Delay in opening Outlook attachments? Try these simple methods

Read time 5 minutes

Attachments are vital to Outlook email communication as this facility helps users to share documents among them. MS Outlook allows you with the limit of 25MB attachment to be shared within the mail. Still, you can attach cloud storage links to share heavy files. These are some of the premium features offered in MS Outlook that makes it more reliable for the organization for daily operations. But sometimes you might experience common issues like email attachments take too much time to open. Though situations of slow attachments loading can show up anytime leading from different reasons, many of them can be solved from the user’s end itself. Some of the effective instant methods usually followed are mentioned below:

1. Disable the protected view for Outlook attachments.
2. Disable dynamic data exchange.
3. Run Outlook in cached Exchange mode.
4. Check the size of Outlook data files.
5. Disable the antivirus programs.
6. Update MS Outlook
7. Run Outlook in safe mode.
8. Extract Outlook attachments.

Delay in opening the attachments can cause frustration in Outlook users and can lead to productivity losses. That is why it is necessary to fix this issue immediately.

Methods to fix delay in opening Outlook attachments issue

To avoid having constant issues with your Outlook attachments, you have to utilize reliable solutions. There are various manual methods available to fix this issue easily. Find the step-by-step procedure to complete the process:

Method 1: Disable protected view for Outlook attachments

If the Outlook attachment that is opening slowly is a Microsoft Office file (usually an MS Word or Excel document), then it is possible that a protected view for Outlook attachments is enabled. You need to disable the protected view property to open attachments in Outlook quickly.

Follow the steps given below to know about how to disable the protected view in Microsoft Office Word & fix Outlook attachment problem.

1. Click on the File menu in the toolbar.
   
2. Now, select Options from the given list. And it will take you to Word Options.
   
3. In the Word Options dialogue box, go to the Trust Center at bottom and click on the Trust Center Settings.
4. Under the Protected View tab in the Trust Center dialogue box, uncheck the third option of Enable Protected View for Outlook Attachments, and click OK.
   

Now, Word files will not be protected as an attachment in the Outlook application. So, they will be opened faster in Outlook.

Note: You will have to disable the protected view property for every Office application separately.

Method 2: Run Outlook in cached Exchange mode

If you are using Outlook with an Exchange account, then it is recommended to enable Cached Exchange Mode. Otherwise opening Outlook attachments may become slower. This is how you can enable it:

1. In Outlook, select File> Account Settings> Account Settings.
2. Select your Exchange account in the E-mail tab, and click on the Change option.
3. Check the Use Cached Exchange Mode checkbox and it will enable the cached mode for your Outlook.
4. Now, close & restart the Outlook application.

Method 3: Disable Dynamic Data Exchange

You can try disabling the Dynamic Data Exchange in the system setting which can remove the delay attachments opening issue easily: Here’s the way below for how you can do it.

• From the Start menu, select the Control Panel, and click on the Folder option.
• Under the File type button, choose the attachment file type & click on the Advanced option.
• From the Open Action tab, go to Edit & then clear up the DDE checkbox.
• Click on OK & and exit the window, access Outlook again & try to open the attachments again.

Method 4: Update MS Outlook

Users who are using older versions like Outlook 2003 and 2007 may face delays in opening attachments. The newer Outlook versions can handle more emails and their large-sized attachments more effectively than the older versions. So, update your Outlook to the latest versions to get rid of slow email attachment opening problem.

Method 5: Run Outlook in Safe mode

Anti-virus programs or firewalls may scan emails and cause issues while opening attachments. You can solve this Outlook attachment problem by running Outlook in safe mode. This can be done by running outlook.exe /safe in the Run command interface.

Method 6: Check the size of Outlook data files

If you are experiencing delays while opening Outlook attachments, one of the possible causes may be that your Outlook data files are too large. This can happen if you have a lot of email messages or other Outlook data stored in its folders, and it can affect the speed at which Outlook opens attachments.

To check the size of your Outlook data folders;

• Open Outlook and go to File > Account Settings > Data Files.
• You should see a list of all the Outlook data files on your computer, including their file sizes.
• If any of these files are particularly large, you may need to take steps to reduce their size or archive them to free up space on your hard drive.

Method 7: Disable the antivirus programs

Another potential cause of Outlook attachment issues is antivirus programs running in the background. These programs can sometimes interfere with Outlook, causing delays or even crashing the program altogether.
If you suspect that your antivirus program may be causing problems, you can try disabling it temporarily to see if this resolves your Outlook issue.

Note: It is important to have an antivirus program installed and running on your computer, so you should only disable yours as the last resort. Some possible options include using a different antivirus program or installing Outlook-specific security features such as Outlook Protected Mode.

To disable your antivirus program;

• Open the Control Panel on your computer and look for an option to turn off or disable antivirus.
• Alternatively, you may need to consult the documentation for your antivirus program to find the specific steps for disabling it.

Method 8: Extract Outlook attachments

If you still face delays while opening Outlook attachments, it is better to try an efficient third-party application that can extract attachments from Outlook emails without causing any complications. Kernel for Attachment Management is one such tool that can extract attachments from Outlook PST files and save them on the user’s hard drive. It can remove email attachments from Outlook PST files and save them on the user’s hard drive. It can extract or recover attachments from any version of Outlook without making any modifications to its emails. It also keeps a log file to maintain the complete record of attachment management. It can even compress the size of attachment to save the disk space.

Conclusion

Outlook attachments are often the root of malware infections as they are prone of containing damages due to external communication. Outlook can persist deep errors like syncing issue with windows , that also derives issues. We have provided the overall factors behind your issue of attachments opening slowly in Outlook in the above article. There are a few simple methods briefly mentioned above that you can follow to help you with the delay in opening of Outlook attachments issue and get over the malware attacks.

Moreover, if you have a lot of attachments or a slow internet connection, opening them can be very frustrating. The Kernel for Attachment Management utility can help with this issue too. So, we recommend you try out this tool for free.