Outlook Error Opening Word or Excel Attachments

Approved By Aswin Vijayan

Published On January 25th, 2024

Reading Time 4 Minutes Reading

Category Outlook

Getting an Outlook error opening Word or Excel attachments, then it’s time to rejoice. Here in this article, we are going to discuss the most effective and accurate solutions to get out of this annoying Outlook issue.

As we know that Outlook is part of the Microsoft Office suite so you can easily save, open, or preview Word and Excel attachments in Outlook. But sometimes due to some internal Issues users getting these types of errors.

What the Reason for Outlook Error Opening Word or Excel Attachments?

As we said above due to some internal Issues users getting this issue. So let’s understand what are the real reason.

If users have disabled the Protected View option then you will get this issue
Some of the antiviruses also block attachment due to security reasons.
The unsupported or unrecognized file format is also the reason for Outlook error while opening Word or Excel attachments.
Some of the outlook add-ins are also creating this issue while opening Excel or Word attachments.

How to Fix Outlook Error Opening Word or Excel Attachments?

Well, the above-mentioned reasons are the most common reasons for the Outlook error while opening Word or Excel Attachments but the resolution is not easy to resolve this error, Hence, here in this section, we are going to discuss the three most effective solutions to resolve. So follow the below techniques:

Solution 1: Disable Outlook Unnecessary Add-ins

Follow the steps to disable unnecessary Outlook Add-ins

First launch your Outlook
Now, click on the File Option from the top menu bar
After that choose Option and then Add-ins
Under manage option click on the COM Add-ins
Click on the Go button >> Manage and then uncheck all the Add-ins
Once every add-in is disabled click on the Ok
Once all the settings are done, restart the Microsoft Outlook

Solution 2: Enable Protected View Option

Sometimes if you disable the Protected View for Outlook Attachments option, then you will get this issue. So, to fix it you have to enable the Protected View settings, and to do this follow the below steps:

To do this you have to close Microsoft Outlook and launch Microsoft Excel.
After that click on the Option.
Now, select Trust Center Settings
Click on the Protected View option and uncheck the following options

Enable protected view for file originated from the internet
Enable protected view for a file located in a potentially unsafe location
Enable protected view for Outlook attachments.

Once all done click on the OK button and close the Excel program.
After that re-open the Microsoft Outlook

Automated Solution to Fix Outlook Error Opening Word or Excel Attachments

If you still getting Outlook errors after trying all the above manual methods then in that situation you can download the Word or Excel attachments. To download the attachments you can try the one-by-one method but the issue with this method is you can only save one attachment at a single time. And if you have many attachments to download, then it will take lot’s of time

Free Download Purchase Now

So to make the task easy and fast you can try an automated solution that is capable to download multiple email attachments from Outlook in just a few clicks. Outlook Attachments Extractor is the tool that gives users an ease to download specific attachments from Outlook PST, OST and, BAK files without losing any data

Working Steps of the Tool

First, download the software and install it on your system from the above link

Choose PST or MSG radio button and then click on Add File(s) or Add Folder

Select the Maintain Folder Hierarchy option to preserve the folder Hierarchy

Select the destination location to save all Word or Excel attachments

Choose the Email option from Select Item Types

Choose the File Type option and enter the extension name

After all the settings, click on the Extract button

Conclusion

Outlook error opening Word or Excel attachments is not a common error. Hence there are very less things available on the internet. Hence, here in this article, we have discussed the most secure and effective way to fix this issue. Here we have discussed the top three techniques to deal with.