• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Technipages

Smart phone, gadget and computer tutorials

  • Topics
    • Android
    • Gaming
    • Hardware
    • Internet
    • iOS
    • MacOS
    • Office
    • Software
    • Windows
    • Definitions
  • Product Reviews
  • Downloads
  • About
Outlook: Fix “This file cannot be previewed”

Outlook: Fix “This file cannot be previewed”

By Mitch Bartlett 26 Comments

When trying to preview attachments in Microsoft Outlook, you may receive a message that says “This file cannot be previewed because there is no previewer installed for it.” Here’s how you can fix this in most cases.

Fix 1 – Ensure Application is Installed

Ensure that the application used to open the file is installed. Excel for spreadsheets, Word for documents, and Adobe Reader for PDF files.


Fix 2 – Check Attachment Handling Settings

  1. In Outlook, go to “File” > “Options” > “Trust Center” > “Trust Center Settings…” > “Attachment Handling“.
  2. Ensure that “Turn off Attachment Preview” is NOT checked.
  3. Select the “Attachment and Document Previewers…” button.
  4. Make sure that the previewer you wish to use is checked, then select “OK” three times.

Fix 3 – Windows Registry Settings

There is commonly a problem where Windows is not configured to let Outlook preview Microsoft Office files such as Word, Excel, Visio, and PowerPoint files. Follow these steps to fix it.

  1. Download PreviewFix.zip.
  2. Open the file and double-click “PreviewFix.reg“.
  3. When prompted, select “Yes” to import the file into the registry.

Try to preview an Office file from Outlook now.


Fix 4 – Enable Windows Firewall

This is a strange one. But some user have reported that enabling the Windows Firewall fixes their issue. Follow these steps to ensure it’s on.

  1. Select the “Start” button, then select “Settings“.
  2. Navigate to “Update & Security” > “Windows Security” > “Firewall & network protection“.
  3. Choose a network profile, and then under “Windows Defender Firewall“, turn the setting to “On“.

Fix 5 – PDF Registry Fix

This fix is for users of 64 bit versions of Windows experiencing problems with previewing PDF files in Outlook.

  1. Select the “Start” button, then type “regedit“.
  2. Select and open the Registry Editor.
  3. Navigate to the following location:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Wow6432Node \ Classes \ CLSID \ {DC6EFB56-9CFA-464D-8880-44885D7DC193}
  4. Open “AppID“.
  5. Change the “Value Data” to the following, then select “OK“:
    {534A1E02-D58F-44f0-B58B-36CBED287C7C}

Do you have any tricks for fixing the “This file cannot be previewed because there is no previewer installed for it.” message? Share them in the comments section.

You Might Also Like

  • Where is the Outlook PST File Located?
    Where is the Outlook PST File Located?
  • How to Add Personal Folders (PST file) in Outlook 2019
    How to Add Personal Folders (PST file) in Outlook 2019
  • Outlook: "Can't Create File" Error When Opening Attachment
    Outlook: "Can't Create File" Error When Opening Attachment
  • Outlook: Solve "The file username.ost is in use and cannot be accessed" Error
    Outlook: Solve "The file username.ost is in use and…
  • Outlook 2019/365: Enable or Disable "Outlook Today" at Startup
    Outlook 2019/365: Enable or Disable "Outlook Today"…
  • How to Set Out of Office Reply in Outlook
    How to Set Out of Office Reply in Outlook
  • Outlook: Enable/Disable Add-ins
    Outlook: Enable/Disable Add-ins
  • How to Add Outlook Calendar to Your Android
    How to Add Outlook Calendar to Your Android
  • Search Attachments in Outlook
    Search Attachments in Outlook

Filed Under: Office Tagged With: Outlook 2016

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Emma says

    January 15, 2021 at 2:59 pm

    Can you help me with a problem?
    Outlook has stopped viewing Word files that arrive as attachments (and there are several per day …)
    I don’t know which registry key will have been changed and why.
    I have searched the internet, without finding anything that you can solve.

    Is there an idea?

    It only allows you to save the attachment to disk, and then open it in Word. However, before I saw the file in the Outlook viewer itself, without having to save, open, etc.

