 import email
 import imaplib
 import mimetypes
+from os import listdir, unlink
+from os.path import isfile, join
 import poplib
 import re
 import socket
-from os import listdir, unlink
-from os.path import isfile, join
-
-from datetime import timedelta
-from email.header import decode_header
-from email.utils import parseaddr, collapse_rfc2231_value
-from optparse import make_option
+from time import ctime
 
 from email_reply_parser import EmailReplyParser
 
 from django.core.files.base import ContentFile
+from django.core.files.uploadedfile import SimpleUploadedFile
 from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand
 from django.db.models import Q
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _
-from django.utils import six, timezone
+from django.utils import encoding, six, timezone
 
 from helpdesk import settings
-from helpdesk.lib import send_templated_mail, safe_template_context
-from helpdesk.models import Queue, Ticket, FollowUp, Attachment, IgnoreEmail
+from helpdesk.lib import send_templated_mail, safe_template_context, process_attachments
+from helpdesk.models import Queue, Ticket, FollowUp, IgnoreEmail
 
 import logging
-from time import ctime
 
 
 STRIPPED_SUBJECT_STRINGS = [
@@ -93,24 +90,18 @@ def process_email(quiet=False):
         if quiet:
             logger.propagate = False  # do not propagate to root logger that would log to console
         logdir = q.logging_dir or '/var/log/helpdesk/'
-        handler = logging.FileHandler(logdir + q.slug + '_get_email.log')
+        handler = logging.FileHandler(join(logdir, q.slug + '_get_email.log'))
         logger.addHandler(handler)
 
         if not q.email_box_last_check:
             q.email_box_last_check = timezone.now() - timedelta(minutes=30)
 
-        if not q.email_box_interval:
-            q.email_box_interval = 0
+        queue_time_delta = timedelta(minutes=q.email_box_interval or 0)
 
-        queue_time_delta = timedelta(minutes=q.email_box_interval)
-
-        if (q.email_box_last_check + queue_time_delta) > timezone.now():
-            continue
-
-        process_queue(q, logger=logger)
-
-        q.email_box_last_check = timezone.now()
-        q.save()
+        if (q.email_box_last_check + queue_time_delta) < timezone.now():
+            process_queue(q, logger=logger)
+            q.email_box_last_check = timezone.now()
+            q.save()
 
 
 def process_queue(q, logger):
@@ -165,20 +156,20 @@ def process_queue(q, logger):
         server.pass_(q.email_box_pass or settings.QUEUE_EMAIL_BOX_PASSWORD)
 
         messagesInfo = server.list()[1]
-        logger.info("Received %s messages from POP3 server" % str(len(messagesInfo)))
+        logger.info("Received %d messages from POP3 server" % len(messagesInfo))
 
         for msg in messagesInfo:
             msgNum = msg.split(" ")[0]
-            logger.info("Processing message %s" % str(msgNum))
+            logger.info("Processing message %s" % msgNum)
 
             full_message = "\n".join(server.retr(msgNum)[1])
             ticket = ticket_from_message(message=full_message, queue=q, logger=logger)
 
             if ticket:
                 server.dele(msgNum)
-                logger.info("Successfully processed message %s, deleted from POP3 server" % str(msgNum))
+                logger.info("Successfully processed message %s, deleted from POP3 server" % msgNum)
             else:
-                logger.warn("Message %s was not successfully processed, and will be left on POP3 server" % str(msgNum))
+                logger.warn("Message %s was not successfully processed, and will be left on POP3 server" % msgNum)
 
         server.quit()
 
