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New Outlook Bug: Edge 156 Breaks Attachment Opening, Microsoft Rolls Out a Fix
Are you using the new Outlook for Windows and the “Open” option has disappeared from your attachment menu? You’re not alone. Microsoft has confirmed that version 156 of its Edge browser is behind the issue, and a fix is now being rolled out. Here’s what you need to know.
This week, Microsoft addressed a new incident involving Microsoft Edge and the New Outlook desktop app. The issue affects opening attachments, with an error message stating that the file can’t be opened and that Outlook must be restarted to try again. After that, the “Open” option disappears entirely from the menu when attempting to act on the attachment. On the Microsoft forum, one user reported this behavior on Word, Excel, and PDF files, with several colleagues affected within the same organization.
Edge 156 triggered a configuration
"A recent update to Edge version 156 inadvertently enabled an unnecessary configuration change, which is causing this impact.", Microsoft explained. The Redmond company also clarifies that only users of the new Outlook for Windows who have moved to Edge 156 are affected. Classic Outlook, meanwhile, does not appear to be impacted.
Why would a browser update break the mail client? Because the new Outlook for Windows relies on WebView2, the component that allows Windows apps to embed the Edge engine. The mail client therefore inherits changes made to that engine, including the ones Microsoft described and deemed unnecessary. Microsoft has not said which configuration is involved.
A service-side fix has been deployed automatically
Microsoft has developed and deployed a targeted fix that disables the faulty configuration. It is being applied from Microsoft’s servers and should automatically reach customer devices. The only thing you can do to help the fix take effect faster is restart the app. Propagation may take up to 12 hours, but as of last night, Microsoft considers the rollout complete.
"We have completed deployment of our targeted fix to disable the configuration causing the issue and have validated with a subset of affected users that the issue was resolved. Users still affected will need to close and reopen Outlook for the change to take effect and for the issue to be resolved.", the company said.
If you’re still experiencing problems, hang in there a little longer... In the meantime, here are two temporary workarounds:
- Save as: select the attachment, choose “Save as” instead of “Open,” then open the file manually from the local folder. This is the workaround recommended by Microsoft.
- Outlook on the web: according to the report posted on Microsoft Q&A, attachments open normally in the web version.
You can follow the status of this incident in the Microsoft 365 portal under reference EX1528992.
Ultimately, this issue is not good news for Microsoft, which is making increasing efforts to convince users to leave classic Outlook behind. This incident is unlikely to reassure already reluctant users.
