Outlook 2016 for Mac does not download attachments randomly

Anonymous
2016-02-25T03:30:14+00:00

hello,

since 1 month time, i'm using outlook 2016 on my mac with my office 365 exchange account. 

i have more or less 3 gb mailbox. when i added my account to outlook 2016 it starts to give fault about downloading the attachments. 

now, even my new received e-mails randomly system does not download the attachments. i can reach the attachments from web mail office 365 but outlook can not download it. 

i thought that there is download limit but not, sometimes i can received big files without problem. but sometimes i didn't. 

the attachments shows as grey as in the photo and i can not forward these e-mails. system blocks itself.

could you please help me to solve this problem, 

it is very important,

br

mert cologlu

Outlook | MacOS | Legacy Outlook for Mac | For home

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Anonymous
2017-11-17T18:25:36+00:00

I am currently using Microsoft Outlook for Mac, version 15.40 (171108).

I've had this happen a few times, I have had luck deleting the cache of the affected Inbox. I know this may be required when an error pops up with code -17890 on the Sync Errors page. All but once has rebuilding the cache fixed the issue, the one time it didn't work I used OWA to download the attachment but it turned out to be corrupt.

This isn't very efficient because rebuilding the cache requires a full download of your Exchange account, if you could delete the cached version of the affected e-mail it would be more efficient.

Follow the steps below to clear the cache of the affected folder:

  1. Connect to your fastest network connection, you may be downloading gigabytes of data.
  2. Open Outlook.
  3. Right click (or Control click) the Inbox of the account having the problem.
  4. From the pop up, select 'Properties...' near the bottom.
  5. On the 'General' tab you will find a button named 'Empty Cache', click it.
  6. Close the window if required.
  7. Your local copy of your Inbox will be deleted, a fresh download of all e-mails will be performed.
  8. From the 'Window' menu, select 'Sync Status' to monitor the process.
  9. Monitor the 'Sync Status' window, you will note several download threads receiving downloads.

Depending on how much mail is in your Exchange profile and your internet speed it can take 10 minutes or more to recover your Inbox contents.

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Anonymous
2017-11-17T07:47:05+00:00

OK, So I had this issue on another Mac yesterday.

Checked for updates on Office and there was about 1.6GB of them!!!!

Ran them all and the problem seems to be sorted for now.

Only time will tell as this issue is VERY random!

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-01-03T01:45:15+00:00

    Hello

    I created a new profile, and re-downloaded everything.  This time, I did not get any sync errors.  So, it appears that somehow this is related to a corrupt profile.  It would be very nice to be able to repair this instead of having to nuke and redo it - because having to redo settings, signatures etc is a bit of a pain.

    Thanks for the help.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-02-25T08:14:26+00:00

    hi mert,

    to look into the issue, i’d like to collect some detailed information:

    1. what are the versions of the operating system and outlook for mac? to check the version of outlook for mac, navigate to about outlook

      ![](https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/7747e5fb-8533-4079-8c0b-7d4e9ec2dc15?platform=QnA)

    2. does the issue persist if you create a new profile? make sure you set the new profile as default and restart outlook for mac. please refer to:

    manage profiles in outlook 2016 for mac: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/manage-profiles-in-outlook-2016-for-mac-fed2a955-74df-4a24-bef6-78a426958c4c

    3. does the same error as you mentioned above appear when adding your account to the new profile? if yes, please provide a screenshot of it.

    4. set up your account in another pc and see if the issue occurs.

    to upload screenshots, click use rich formatting > insert\ edit media.

     

    thanks,

    chris

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-10-03T21:22:08+00:00

    Hi Robert,

    This thread has been going on for months without MS providing a fix: reinstalling Office, deleting profile, creating a new one, blahblahblah ... nothing is fixing this issue.

    So, instead of asking us to start a new thread (why? so that this one can be closed? to improve the team's stats?), why do you ask your colleagues to provide us a real fix to this really annoying issue?

    Best regards,

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