@@ -207,16 +198,16 @@ def process_queue(q, logger):
         status, data = server.search(None, 'NOT', 'DELETED')
         if data:
             msgnums = data[0].split()
-            logger.info("Received %s messages from IMAP server" % str(len(msgnums)))
+            logger.info("Received %d messages from IMAP server" % len(msgnums))
             for num in msgnums:
-                logger.info("Processing message %s" % str(num))
+                logger.info("Processing message %s" % num)
                 status, data = server.fetch(num, '(RFC822)')
-                ticket = ticket_from_message(message=data[0][1], queue=q, logger=logger)
+                ticket = ticket_from_message(message=encoding.smart_text(data[0][1]), queue=q, logger=logger)
                 if ticket:
                     server.store(num, '+FLAGS', '\\Deleted')
-                    logger.info("Successfully processed message %s, deleted from IMAP server" % str(msgNum))
+                    logger.info("Successfully processed message %s, deleted from IMAP server" % num)
                 else:
-                    logger.warn("Message %s was not successfully processed, and will be left on IMAP server" % str(msgNum))
+                    logger.warn("Message %s was not successfully processed, and will be left on IMAP server" % num)
 
         server.expunge()
         server.close()
@@ -225,20 +216,23 @@ def process_queue(q, logger):
     elif email_box_type == 'local':
         mail_dir = q.email_box_local_dir or '/var/lib/mail/helpdesk/'
         mail = [join(mail_dir, f) for f in listdir(mail_dir) if isfile(join(mail_dir, f))]
-        logger.info("Found %s messages in local mailbox directory" % str(len(mail)))
-        for m in mail:
-            logger.info("Processing message %s" % str(m))
+        logger.info("Found %d messages in local mailbox directory" % len(mail))
+
+        logger.info("Found %d messages in local mailbox directory" % len(mail))
+        for i, m in enumerate(mail, 1):
+            logger.info("Processing message %d" % i)
             with open(m, 'r') as f:
                 ticket = ticket_from_message(message=f.read(), queue=q, logger=logger)
-                if ticket:
-                    logger.info("Successfully processed message %s, ticket/comment created." % str(m))
-                    try:
-                        unlink(m)  # delete message file if ticket was successful
-                        logger.info("Successfully deleted message %s." % str(m))
-                    except:
-                        logger.error("Unable to delete message %s." % str(m))
+            if ticket:
+                logger.info("Successfully processed message %d, ticket/comment created." % i)
+                try:
+                    unlink(m)  # delete message file if ticket was successful
+                except:
+                    logger.error("Unable to delete message %d." % i)
                 else:
-                    logger.warn("Message %s was not successfully processed, and will be left in local directory" % str(m))
+                    logger.info("Successfully deleted message %d." % i)
+            else:
+                logger.warn("Message %d was not successfully processed, and will be left in local directory" % i)
 
 
 def decodeUnknown(charset, string):
@@ -256,12 +250,12 @@ def decodeUnknown(charset, string):
                     return str(string, encoding='utf-8', errors='replace')
                 except:
                     return str(string, encoding='iso8859-1', errors='replace')
-            return str(string, encoding=charset)
+            return str(string, encoding=charset, errors='replace')
         return string
 
 
 def decode_mail_headers(string):
-    decoded = decode_header(string)
+    decoded = email.header.decode_header(string)
     if six.PY2:
         return u' '.join([unicode(msg, charset or 'utf-8') for msg, charset in decoded])
     elif six.PY3:
@@ -270,8 +264,7 @@ def decode_mail_headers(string):
 
 def ticket_from_message(message, queue, logger):
     # 'message' must be an RFC822 formatted message.
-    msg = message
-    message = email.message_from_string(msg)
+    message = email.message_from_string(message)
     subject = message.get('subject', _('Created from e-mail'))
     subject = decode_mail_headers(decodeUnknown(message.get_charset(), subject))
     for affix in STRIPPED_SUBJECT_STRINGS:
@@ -280,10 +273,7 @@ def ticket_from_message(message, queue, logger):
 
     sender = message.get('from', _('Unknown Sender'))
     sender = decode_mail_headers(decodeUnknown(message.get_charset(), sender))
-
-    sender_email = parseaddr(sender)[1]
-
-    body_plain, body_html = '', ''
+    sender_email = email.utils.parseaddr(sender)[1]
 
     for ignore in IgnoreEmail.objects.filter(Q(queues=queue) | Q(queues__isnull=True)):
         if ignore.test(sender_email):
@@ -302,6 +292,7 @@ def ticket_from_message(message, queue, logger):
         logger.info("No tracking ID matched.")
         ticket = None
 