    Thankful!!

    Emma

    Translated by Google

  2. PEDRO DIAZ-COLON says

    September 8, 2020 at 9:26 am

    Excellent blog! Can I suggest that for Fix #3 (Registry Solution) you also include the Key, DWORD, etc. Someone might be a little skeptical about downloading a registry file to run and showing the process might also teach someone about Windows. Like:
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\REGISTRY\MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PreviewHandlers]
    “{00020827-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}”=”Microsoft Excel previewer”
    “{21E17C2F-AD3A-4b89-841F-09CFE02D16B7}”=”Microsoft Visio previewer”
    “{65235197-874B-4A07-BDC5-E65EA825B718}”=”Microsoft PowerPoint previewer”
    “{84F66100-FF7C-4fb4-B0C0-02CD7FB668FE}”=”Microsoft Word previewer”

  3. kanji says

    September 3, 2020 at 2:52 am

    Sean Tailby’s method worked for me

  4. Sean Tailby says

    August 4, 2020 at 9:18 am

    I opened Acrobat and clicked HELP>REPAIR

    Worked for me.

  5. Shanika Perera says

    July 27, 2020 at 10:17 pm

    Thanks Jodi, your suggesion worked for me.!!!

  6. Haviv says

    July 20, 2020 at 8:49 am

    None of these worked – the modify option via setting or control panel did it

  7. Daniel says

    July 2, 2020 at 1:24 am

    none worked for me, every time i tried to view the excel or word on outlook. it mentioned : This file cannot be previewed because the following previewer has been disabled
    If i klick enable previewer nothing happened even it result i cannot open the excel program anymore. in fact i have to restart the laptop. what an annoying issue….
    somebody pls help to solve this

  8. Alan Montes says

    June 5, 2020 at 5:05 pm

    I tried the suggestion from Siraj, and works like a charm!
    Add or remove programas>adobe reader>modify..then repair
    Thanks

  9. Jodi says

    May 12, 2020 at 12:08 pm

    Hi, I’ve just tried all the fixes above – none of them worked.

    This one did:
    https://support.office.com/en-us/article/outlook-attachment-preview-failure-88020c8e-43ae-4582-9554-511fbaf0d138

    Open the application that handles the file you are attempting to preview. For example, if you are trying to preview a .doc file open Word, use the following steps.
    Look under File>Options>General for the section User Interface options.
    Select the option to Optimize for compatibility.

    ******
    Mine already was ticked. So I ticked the other option – and it now works. Could be from a combination of all the above, or from this simple fix.

  10. siraj says

    March 28, 2020 at 8:47 pm

    went to add or remove programs > adobe reader > modify.

    Working fine now.

  11. Steve R says

    March 5, 2020 at 9:20 pm

    Had a client with this error, just for Excel previewer… all others worked. Did everything above, none of it worked. Went through the options and under Advanced, disabled Hardware Acceleration, and restarted outlook. That fixed it, after hours of uninstall, repair, registry keys, safe mode, firewall, and protected mode settings.

  12. ColinR says

    March 2, 2020 at 7:46 am

    Hi – I had this issue on a new 2016 build with iVanti Workspace Control, Office 2016 etc. Had some other odd issues in a document management system that prevented file attachments opening, and Office docs marked as protected being unusable.

    After engaging Microsoft – who suggested stripping back all the apps and iVanti – I came across this page, and option 4 (Windows Firewall ) fixed both the preview issues, and the other issues. This was confirmed in two environments – and then a fix deployed across the 2016 server estate by starting service in Group Policy.

    Seems remarkable that Microsoft support do not have a list of key services that may affect preview in this way, take logs and still suggest its the 3rd part environment management tools causing the issue. Stripping back apps and settings could have taken weeks.

  13. Rena Schneider says

    February 21, 2020 at 1:58 pm

    I tried all of the above fixes as well and it is still not working. any other suggestions?

