How to Open Blocked Attachments in MS Outlook – Manual and Automated Solution

  

Rollins Duke   
Published: August 16th, 2024 • 5 Min Read

Stephens, US: From the date, I have joined my current organization, I have been getting a daily report containing multiple files as XLSX attachments. But, recently few of the XLSX attachments are being blocked in Microsoft Outlook. I am confused because it is not visible in the attachment list but the size of Outlook emails shows that the files were sent. What can I do so that the attachment is allowed into my Outlook inbox? Outlook is constantly giving me the following message as shown in this picture I have attached below-

If you are utilizing Microsoft Outlook for personal or business purposes, then, you may get have a collection of dozens of email messages in your inbox. A few messages have attachments with them comprising some significant data. However, there are a few situations when you get the mail, yet you can’t open its attachment and get the following message – “Outlook blocked access to the following potentially unsafe attachments.”

Well, all versions of Outlook since Outlook 2000 Service Release 1 incorporate a security feature that obstructs attachments which may put your PC in various virus threats. As an instance, specific kinds of attachments, (for example, .exe documents) which you get attached with email are consequently blocked. Despite the fact that there is no access to Outlook users for accessing those attachments but still the attachments stay in the email message.

As a result, one can’t open, save, erase or print with Outlook attachments.

So, to get rid of this issue of ‘how to open block attachments in MS Outlook’, all the novice and intermediate Outlook users can follow these techniques.

Manual Methods to Open Blocked Attachments in Outlook

One of the following manual methods can be selected to open an attachment that is blocked in Microsoft Outlook:

METHOD1: Changing Exchange Server Security Setting

In MS Exchange Server, certain restrictions are applied by the Administrator that prevents the users to receive mails of a particular type. However, if you know that the file you are receiving is secure enough, you can ask the Administrator to change security so that you can receive the desired attachments.

METHOD2: Customizing The Security Behavior Of Attachments

You can modify the registry and change the security behavior of Outlook for attachments so that the blocked attachments in MS Outlook can be viewed. The following steps are required to be followed for the process:

1. Close Outlook, if it is running.
2. Move to Registry Editor.

• For Windows 2000 – Type regedt32, in the Run command.
• Windows Vista and 7 – Type regedit in the search box of the start menu.
• For Windows 8 and above – Type regedit in the search box of the start screen.

3. Navigate to following key according to the version of Outlook configured in your local machine.
4. In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following location:

Edit/New/String Value.

5. Provide a name to the value as Level1Remove.

Note: The name of the value is case sensitive.

6. A newly created value will be visible in the Registry Editor.
7. Double click on the value and enter the extension of the file that you want to open.

NOTE:

• Enter the extension with a dot.
• If you want to add more than one extension, separate them with semi colon.

8. Click on OK to close the Registry editor.
9. Restart your Local machine.

METHOD3: Use a Compression Tool to Open Blocked Attachments in MS Outlook

The sender can be asked to use a Compression tool in order to compress the original file. These tools create files with different extensions which are not considered a threat by Outlook and hence, it does not block the attachments. On receiving the files, which were initially blocked attachments in MS Outlook, you can save it on your local machine and then extract attachments by either using a third-party tool or by simply following these steps:

• Navigate to the email attachment and copy it.

• Paste the attachment on the desktop.
• Rename the attachment using the original file extension.

Now, you will be able to view the attachments on your local machine and can easily access blocked attachments in Outlook. However, you need to be technically sound to perform these steps as any mistake can lead you to loss of information.

Concluding Words

Attachments play an integral role in communicating with peers. It is very frustrating when one can’t open email attachments in MS Outlook properly. But, the methods presented in this blog will surely help you to troubleshoot this issue. Now, you can easily access blocked email attachments in Outlook.