+    body = None
     counter = 0
     files = []
 
@@ -311,80 +302,61 @@ def ticket_from_message(message, queue, logger):
 
         name = part.get_param("name")
         if name:
-            name = collapse_rfc2231_value(name)
+            name = email.utils.collapse_rfc2231_value(name)
 
         if part.get_content_maintype() == 'text' and name is None:
             if part.get_content_subtype() == 'plain':
-                body_plain = EmailReplyParser.parse_reply(
-                    decodeUnknown(part.get_content_charset(), part.get_payload(decode=True)))
+                body = EmailReplyParser.parse_reply(
+                    decodeUnknown(part.get_content_charset(), part.get_payload(decode=True))
+                )
                 logger.debug("Discovered plain text MIME part")
             else:
-                body_html = part.get_payload(decode=True)
+                files.append(
+                    SimpleUploadedFile(_("email_html_body.html"), encoding.smart_bytes(part.get_payload()), 'text/html')
+                )
                 logger.debug("Discovered HTML MIME part")
         else:
             if not name:
                 ext = mimetypes.guess_extension(part.get_content_type())
                 name = "part-%i%s" % (counter, ext)
-
-            files.append({
-                'filename': name,
-                'content': part.get_payload(decode=True),
-                'type': part.get_content_type()},
-            )
+            files.append(SimpleUploadedFile(name, encoding.smart_bytes(part.get_payload()), part.get_content_type()))
             logger.debug("Found MIME attachment %s" % name)
 
         counter += 1
 
-    if body_plain:
-        body = body_plain
-    else:
+    if not body:
         body = _('No plain-text email body available. Please see attachment "email_html_body.html".')
 
-    if body_html:
-        files.append({
-            'filename': _("email_html_body.html"),
-            'content': body_html,
-            'type': 'text/html',
-        })
-
-    now = timezone.now()
-
     if ticket:
         try:
             t = Ticket.objects.get(id=ticket)
-            new = False
-            logger.info("Found existing ticket with Tracking ID %s-%s" % (t.queue.slug, t.id))
         except Ticket.DoesNotExist:
             logger.info("Tracking ID %s-%s not associated with existing ticket. Creating new ticket." % (queue.slug, ticket))
             ticket = None
-
-    priority = 3
+        else:
+            logger.info("Found existing ticket with Tracking ID %s-%s" % (t.queue.slug, t.id))
+            if t.status == Ticket.CLOSED_STATUS:
+                t.status = Ticket.REOPENED_STATUS
+                t.save()
+            new = False
 
     smtp_priority = message.get('priority', '')
     smtp_importance = message.get('importance', '')
-
-    high_priority_types = ('high', 'important', '1', 'urgent')
-
-    if smtp_priority in high_priority_types or smtp_importance in high_priority_types:
-        priority = 2
+    high_priority_types = {'high', 'important', '1', 'urgent'}
+    priority = 2 if high_priority_types & {smtp_priority, smtp_importance} else 3
 
     if ticket is None:
-        t = Ticket(
+        new = True
+        t = Ticket.objects.create(
             title=subject,
             queue=queue,
             submitter_email=sender_email,
-            created=now,
+            created=timezone.now(),
             description=body,
             priority=priority,
         )
-        t.save()
-        new = True
         logger.debug("Created new ticket %s-%s" % (t.queue.slug, t.id))
 
-    elif t.status == Ticket.CLOSED_STATUS:
-        t.status = Ticket.REOPENED_STATUS
-        t.save()
-
     f = FollowUp(
         ticket=t,
         title=_('E-Mail Received from %(sender_email)s' % {'sender_email': sender_email}),
@@ -405,28 +377,13 @@ def ticket_from_message(message, queue, logger):
     elif six.PY3:
         logger.info("[%s-%s] %s" % (t.queue.slug, t.id, t.title,))
 
