Invisible Outlook 365 messages

R.O 26 Reputation points
2021-05-11T19:45:28.02+00:00

Messages in outlook are invisible. In print preview, messages display correctly, but not in normal view (opening a message by double-clicking on it). This affects both HTML and plain text messages. I cannot even see my signature in the message body when i start to write a new message. I've tried disabling all add-ons and running scanpst.exe. This started with no updates / changes, without even a restart.

I tried all recommended steps in this post: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/ae034a67-001f-4a4c-9f8d-6ca4c7d617d6/troubleshooting-blank-email-body-in-outlook but nothing helps. I need this issue to be resolved as i use this for work.

Outlook Management
Outlook Management
Outlook: A family of Microsoft email and calendar products.Management: The act or process of organizing, handling, directing or controlling something.
4,885 questions
Accepted answer
  1. Roy L. Carrington Jr 86 Reputation points
    2021-05-11T21:45:05.86+00:00

    Checkout this link from Reddit...

    https://www.reddit.com/r/Office365/comments/na5nns/outlook_message_body/

    The short answer is to open CMD as Administrator and run this:

    "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun\OfficeC2RClient.exe" /update user updatetoversion=16.0.13901.20462

    That will kick off an Office update that will require you to close Outlook if it's open so it can be updated. It should reopen once completed and the messages will appear again.

    I've already run this on a couple of clients today and it fixed them.

    2 people found this answer helpful.

7 additional answers

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  1. CS 1 Reputation point
    2021-05-11T20:49:33.457+00:00

    Hey just FYI this is happening with us as well, multiple people affected

    0 comments
  2. Jason Anderson 11 Reputation points
    2021-05-11T21:00:05.643+00:00

    Yep, me too. Tried all that you described.

    It appears that the text is there. If you reply and start to backspace, you can see one line at a time but you can not select any more data than that line and it is the only line you can see.

    0 comments
  3. Dr. Sandra Newton 6 Reputation points
    2021-05-11T21:26:17.737+00:00

    Is this a problem with the servers? I am having the same problem and it just started this afternoon.

    We need HELP

    0 comments
  4. Dave Patrick 426.1K Reputation points MVP
    2021-05-11T21:31:46.087+00:00

    Looks like they're working on it.
    We’re investigating an issue with email message visibility in Outlook. Outlook on the web appears to be unaffected. More details can be found under EX255650 in the admin center.
    https://twitter.com/MSFT365Status/status/1392208966231355392

    --please don't forget to Accept as answer if the reply is helpful--