Sent Attachments are Corrupted – Outlook 2016

Issue: Customer contacted me that his email attachments from Outlook 2016 (Buy Office 2016) were corrupted when the recipient received the email. The recipient was unable to view or open the attachments without receiving an error.

Troubleshooting: 

Step One: I found the documents were definitely being corrupted. I verified it wasn’t the recipient since the “sent” email attachment in the Outlook sent folder was also corrupted. When trying to open the attachment I got this message:  We’re sorry. We can’t open <doc name> because we found a problem with its contents.

Outlook Attachment Issue

Step Two: I found that the document would only become corrupted if the attachment was selected from the recent files list in Outlook 2016. When the file was attached by browsing to “This PC” and picking the file; files can through fine.

Through my troubleshooting I was convinced it was an add-in issue conflicting with the recent files list in Outlook. So through trial-n-error I found the offending add-in.

Resolution: I disabled Adobe’s Send and Track add-in in Outlook. I tried attaching a Word doc and an Adobe Attachment from the recent files list in Outlook and both files came through without a problem. Problem Solved!

To disable an add-in in Outlook go to File > Options > Add-ins > Manage Com Add-ins > Go and deselect the Adobe Send and Track add-in.

If this add-in isn’t present in your Outlook it is possible that another add-in is causing you grief. I would recommend disabling any third-party add-ins and then see if your issue is fixed. If your issue is fixed by disabling add-ins, enable one add-in at a time until you find the culprit.

Here are some Microsoft forum threads that may help you if this article didn’t. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2016-outlook/sent-attachments-corrupted-outlook-2016/392e2388-3713-4c03-8d66-ae1111ab1b64

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2016-outlook/office-2016-attachment-bug/a20a346d-2875-4516-8ab1-0ed83faed24a

I hope this helped. If it did please let a comment below! Follow me on Twitter and subscribe to my YouTube Channel. This was posted by techspeeder.

 

6 thoughts on “Sent Attachments are Corrupted – Outlook 2016

  1. Terry

    Thanks, your solution “DON’T select from the recent files list” fixed it for my user too. I stopped short of disabling the Adobe add-in. Curiously, in testing, I was able to send attachments from the recent files list WITHOUT having the corrupt file issue.

    Reply

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