Office document links opened in classic Outlook might appear to be blank or open with an error

Last Updated: April 30, 2026

ISSUE

When you open a SharePoint or OneDrive shared Office document link in a classic Outlook email, these scenarios can happen:

The file attempts to open in the Office desktop application regardless of if your preference is set to open using a Browser.
The file might open as blank or with an error that says the file is corrupted and a repair is needed.

STATUS: INVESTIGATING

The Outlook Team is investigating this issue. We will update this topic when we have more information.

WORKAROUND

To work around the issue, use one of these options that best suits your requirements:

Change classic Outlook to open links in the Desktop apps. Go to File > Options > Advanced > File and browser preferences > "Open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files using: Desktop".
If you need the file to open in a browser, right-click the link in the body of the Outlook message, select Open with, then choose your browser.
To force the links to open in the browser you can set this registry key:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\office\16.0\Common\Internet DWORD: OpenDirectlyInApp Value: 0
Copy the link from the email message and paste it into the browser address bar.
Open files directly from SharePoint instead of from the Outlook email.
Open links in Outlook Web App (OWA).