-    for file in files:
-        if file['content']:
-            if six.PY2:
-                filename = file['filename'].encode('ascii', 'replace').replace(' ', '_')
-            elif six.PY3:
-                filename = file['filename'].replace(' ', '_')
-            filename = re.sub('[^a-zA-Z0-9._-]+', '', filename)
-            logger.info("Found attachment '%s'" % filename)
-            a = Attachment(
-                followup=f,
-                filename=filename,
-                mime_type=file['type'],
-                size=len(file['content']),
-            )
-            a.file.save(filename, ContentFile(file['content']), save=False)
-            a.save()
-            logger.info("Attachment '%s' successfully added to ticket." % filename)
+    attached = process_attachments(f, files)
+    for att_file in attached:
+        logger.info("Attachment '%s' successfully added to ticket from email." % att_file[0])
 
     context = safe_template_context(t)
 
     if new:
-
         if sender_email:
             send_templated_mail(
                 'newticket_submitter',
@@ -435,7 +392,6 @@ def ticket_from_message(message, queue, logger):
                 sender=queue.from_address,
                 fail_silently=True,
             )
-
         if queue.new_ticket_cc:
             send_templated_mail(
                 'newticket_cc',
@@ -444,7 +400,6 @@ def ticket_from_message(message, queue, logger):
                 sender=queue.from_address,
                 fail_silently=True,
             )
-
         if queue.updated_ticket_cc and queue.updated_ticket_cc != queue.new_ticket_cc:
             send_templated_mail(
                 'newticket_cc',
@@ -453,15 +408,8 @@ def ticket_from_message(message, queue, logger):
                 sender=queue.from_address,
                 fail_silently=True,
             )
-
     else:
         context.update(comment=f.comment)
-
-        # if t.status == Ticket.REOPENED_STATUS:
-        #     update = _(' (Reopened)')
-        # else:
-        #     update = _(' (Updated)')
-
         if t.assigned_to:
             send_templated_mail(
                 'updated_owner',
@@ -470,7 +418,6 @@ def ticket_from_message(message, queue, logger):
                 sender=queue.from_address,
                 fail_silently=True,
             )
-
         if queue.updated_ticket_cc:
             send_templated_mail(
                 'updated_cc',
diff --git a/helpdesk/models.py b/helpdesk/models.py
index 0c3bd93b..c39e733b 100644
--- a/helpdesk/models.py
+++ b/helpdesk/models.py
@@ -741,7 +741,6 @@ def attachment_path(instance, filename):
     putting attachments in a folder off attachments for ticket/followup_id/.
     """
     import os
-    from django.conf import settings
     os.umask(0)
     path = 'helpdesk/attachments/%s/%s' % (instance.followup.ticket.ticket_for_url, instance.followup.id)
     att_path = os.path.join(settings.MEDIA_ROOT, path)
@@ -784,15 +783,6 @@ class Attachment(models.Model):
         help_text=_('Size of this file in bytes'),
     )
 
-    def get_upload_to(self, field_attname):
-        """ Get upload_to path specific to this item """
-        if not self.id:
-            return u''
-        return u'helpdesk/attachments/%s/%s' % (
-            self.followup.ticket.ticket_for_url,
-            self.followup.id
-        )
-
     def __str__(self):
         return '%s' % self.filename
 
