Preview attachments in Outlook for Mac

Applies To
Outlook for Microsoft 365 for Mac Outlook 2024 for Mac Outlook 2021 for Mac Outlook 2019 for Mac

File preview allows you to view an attachment in Outlook without opening the attachment in a separate application. You can simply click the attachment icon in the Reading Pane to preview the file.

By default, you can preview files from most Microsoft Office/Microsoft 365 programs including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Visio. You can also preview attached Outlook email items, images, and text files.

Note

File preview in Outlook for Mac requires Mac OS X v10.6 (Snow Leopard) or later.

  1. Open the message or view it in the reading pane.
  2. Next to the attachment, select V > Preview.
    Message in reading pane with attachment preview highlighted
    The attachment is displayed in the preview window.

Note

You cannot turn off preview. However, you can turn off the reading pane by selecting View > Reading Pane > Hidden.

See Also

Attach a file or a folder to a message in Outlook for Mac