Microsoft Outlook Help

Attachment Errors

You may encounter different types of problems and errors while working with Microsoft Outlook attachments. Some of top issues are discussed in this section.

Unable to Display the Attachment

Potentially unsafe files with extensions, such as .bat, .exe, .vbs, and .js are blocked in Microsoft Outlook by default and you will not be able to access or display these attachments.

In this case, the paper clip icon in your mail box will indicate that your mail comprises attachments. Moreover, the InfoBar at the top of your message will list the blocked attachments.

If these files are from legitimate source, you can ask the sender to do one of the following:

• Zip the files using a program such as WinZip and mail them to you in .zip format.
• Post the files to a Web share or shared network folder that is accessible to you.

Recipient of Your Message Did Not Receive or Can Not Open the Attachment You Sent

There can be many reasons for this. To prevent this situation, do one of the following:

• The e-mail program used by the recipient might not have support for and would be configured to block certain types of attachments, such as .exe and .bat files. This is the reason why, if you want to distribute such files, you must either copy and paste it to a Web or network share that the recipient can access or e-mail it after zipping it using a tool, such as WinZip.

• The e-mail application used by the recipient might not have support for e-mail messages in Rich Text format (RTF). And, you must be using an Outlook feature such as task requests, voting buttons, user-defined properties, custom forms, or embedded OLE objects that might prevent Outlook from converting your RTF mail to HTML format. Therefore, you must avoid using any of these in e-mail messages sent to this contact and specify the default format to be used while sending message to this contact, by performing the following steps:

1. In the Microsoft Outlook window, display the Contacts folder, and then double-click on the name of the contact for which you want to define the default e-mail format.
2. In the contact details window that is displayed, double-click on the e-mail address of the contact.
3. In the E-mail Properties dialog box, open the Internet format list, and then select one of the following options:
   
   • Let Outlook decide the best sending format
   • Send plain text only
     
4. Finally, click on the OK button, and then click on the Save and Close button to save the changes and close the contact details window.
   
   You might have sent a MIME format e-mail to a contact whose e-mail application does not have support for the MIME format. To resolve this issue, your must use the UUENCODE format to create your e-mail message and then send the message and your attachment again. To do this, perform the following steps:

• Open the Tools menu, and select the Options command.
• In the Options dialog box, display the Mail Format tab, and then in the Message Format section, click on the Internet Format button.
• In the Internet Format dialog box, select the E ncode attachments in UUENCODE format when sending a plain text message check box.
• Click OK twice to apply your changes and exit the dialog boxes

Changes Made to an Attachment are Not Visible

This problem may occur, when one of the following conditions is true:

• You failed to save the changes you made to an attachment. To prevent this situation, every time you make any changes to an attachment, ensure that you save them before closing the attachment. Also, use the File > Save As option to save a copy of the file on your computer.
• While you are making changes to an attachment, ensure that its item also remains open. After you are done with the changes, first, save and close the attachment and then save and close the item.
• If you have multiple copies of the same attachment open on your computer, and you make changes in all the copies, then only the changes done and saved in the last copy will be actually saved in the attachment file.
• The changes will not be reflected in the attachment, if you make changes to the original file instead of the attachment. In this case, after you have completed and saved your changes, delete the existing attachment from the item and reattach the updated original file.

Unable to Print the Attachment

Attachments can print only to a printer that is configured as default on your computer. This is the reason why, if you try to print your attachment to a printer other than the default printer, your attachment file will not print.