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Cannot Open E-Mail Attachments in Outlook Express After You Install SP1

Article ID: 329570 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q329570

SYMPTOMS

After you install Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Windows XP SP1 (both of which include Outlook Express 6 SP1), access to some of your e-mail attachments in Outlook Express may be removed. For example, you may experience any of the following symptoms:

When you click the paper clip in the Preview pane, the Save Attachments and file_name commands are unavailable.
When you open an e-mail message, the Save Attachments command is unavailable on the File menu, the Attach field is missing from the e-mail message, and the following message is displayed in the message alert bar at the top of the e-mail message:
Outlook Express removed access to the following unsafe attachments in your email: file_name1, file_name2

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CAUSE

This behavior occurs if the Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus option is enabled, and the e-mail attachment is determined by Outlook Express to be "unsafe". By default, the Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus option is enabled in Outlook Express 6 SP1. When this virus-protection feature is enabled, Outlook Express uses the Internet Explorer unsafe file list and the Confirm open after download setting in Folder Options to determine if a file is safe. Any e-mail attachment with a file type that is reported as "unsafe" is not downloaded, and access to the attachment is removed.

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WORKAROUND

If you are sure that the attachment is safe to download or open, use the following method: NOTE: Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps.

Turn off the Option to Use the Unsafe File List

To turn off the Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus option:

Start Outlook Express.
On the Tools menu, click Options.
Click the Security tab, click to clear the Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus check box under Virus Protection, and then click OK.

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STATUS

This behavior is by design.

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MORE INFORMATION

IMPORTANT: The methods that are described in this article make it possible for you to obtain access to file attachments in Outlook Express. Download file attachments and scan them for viruses before you open them. To save file attachments so that you can scan them for viruses before you open them:

Open the e-mail message in Outlook Express.
On the File menu, click Save Attachments.
Specify the folder in which you want to save the attachments in the Save To box, and then click Save.

For additional information about virus protection features in Outlook Express 6, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

291387

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291387/EN-US/ )

OLEXP: Using Virus Protection Features in Outlook Express 6

For additional information about the Internet Explorer unsafe file list, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

291369

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291369/EN-US/ )

Information About The Unsafe File List in Internet Explorer 6

For additional information about how to obtain the latest service pack for Internet Explorer 6, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

328548

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/328548/EN-US/ )

How to Obtain the Latest Service Pack for Internet Explorer 6

For additional information about how to obtain the latest service pack for Windows XP, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322389

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322389/EN-US/ )

How to Obtain the Latest Windows XP Service Pack

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