Outlook Fix This File Cannot Be Previewed: Fix In Under 5 Minutes [2024]

You are sitting in your office or workplace and you receive an important work mail. There is an attachment but when you click on it, you are faced with an error and you can’t view that attachment.

Frustrating, right?

You must be wondering:

Why attachment is not working in Outlook?

You don’t need to spend too much time worrying about this because I have experienced this problem first-hand and I will walk you through some of the simplest ways you can get attachments working again.

So, what are you waiting for? Grab a cup of tea and read on without skipping any sections to find out how to fix this file cannot be previewed because there is no previewer installed for it.

How To Fix Outlook This File Cannot Be Previewed?

To fix Outlook this file cannot be previewed, you have to switch to compatibility mode through Outlook settings. You also have a good chance of fixing this issue by making sure the previewer is enabled in Outlook Trust Center.

The fixes you are going to see will work for you if you are facing errors like This file cannot be previewed because there is no previewer installed for it.

Before you proceed with the fixes, make sure that the right application for that particular file is installed. The applications you need are:

1. Microsoft Excel for viewing XLSX files.
2. Microsoft Word for viewing DOCX files.
3. Microsoft PowerPoint for viewing PPT files.
4. Adobe Reader for viewing PDF files

Check out the easiest way to Enable Read Receipts In Outlook.

Here are the methods to fix Outlook this file cannot be previewed:

1. Check If The Right Previewer Is Enabled In Trust Center

Outlook will not preview a file if the previewer for that is disabled in Outlook Trust Center. It is quite simple to check if that’s the case.

Follow these steps to check if previewers are enabled in Trust Center:

1. Launch the desktop application for Outlook.
2. Move your cursor to the top left corner and click on File and select Options.
3. Select Trust Center from the left pane of the window.
4. You should see a Trust Center Settings button on the right side of the window. You need to click on that.
5. Look for Attachment Handling on the left pane of the window and click on it.
6. After that, you need to click on the Attachment and Document previewers button which should be visible on the right pane.
7. A pop-up window should launch with lots of previewers. You can choose to enable specific previewers by checking the check box next to it, but I recommend enabling all of them, even if you don’t need it.
8. After you are done, simply click on OK. You should see the changes when you restart Outlook.

If all the previewers were already enabled or you didn’t see any visible changes after enabling them, you should try the next fix.

Here’s a complete guide on how to add email signature in Outlook.

2. Make Sure Windows Firewall Is Enabled

A lot of people have reported that they were facing This file cannot be previewed error when their Windows Firewall was not enabled.

You can check whether Windows Firewall is enabled or disabled by following these steps:

1. First, you need to make sure your Outlook application is closed before you tweak Firewall settings.
2. Launch the Windows Settings application from the Start Menu.
3. Click on Update and Security as shown in the picture below.
4. Once you click on it, a Firewall and Network protection button should be visible on the right pane.
5. You will be taken to a new window with 3 network options. You should see active written next to the network that you are connected to. Click on that network. In my case, it’s a public network.
6. On the next page, simply switch the toggle for the Microsoft Defender Firewall to on.
7. After that, restart your computer and see if attachment previews are working now.
8. If you don’t see any changes, switch the Firewall on for the other 2 networks you saw on Step 6 and check for any improvements after a restart.

If this method didn’t work for you, don’t get discouraged yet as there are still 2 more fixes to try.

Check out our separate post on how to view message headers in Outlook.

3. Fix Windows Registry Settings

Outlook might be unable to preview the files because the Registry settings haven’t been configured properly. This may seem a little complicated for you but I’ll explain it in a very simple way.

Here is the way to check and correct registry errors:

1. Close the Outlook application if it’s running.
2. Launch a Run window by pressing the Windows key and R key at the same time.
3. Type Regedit in the Run window and click on OK.

Here, you will need to go to the right Registry page but the path for this is different for users depending on their Windows version or Outlook version.

If you are running a 32-bit version of Outlook on a 64-bit version of Windows, then the path for you is: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\​SOFTWARE\​Wow6432Node\​Microsoft\​Windows\​CurrentVersion\​PreviewHandlers

However, if you are running a 32-bit Outlook on 32-bit Windows or 64-bit Outlook on 64-bit Windows, then the path for you is: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\​SOFTWARE\​Microsoft\​Windows\​CurrentVersion\​PreviewHandlers

4. Once you know which path is right for your version of Outlook and Windows, copy the entire path to the clipboard.
5. After that, you need to paste that path into the Registry editor as shown below.
6. Once you paste the path and press enter, you will see a lot of random numbers here.
7. Here, you need to locate the following string value and make sure the Value Data is the same as below.

00020827-0000-0000-C000-000000000046 = Mircosoft Excel previewer

65235197-874B-4A07-BDC5-E65EA825B718 = Microsoft PowerPoint previewer

84F66100-FF7C-4fb4-B0C0-02CD7FB668FE = Microsoft Word previewer

DC6EFB56-9CFA-464D-8880-44885D7DC193 = Adobe PDF Preview Handler for Vista

8. If you find a string value missing, right-click on an empty space and select New, and then String value.
9. Copy and paste the string value and save it.
10. Do a right-click on the string value you just created and select modify.
11. Copy and paste the corresponding Value data as shown in the image below.
12. Exit the registry window.

4. Enable Compatibility Mode In Outlook

This has been reported to work for many users. You have to enable compatibility mode under user-interface settings.

You can do that by following these steps:

1. Launch the Outlook app.
2. Click on File at the top left corner and select Options.
3. Switch to the General tab from the left pane and then click on Optimize for compatibility on the right pane under User Interface options.
4. Restart the application.

Check out the easiest way to Green Screen with Microsoft Teams.

FAQ

Question: How do I show the preview pane in Outlook?

Answer: You can show the preview pane in Outlook by clicking the View menu at the top of the window and then clicking on the Preview Pane or Reading Pane option. You have the choice to select whether you want the preview pane at the right or bottom.

Question: How do I enable MailTips in Outlook?

Answer: You can enable MailTips in Outlook by clicking on File and then Options. In the next window, locate Mail and click on it and then scroll to the MailTips section. Here, you need to click on the MailTips options to enable MailTips depending on the conditions.

Question: Why did my Outlook format change?

Answer: Your Outlook format can change if some settings were changed in Outlook views. You can restore the default view by clicking on Inbox and then Views followed by View Settings. Here you need to click on reset current view.

Final Thoughts

I know it can be a major issue if you can’t view or understand an email properly in time which just becomes harder when your email client runs into issues like these. However, one of these fixes should have worked for you.

Thank you for reading this article and if you ever face any other issues, you can always reach us.