Account from my tenant can't see or download attachments on outlook

@Puri7y said

A user on my tenant can't see, open or download attachments (of any kind, pictures, pdfs, etc) on outlook.

I am tracking a recent issue that might be your problem:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5857730/owa-service-incident-user-unable-to-download-attac

this behavior with Outlook on the web where email attachments can’t be downloaded or opened has been recognized as a service-side issue affecting some users. Currently, the issue is still under investigation, and the service team is actively working to identify the root cause and apply a fix. Not all users are impacted, and other Outlook or Exchange features may continue to work normally. At this time, there isn’t a client-side setting or local troubleshooting step that can fully resolve it right now.

Hello @Puri7y

I have reviewed the issue you posted where a specific user is unable to view, open, or download email attachments in Outlook. Based on our initial analysis, the behavior is consistent across Outlook Classic, New Outlook, and Outlook on the web, and it reproduces on multiple devices. Other users are not affected, and saving attachments to OneDrive works as expected.

This pattern strongly indicates that the issue is mailbox-specific and server-side, rather than related to the Outlook client, device, or browser.

Because this is a quite complicated case, to help us narrow down the exact root cause, could you please help confirm the following:

- Does this issue affect only new emails, or does it also affect old emails that used to work before?

I ask this to understand whether the problem is related to a recent change or if it impacts the mailbox more broadly.

• Does the issue happen with internal emails (from users in your organization), external emails (from outside), or both?

This helps us determine whether the issue is related to email source, security scanning, or mail flow policies.

• When the user tries to open or download an attachment, do they see any error message, or does nothing happen at all?

This helps us identify whether Outlook is blocking the action silently or failing with a visible error.

Besides, you can try these troubleshooting steps to double check this issue:

1/ The "Incognito" Test

• This determines if the issue is tied to the user's current web session or browser memory.
• Open your web browser (Edge or Chrome).
• Press Ctrl + Shift + N to open a Private/Incognito window.
• Go to Outlook Web Version and try to download an attachment.

If this works, the user simply needs to clear their browser cache.

2/ Check the Storage "Health" Bar

• We need to see if Microsoft has flagged the account as "Full" despite the auto-extension being on.
• In the Outlook Web version, click the Gear Icon (Settings) at the top right.
• Go to "Account" > "Storage".
• Look at the top bar. Is there a red warning saying "Storage Full" or "Quota Exceeded"

Note: If the bar is red, the system is likely "locking" attachments until the backend expansion finishes.

Please let me know your answers to the questions above, and I will suggest the next steps accordingly

Kind regards,

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