diff --git a/helpdesk/tests/test_attachments.py b/helpdesk/tests/test_attachments.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dbc53d51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/helpdesk/tests/test_attachments.py
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+# vim: set fileencoding=utf-8 :
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+import os
+import shutil
+from tempfile import gettempdir
+
+from django.core.files.uploadedfile import SimpleUploadedFile
+from django.core.urlresolvers import reverse
+from django.test import override_settings, TestCase
+from django.utils.encoding import smart_text
+
+from helpdesk import lib, models
+
+try:
+    # Python >= 3.3
+    from unittest import mock
+except ImportError:
+    # Python < 3.3
+    import mock
+
+MEDIA_DIR = os.path.join(gettempdir(), 'helpdesk_test_media')
+
+
+@override_settings(MEDIA_ROOT=MEDIA_DIR)
+class AttachmentIntegrationTests(TestCase):
+
+    fixtures = ['emailtemplate.json']
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.queue_public = models.Queue.objects.create(
+            title='Public Queue',
+            slug='pub_q',
+            allow_public_submission=True,
+            new_ticket_cc='new.public@example.com',
+            updated_ticket_cc='update.public@example.com',
+        )
+
+        self.queue_private = models.Queue.objects.create(
+            title='Private Queue',
+            slug='priv_q',
+            allow_public_submission=False,
+            new_ticket_cc='new.private@example.com',
+            updated_ticket_cc='update.private@example.com',
+        )
+
+        self.ticket_data = {
+            'title': 'Test Ticket Title',
+            'body': 'Test Ticket Desc',
+            'priority': 3,
+            'submitter_email': 'submitter@example.com',
+        }
+
+    def test_create_pub_ticket_with_attachment(self):
+        test_file = SimpleUploadedFile('test_att.txt', b'attached file content', 'text/plain')
+        post_data = self.ticket_data.copy()
+        post_data.update({
+            'queue': self.queue_public.id,
+            'attachment': test_file,
+        })
+
+        # Ensure ticket form submits with attachment successfully
+        response = self.client.post(reverse('helpdesk:home'), post_data, follow=True)
+        self.assertContains(response, test_file.name)
+
+        # Ensure attachment is available with correct content
+        att = models.Attachment.objects.get(followup__ticket=response.context['ticket'])
+        with open(os.path.join(MEDIA_DIR, att.file.name)) as file_on_disk:
+            disk_content = file_on_disk.read()
+        self.assertEqual(disk_content, 'attached file content')
+
+    def test_create_pub_ticket_with_attachment_utf8(self):
+        test_file = SimpleUploadedFile('ß°äöü.txt', 'โจ'.encode('utf-8'), 'text/utf-8')
+        post_data = self.ticket_data.copy()
+        post_data.update({
+            'queue': self.queue_public.id,
+            'attachment': test_file,
+        })
+
+        # Ensure ticket form submits with attachment successfully
+        response = self.client.post(reverse('helpdesk:home'), post_data, follow=True)
+        self.assertContains(response, test_file.name)
+
+        # Ensure attachment is available with correct content
+        att = models.Attachment.objects.get(followup__ticket=response.context['ticket'])
+        with open(os.path.join(MEDIA_DIR, att.file.name)) as file_on_disk:
+            disk_content = smart_text(file_on_disk.read(), 'utf-8')
+        self.assertEqual(disk_content, 'โจ')
+
+
+@mock.patch.object(models.FollowUp, 'save', autospec=True)
+@mock.patch.object(models.Ticket, 'save', autospec=True)
+@mock.patch.object(models.Queue, 'save', autospec=True)
+class AttachmentUnitTests(TestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.file_attrs = {
+            'filename': '°ßäöü.txt',
+            'content': 'โจ'.encode('utf-8'),
+            'content-type': 'text/utf8',
+        }
+        self.test_file = SimpleUploadedFile.from_dict(self.file_attrs)
+        self.follow_up = models.FollowUp(ticket=models.Ticket(queue=models.Queue()))
+
+    @mock.patch('helpdesk.lib.Attachment', autospec=True)
+    def test_unicode_attachment_filename(self, mock_att_save, mock_queue_save, mock_ticket_save, mock_follow_up_save):
+        """ check utf-8 data is parsed correcltly """
+        filename, fileobj = lib.process_attachments(self.follow_up, [self.test_file])[0]
+        mock_att_save.assert_called_with(
+            file=self.test_file,
+            filename=self.file_attrs['filename'],
+            mime_type=self.file_attrs['content-type'],
+            size=len(self.file_attrs['content']),
+            followup=self.follow_up
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(filename, self.file_attrs['filename'])
+
+    @mock.patch.object(lib.Attachment, 'save', autospec=True)
+    @override_settings(MEDIA_ROOT=MEDIA_DIR)
+    def test_unicode_filename_to_filesystem(self, mock_att_save, mock_queue_save, mock_ticket_save, mock_follow_up_save):
+        """ don't mock saving to filesystem to test file renames caused by storage layer """
+        filename, fileobj = lib.process_attachments(self.follow_up, [self.test_file])[0]
+        # Attachment object was zeroth positional arg (i.e. self) of att.save call
+        attachment_obj = mock_att_save.call_args[0][0]
+
+        mock_att_save.assert_called_once_with(attachment_obj)
+        self.assertIsInstance(attachment_obj, models.Attachment)
+        self.assertEqual(attachment_obj.filename, self.file_attrs['filename'])
+
+
+def tearDownModule():
+    try:
+        shutil.rmtree(MEDIA_DIR)
+    except OSError:
+        pass
diff --git a/helpdesk/tests/test_get_email.py b/helpdesk/tests/test_get_email.py
index 5997e76f..3a296514 100644
--- a/helpdesk/tests/test_get_email.py
+++ b/helpdesk/tests/test_get_email.py
@@ -126,11 +126,7 @@ class GetEmailParametricTemplate(object):
                 mocked_imaplib_server.fetch = mock.Mock(side_effect=lambda x, _: imap_emails[x])
                 with mock.patch('helpdesk.management.commands.get_email.imaplib', autospec=True) as mocked_imaplib:
                     mocked_imaplib.IMAP4 = mock.Mock(return_value=mocked_imaplib_server)
-                    try:
-                        call_command('get_email')
-                    except UnboundLocalError:
-                        # known bug fixed by a subsequent commit
-                        return True
+                    call_command('get_email')
 
