In a hurry to print off that document before the meeting? You can quickly print attached files without opening the email or the attachment in Outlook 2013 or 2010.
- In the “Inbox“, highlight the email that contains the attachment(s) you wish to print.
- Select “File” > “Print“.
- Select the “Print Options” button.
- Put a check in the “Print attached files. Attachments will print to the default printer only” check box. Click “Print“. If you don’t want to print right now, select “Preview” instead to save the setting, then you may select “Cancel“.
Now you can simply right-click any email, then select “Quick Print“. If the email has an attachment, the message and the file will be opened in its default program and printed to the default printer without ever opening the file.
Now you can simply right-click any email, then select “Quick Print“. If the email has an attachment, the message and the file will be opened in its default program and printed to the default printer without ever opening the file.
Note: For some applications, you may be shown prompts to click for permission to open the file or a printing dialog.
FAQ
When I try to print the file, I get an error that says the file cannot be opened or a prompt asking how I want to open this type of file. How do I fix this?
You have to have the program that opens the file installed on your computer and setup to open that type of file by default.
Is there a way to make the attachments print without including the email message?
No.
Is there a way to print the attachments to a non-default printer?
No. At least not when using “Quick Print”. You can still go to “File” > “Print” option, ensure the checkbox for printing attached files is selected, then choose a printer if you need to use a specific printer.
Brendalyn says
Very useful. It helps. Thank you so much for sharing this info.
Mitch Bartlett says
It seems like you have to select different default printer. Right-click on Start, then go to Devices and Printers. Right click the printer you want to use, then choose “Set as default printer”.
Lana M says
Outlook 2016. I wish to print an email. It prints fine, then prompts me to open the program it was sent with. Prior to outlook 2016, it would quick print the one page email, and I was done. Now, it prints, then opens “Opening Mail Attachment” window Open/Save/Cancel. I always have to cancel. I don’t want to open any mail attachment. I have turned off print attachments, and it still prompts me to open the program.
Cathy says
I would like to print the attachments in color. Is this an option with quick print?
Christina says
When I go to file and print I have no printer options that show the dialogue about printing attachments. Any other suggestions?
Kami Baldwin says
Works great!
Brian Drab says
Evgeny – Yes, Office Home and Business 2016 Version 16.0.7967.2139 breaks this functionality. When I roll back to 16.0.7870.2031 it works fine. Unfrotunately Click once apps appear to update themselves even if Windows Update is disabled.
Evgeny says
This option stopped working lately. Tried on Outlook 2013 and 2016 (365)
When i try to quick print without opening a mail it says “file not found”.
I checked outlook.content folder. it’s empty.
Is it something related to the Microsoft updates?
Thx
Alton Tupa says
When I open an email with an Adobe attachment, it automatically prints the attachment. How do I stop it from doing that? I am running Outlook 2013.
susan says
On Windows 16 print I don’t have the option of printing attachments and they open in edge – can’t find the tool to print them form there, Can only to save them – and then print – too long winded
Susan
Mary Ann Cantor says
When I want to print the 1-2 pages of an email with a no. of attachments, the printer prints blank pages that are in the attachments instead of the 1-2 pages of the email. Thank you.
SS says
If there are 2 attachments this just does not work, useless software
michael says
This just doesn’t work, for .pdf and .txt, in office 2013, quick print acts exactly like an ‘open file’ button and then you have to select print from the application, after it stupidly prints the email without the attachment. And you are forced to tell it to ‘always open with this file’ and ‘are you sure you want to open this file’ each and every time.
Microsoft is incompetent, but in their 50th iteration of their flagship must-have application, this type of bug is beyond the pale of even my ultra low expectations for ms. An entire department should be fired. And for some reason this ultra-obscure blog is the only attempt at a tutorial and it doesn’t even address the issue.
Feel free to contact me if you have any idea what might be going on, I will pay the favor forward if you can pull this spliter from the admin’s paw, thx
Fran says
We have lots of emails with pdf attachments. The email needs to be printed to the default printer but the attachment to another printer (loaded with a different paper). This can be achieved by opening one of the attachments and printing it to the non-default printer. Now minimise the pdf atttachment – do not close it. Then any further emails will print to the default printer and the pdfs to the non-default printer. This behaviour will be remembered so long as you leave at least one of the pdfs minimised