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
    2016-11-23T07:46:23+00:00

    Dear Juergen,

    Happy to help you but it would be the easiest for MS to look at their Outlook for Mac code and check where the error no. -17890 is being generated. This problem has been around for a year now.

    1. Size or type of attachment does not matter. I have seen various sizes and file types getting affected randomly - not always.
    2. The exact symptoms have been described numerous times in the previous postings. The attachment appears as grayed out in the email. I cannot click on it - nothing happens if I do. If I try to get to the attachments by clicking on Message --> Attachments from the menu bar, all sub-menu items under it are grayed out. A gray triangle with an exclamation mark appears at the right bottom corner of Outlook window. Clicking on it takes me to Sync Errors where there is a line for each failed attempt at downloading the attachment - there could be multiple lines for the same attachment with different time stamps. The error line is always the same:

    <Date>, <Time>, Unable to download the attachment in message <subject-line>.

    If you click on the error line, the Details section only shows:

    Error code: -17890

    I do not know how to upload a screenshot here but trust me, there is nothing else interesting on the screen. I cannot forward an email from Outlook that has a grayed out attachment. I can only delete it. I can see and download the attachment if I login to OWA. I can forward the email back to myself via OWA. I have seen that doing this sometimes causes the originally grayed out attachment in Outlook also to now download successfully. I am using my company's Exchange server.

    1. I have not used a personal email account with Outlook nor do I intend to. It's besides the point - sorry, I am not being paid by MS for debugging Outlook. My company's IT has tried various things like creating a new Outlook identity for me and even installing Outlook on a different Macbook. The problem eventually shows up regardless. This problem never appears when I am on my company's internal network or VPN. Only when I am connecting from home, this happens once in a while. I have an 80Mbps FTTH connection with WiFi so the connection speed should not be a problem.

    My previous post and a follow up post indicate that the problem is still there in Outlook for Mac 2016 version 15.28.1  (161117). Do let me know what else you need.

    Thanks.

    Ajay

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-11-23T07:12:15+00:00

    Hi All,

    I understand you are experiencing a similar issue that Outlook 2016 for Mac doesn’t download attachments. To better understand the situation from your side, I’d like to collect the following details at first:

    1. How large are the attachments that cannot be downloaded?
    2. The exact symptom with screenshots. Does the affected attachment appear as greyed out when it’s not downloaded? If not, please upload some relevant screenshots for our better understanding.
    3. Have you tried configuring a personal account like a Gmail account or Hotmail account in the Outlook for Mac client to see if the issue can be reproduced?

    @Juergen Firsching, please tell us the detailed version for your Outlook for Mac client.

    Thanks,

    Robert

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-11-22T20:10:55+00:00

    Ajay described very well...

    I am running same version (Outlook 2016 for Mac version 15.28.1 / 161117) and the problem persists.

    So, there is no solution yet for something the company is paying a lot globally!

    A mail attachment should be the basic on a mail platform!!!

    It is frustrating.

    Rgs.,

    Luiz

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