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Task attachment open results in "Outlook cannot open the document"

Question
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Running office 16 (windows 10 enterprise). I am getting "Outlook cannot open the document: user does not have access privileges" whenever I try to open an attachment within a task or calendar event. I've tried cleaning up the attachment temp folder and have mucked with the Trust Center settings (protected view) to no avail. It happens on various file types. I can drag a file to a task, save it, but can never edit it. I tried a full repair as well. Can someone assist?
Note that I can open the document if I use OWA (Office 365). This started happening after one of the Sept or Oct updates, I think. At first, I could not open when I double clicked on the attachment but I could drag it to the desktop and open it that way. Later, I could not even do that.
Thanks!
Monday, November 20, 2017 4:58 PM
All replies
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I support a 175 user office. We mostly run Office 2010, but I have a handful of Office 2016 installations out there. One of my 2016 users reported this exact problem over the weekend after some Windows 10 updates dropped. He can no longer open any files that were saved/embedded into any of his Outlook Tasks. Just wanted to document that we are seeing this behavior as well.
- Edited by Jimmy Holmes Monday, November 20, 2017 5:48 PM
Monday, November 20, 2017 5:47 PM -
Hi both,
Thanks for reporting the issue.
Could you please collect the detailed version information of both Office 2016 and Windows 10 then we can do further research on this?
Besides, it is recommended to try checking for and installing all the available updates for Office and Windows and see the result.
Best regards,
Yuki SunPlease remember to mark the replies as answers if they helped.
If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact tnsf@microsoft.com.- Proposed as answer by Yuki SunMicrosoft contingent staff Monday, November 27, 2017 3:04 PM
Friday, November 24, 2017 10:36 AM -
I identified the .ost file from the instructions here: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Repair-Outlook-Data-Files-pst-and-ost-25663bc3-11ec-4412-86c4-60458afc5253. I renamed the file, then started outlook - it created the file. I can now open attached files within tasks. I still cannot drag them to my desktop but I can "Save As" to my desktop which is acceptable. I did have to restore a handful of settings that were gone (mainly related to views). Thank you for all of you help.
- Proposed as answer by Yuki SunMicrosoft contingent staff Tuesday, November 28, 2017 1:33 AM
Monday, November 27, 2017 4:57 PM -
Hi LyonD,
Great to see that you can open attached files within tasks now and thanks for sharing the resolution with us!
By the way, could you please help mark your post above as answer so that others who might have a similar issue can more easily find the useful information? Thanks for your understanding and support.
Best regards,
Yuki SunPlease remember to mark the replies as answers if they helped.
If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact tnsf@microsoft.com.Tuesday, November 28, 2017 1:37 AM -
I run Windows 10 and Office 365 Danish version and experienced the same problem about opening emails I had stored as attachments in tasks on my laptop. On the company's exchange server it still worked though.
Deleting the .pst and the .ost files did not solve the problem.
I was advised by the company's network specialist to check if there had been any windows updates lately and it was windows update 1709 installed this recent weekend. When rolling back to a previous version, the attachments could be opened again.
Best regards
Thorkild
Tuesday, December 12, 2017 7:28 AM