  14. Andrew Lawlor says

    February 6, 2020 at 4:34 pm

    My company is being hit hard with this issue.
    I discovered that it was an out-dated component of WebEx ptools that was causing the problem.
    If you launch Outlook in safe mode (outlook.exe /safe) and you preview files again, look through your list of add-ons.
    I worked down the list in normal mode, disabling all of them and then slowly enabling them until I hit on the Webex conflict.
    After removing all webex components from appwiz.cpl, i was able to reinstall the updated client and everything worked fine again.

  15. Kitty Parker says

    December 2, 2019 at 11:30 am

    I had this problem – the previewer just stopped working.. Tried all of the above but it just refused to work. Then a few days later, it started working again. Weird.
    The other day, it stopped working again. I double checked everything and all was good.
    Out of frustration when looking at the default apps, I right clicked on Adobe. It offered to Modify or Uninstall.
    What the heck, I choose Modify.
    My previewer is working again.
    Really????? That simple????

  16. Shaun says

    November 11, 2019 at 4:57 am

    try all methods you mentioned. still not working.
    is there a SW bug?

  17. Guo-Jiao says

    November 5, 2019 at 2:49 am

    I’ve also tried all the methods but still cannot fix the issue… Seems just after recent Microsoft office update.

  18. Teresa says

    October 25, 2019 at 9:09 am

    I tried all the fixes and I still cannot preview attachments in Outlook?

  19. Sesar says

    October 18, 2019 at 3:28 am

    Thanks, Terima kasih from Indonesia solved Enable Windows Firewall

  20. Irfan Ahmad says

    September 24, 2019 at 4:49 am

    this file cannot be previewed because there is no previewer installed for it

    How to solve ?

  21. Amanda says

    September 19, 2019 at 6:20 am

    THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. All fixed :)

  22. George Karabache says

    July 17, 2019 at 12:00 am

    Open Adobe Reader, Click Edit and then go to preferences. Click on general.
    Tick the tickbox – Enable PDF thumbnail previews in Windows explorer. then click OK down the bottom.
    Now fixed.

  23. Noel says

    May 2, 2019 at 7:54 pm

    Thank you!! Fix 3 worked for me

  24. David says

    April 30, 2019 at 6:35 am

    Thanks. Fix 3 worked a dream.

  25. Malath Razooq says

    March 4, 2019 at 12:05 pm

    thank you, works like charm Fix 4 – Enable Windows Firewall

  26. Rosa says

    February 23, 2019 at 11:53 am

    Thank you so much for giving some clues to fix this terrible thing, but I’m afraid I have a different Windows and 3 years behind? But I’ll ask about my problem anyway and hope to get some help from someone:

    Yesterday all day I couldn’t open an attachment because of that error message. Then I wasn’t able to open ANY links at all but I could still type. I shut off the laptop. Following morning the above error message appeared EVERYWHERE I tried to type in Microsoft Outlook. And now, I cannot type anything anywhere in MS Outlook! When I click on “Inbox” to start a message, it shows only the above error message in the entire Inbox!

    I’m able to send/receive in my Gmail account although the bulk of my emails are in MS Outlook. And i can open any other websites so my Internet is ok. How to fix it so a “previewer” will work all the time??? Please….

    Thanks ever so much for nay help! :) Adela

Did this help? Let us know! Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Fix Skype Error: Exchange Needs Your Credentials
  • Fix Skype Notifications Not Working on Windows 10
  • Teams in Outlook: We Couldn’t Schedule the Meeting
  • VR Oculus Quest 2: How to Configure a New Room-Scale Boundary
  • VR Oculus Quest 2: How to Adjust Boundary Sensitivity
  • Dropbox: How To Change the Date Format
  • Microsoft Teams: There Was a Problem Saving the Photo
  • VR Oculus Quest 2: How to Set up Oculus Link

Who’s Behind Technipages?

Baby and Daddy My name is Mitch Bartlett. I've been working in technology for over 20 years in a wide range of tech jobs from Tech Support to Software Testing. I started this site as a technical guide for myself and it has grown into what I hope is a useful reference for all.

Follow me on Twitter, or visit my personal blog.

You May Also Like

  • Encapsulated Postscript (EPS) File
  • File Compression Utility

© Copyright 2021 Technipages · All Rights Reserved · Privacy