An attachment does not appear in a Plain Text message in Outlook 2016

  • Article
  • Applies to:
    Outlook 2016

Original KB number:   3132071

Symptoms

When you attach a file to a message that's formatted as plain text in Microsoft Outlook 2016, the attachment does not appear in the Attached line in the message header. This problem occurs on a Microsoft Office 2016 Click-to-Run installation that has at least the December 11, 2015 update (version 16.0.6366.2036) installed.

This problem can also occur in other situations. This problem can occur if one or more of the following conditions are true:

  • In the File > Options > Mail dialog box, the Compose messages in this format option is set to Plain Text.
  • You are replying to or forwarding an email message that you received in plain text format. Outlook uses the format of the original message in a reply, even if the Compose messages in this format option is set to HTML.
  • You manually change the format of the message to Plain Text.
  • The message that has the attachment is generated by another program that uses Simple MAPI to create the message.
  • You are sending a file from Windows Explorer or another file management program by right-clicking the file, pointing to Send to, and then selecting Mail recipient.

Note

Although the attachment does not appear in the Attached line, the recipient does receive the attachment. Additionally, if you open the item from your Sent Items folder in Outlook, the attachment is shown.

Resolution

To fix this issue, make sure that your Office 2016 Click-to-Run installation is at version 16.0.6366.2056 or a later version. If it is not at this version or a later version, update your Office 2016 installation. To do this, follow these steps.

  1. Open any Office application, such as Outlook or Word.
  2. Select File, and then select Office Account or Account.
  3. View the Version that is listed under Office Updates.
  4. If the version is not at 16.0.6366.2056 or a later version, select Update Options, and then select Update Now.

Workaround

To work around this issue, you can change the Compose messages in this format setting in Outlook options to HTML. Additionally, you can manually set plain text messages to HTML format. To do this in a new email message, select the Format Text tab on the ribbon, and then select HTML in the Format group.