             ticket1 = get_object_or_404(Ticket, pk=1)
             self.assertEqual(ticket1.ticket_for_url, "QQ-%s" % ticket1.id)
@@ -140,6 +136,7 @@ class GetEmailParametricTemplate(object):
             self.assertEqual(ticket2.ticket_for_url, "QQ-%s" % ticket2.id)
             self.assertEqual(ticket2.description, "This is the helpdesk comment via email.")
 
+
 # build matrix of test cases
 case_methods = [c[0] for c in Queue._meta.get_field('email_box_type').choices]
 case_socks = [False] + [c[0] for c in Queue._meta.get_field('socks_proxy_type').choices]
diff --git a/helpdesk/views/staff.py b/helpdesk/views/staff.py
index 510efdb1..15b92dbc 100644
--- a/helpdesk/views/staff.py
+++ b/helpdesk/views/staff.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ from helpdesk.forms import (
 )
 from helpdesk.lib import (
     send_templated_mail, query_to_dict, apply_query, safe_template_context,
+    process_attachments,
 )
 from helpdesk.models import (
     Ticket, Queue, FollowUp, TicketChange, PreSetReply, Attachment, SavedSearch,
@@ -458,26 +459,7 @@ def update_ticket(request, ticket_id, public=False):
 
     f.save()
 
-    files = []
-    if request.FILES:
-        import mimetypes
-        for file in request.FILES.getlist('attachment'):
-            filename = file.name.encode('ascii', 'ignore')
-            filename = filename.decode("utf-8")
-            print(filename)
-            a = Attachment(
-                followup=f,
-                filename=filename,
-                mime_type=file.content_type or 'application/octet-stream',
-                size=file.size,
-            )
-            a.file.save(filename, file, save=False)
-            a.save()
-
-            if file.size < getattr(settings, 'MAX_EMAIL_ATTACHMENT_SIZE', 512000):
-                # Only files smaller than 512kb (or as defined in
-                # settings.MAX_EMAIL_ATTACHMENT_SIZE) are sent via email.
-                files.append([a.filename, a.file])
+    files = process_attachments(f, request.FILES.getlist('attachment'))
 
     if title != ticket.title:
         c = TicketChange(