Why can't I open attachments in the new version of Outlook?

Hi Wyatt Boboltz,

Good day.

Thank you for posting to the Microsoft Community. We are glad to assist.

It sounds frustrating to encounter this issue. The error message you’re seeing is a known problem in the new version of Outlook. Here are a few steps you can try to resolve it:

Clear Temporary Files: Sometimes, Outlook saves attachments to a temporary folder, which can become full or corrupted. Clearing these files might help.

Update Outlook: Ensure that your Outlook is up to date. Sometimes, updates contain fixes for known issues.

Reconfigure Account: Try reconfiguring your email account in the new Outlook. This can sometimes resolve configuration issues12.

If these steps don’t work, you might want to switch back to the classic version of Outlook temporarily or use Outlook on the web, where attachments should open without issues.

If you’re still having trouble, you can try contacting Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn the support team will have access to assist remotely and collect logs to investigate the issue from the back end.

I hope this helps let me know if this is contrary to what you need, I would still be helpful to answer more of your questions .

Best Regards

Community Moderator

None of this will help. It cannot open because Microsoft changed the "temporary saving location" for Outlook New and when it saves the file it RENAMES it to some random name that is way too long and Excel and Word cannot open. Note Powerpoint works fine. It saves it as its name.

Outlook Classic saves attachments to this and it keeps the SAME file name as the document.
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Outlook\

Then it will open in Protected View in Word when the have the Security "block" on them. (Right Click properties it will say file is blocked)

However Outlook (new) changed the saving location to this and it makes the File name random and too long.
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Olk\Attachments\a8216f1ace61085bfb60d2b66096f08f4a6d7c4ed3f3afd446b39258213\a8216f1ace61085bfb60d2b66096f08f4a6d7c4ed3f3afd446b39258213.xlsx

Note Powerpoint files are FINE. It is just Word and Excel that are given random names.

Rename the file in the location to something short and it will open fine.

This breaks the limit for Excel and Word.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/troubleshoot/office-suite-issues/error-open-document

a8216f1ace61085bfb60d2b66096f08f4a6d7c4ed3f3afd446b39258213.xlsx - This is the random name it gives.

I get this error message when trying to open any type of attachment from the desktop version of the new Outlook.

"Error occurred while opening the file. Please try again".

It cannot open because Microsoft changed the "temporary saving location" for Outlook New and when it saves the file it RENAMES it to some random name that is way too long and Excel and Word cannot open. Note Powerpoint works fine. It saves it as its name.

Outlook Classic saves attachments to this and it keeps the SAME file name as the document.
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Outlook\

However Outlook (new) changed the saving location to this and it makes the File name random and too long.
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Olk\Attachments\a8216f1ace61085bfb60d2b66096f08f4a6d7c4ed3f3afd446b39258213\a8216f1ace61085bfb60d2b66096f08f4a6d7c4ed3f3afd446b39258213.xlsx

Note Powerpoint files are FINE. It is just Word and Excel that are given random names.

Rename the file in the location to something short and it will open fine.

a8216f1ace61085bfb60d2b66096f08f4a6d7c4ed3f3afd446b39258213.xlsx - This is the random name it gives.

This breaks the limit for Excel and Word.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/troubleshoot/office-suite-issues/error-open-document

Hello Wyatt Boboltz,

Good day to you and hope you are doing well.

I have checked this thread and seems many other users also facing same query with New Outlook for Windows. So did more research and found that users who chose "default browser" as an option seemed to solve the problems. So would also like to suggest you to apply/reapply this option and check. (If your default browser is Edge, it is recommended to still select default browser as an option and then check it.) If needed, restart a new Outlook for Windows. This should be a compatibility issue with the latest version of Edge or the new Outlook.

If still facing issue with New outlook for Windows, it is recommended to kindly contact New Outlook for windows in- app support team. Contact support and provide feedback in new Outlook for Windows - Microsoft Support

I hope this information helps you. Please let me know if the above suggestions are suitable for you, waiting for your reply.

Thank you.

Ankita Vaidya

This works for me. thank you very much!