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Outlook Web App can’t download attachments

3 min. read

Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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If you are an avid user ofMicrosoft Outlook, then you probably familiar with both the downloadable client, as well as the Web App (OWA).

Both of these choices offer pretty much the same functionality, although some prefer the web app so they won’t fill in their PC’s hard drive.

However, some users have been reporting that they are having issues downloading mail attachments when using the web version, especially onGoogle Chrome.

More so, users seem to behaving problemswith downloadingXMLfileswhile using the Web App.

[…]our external partners has sent us attachments which are MHT extensions andXMLfileswith XLS extensions. In both cases, we cannot view or save these attachments.

How do I fix Outlook attachments blocked by Google Chrome?

First of all, you must know that such problems can be caused both by the browser you are running the OWA on and by Outlook’s own functionality.

1. Disable Chrome’s safe browsing features

Want to access your emails in a safer and more secure manner? Why not try this neat browser

2. Enable attachment preview

This works especially well with photo and video attachments.

3. Whitelist the sender

This method works extremely well when you receive emails from the sender with known good reputations.

4. Check out what type of files are being sent via the OWA

As a standard, Outlook Web App blocks attachments that have a wide variety of extensions.

To bypass this, here are two workarounds you could try:

Keep note that these two workarounds work for both theOutlook Web Appas well as theclient.

Tired of how limited Microsoft Outlook seems? Why not try an alternative from our list?

Only certain files, such as XML files, aren’t downloading

If the attachment download error only happens to a certain type offile, such asXML, your only solution is to change the Outlook Web App mailbox policy.

To do this, you need to perform some PowerShell work in order to do this, which looks like this:

In this example, we made sureXMLfilesare marked as included in the list of permitted extensions.

Keep note that this last solution appliesonly to the Outlook Web Appand not the client.

Do you also encounter issues downloading attachments form the Outlook Web App?

If you know of any solution we may have missed out on, let us know in the comments section below.

Outlook Web App can’t download attachments#

How do I fix Outlook attachments blocked by Google Chrome?#

1. Disable Chrome’s safe browsing features#

2. Enable attachment preview#

3. Whitelist the sender#

4. Check out what type of files are being sent via the OWA#

Only certain files, such as XML files, aren’t downloading#