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Solution to Microsoft Outlook 2007 or 2010 not opening Word or Excel Attachments

This particular problem has come a few times lately, so I thought I better write out the solution for the website for both my memory and for others who might have the problem.

Here’s what the problem looks like: Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010 users try to open a Microsoft Word or Excel document and cannot do so. Usually this occurs with Word/Excel 2007 or 2010 only. To solve the problem of opening Word (and Excel) documents in Microsoft Outlook, try this:

  1. Close Microsoft Outlook
  2. Open Microsoft Word
  3. Click File (or little Office orb for 2007 version) in the upper left hand corner of screen
  4. Click Options
  5. Click Trust Center
  6. Click Trust Center Settings
  7. Click Protected View
  8. Uncheck the following boxes:
    • Enable protected view for files originating from the internet
    • Enable protected view for files located in potentially unsafe locations
    • Enable protected view for outlook attachments
  9. Click OK
  10. Click OK again
  11. Close Word
  12. Open Microsoft Outlook and try your attachments again

I hope this helps you! Good luck.

 

 

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59 thoughts on “Solution to Microsoft Outlook 2007 or 2010 not opening Word or Excel Attachments”

  2. cynde hall

    unfortunately this solution did not work for me. I still get the message “file is corrupt cannot open “I never had any problems with the 2007 version of excel. other people in my office have excel 2010 and they open our office attachments coming from the 2007 edition

  3. simeon

    I have fixed this issue by deleting the .xls and .xlsx from the registry. Do the following,

    Registry disclaimer:

    Modifying REGISTRY settings incorrectly can cause serious problems that may prevent your computer from booting properly. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the configuring of REGISTRY settings can be solved. Modifications of these settings are at your own risk.

    Windows XP: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756

    Windows Vista: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Back-up-the-registry

    Windows 7:http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Back-up-the-registry

    Once you take the backup

    Note: Make sure you have the CD for Office 2007

    Click on start>run>regedit>HKEY_ClASSES_ROOT>scroll down to .xls and .xlsx and then right click on those keys and delete it.

    Then repair Office 2007 by going to Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features.

    Select the office program installed from the list > right click on the item > click on change > click on Repair > click Continue.

    Once repair is complete restart the computer and then try opening the attachments.

  5. Etienne

    I encountered the same problem using Outlook and Word 2007. I tried the solution above but on opening Word Options,Trust Center, Trust Center Settings I have no Protected View
    option. What I noticed however is under the Trusted Locations option, the three locations of the Word templates were added as trusted locations but each one showed “Disalloed” under the sub-folders. I modified each location and checked the “Sub-folders of this location are also trusted” check-box. This seem to have fixed the problem.

    1. Shirley

      Thank you!!!! After spending countless hours reading through tons of computer mumbo jumbo and trying different suggestions, I found yours. I wasn’t able to open attachments and now I can! You’re a lifesaver!

  7. Iulian

    I had problems with office 2007 excel files protected with password, and I’ve solved them by installing Service Pack 3 for office 2007.

  9. Chris

    Thank you so much it has worked, I don’t know why it stopped working as recently would open just about anything!
    I run windows 7 and use the free office starter as only need the basics.
    Thanks again for the instant help, I had tried for 2 days on my own

  12. Jerry

    I have a slightly different variation of this problem. When I open an attached Word file, it will not open unless the application is already running, but with Excel files, Outlook launches the application if it is not already open.

    Anyone know how to get Outlook to launch the Word.exe application when you click on an attached file?

  13. Ssekasi

    I have searched the internet all day!
    This is the only Solution that worked!
    Thank you so much,

  14. Martin

    The solution I found somewhere else on the web, and has just worked perfectly is to reinstall google chrome if you have recently removed it

  17. sandie

    I closed Microsoft outlook but I still can’t open Word to do the things you suggested. Just can’t figure out how this happened.

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