Have to hold down CTRL button to open attachment in Outlook 2013

Question

I have a user who has to hold the CTRL button down in order to access their attachment in Outlook 2013. If they do not do this and just double click on the attachment nothing happens. If they CTRL click on the attachment, a tab appears in the message and has options to save or open the attachment as well as a few other options. Is there any reason why the attachment would not just open? I have tried creating new profiles, repairing Outlook, but with no luck. Also tried disabling AV, still no luck. I am totally stumped on this one! Thank you for any help you may have

Answer 1

Hi @jon alderson ,

I have a user who has to hold the CTRL button down in order to access their attachment in Outlook 2013.

Based on my tests, I could open the attachment normally via double-click it in my Outlook 2013, which seems to I couldn't reproduce your issue. In order to further confirm if your issue is related to your Outlook client, it's suggested to perform the tests below to check:

• Log in your web mail and open the attachment to test
• Log in other Outlook client that could work normally to test

If the issue occurred on this Outlook client only , what's the version of your Outlook (we could find the detailed information of version via File>Office Account>About Outlook), please first ensure that you have updated to the latest version of Outlook.

Then, could you open the attachment via right-click it> open or download the attachment? If the issue only occurred when you double-click it, based on my research, it may be related to the setting of the double-click speed for your mouse, and we could resolve it via change the setting in your PC, for more detailed information, please refer to this article: Can't open an attachment in Outlook by double-clicking it

If that's invalid, the interference of other programs or add-ins also may affect it, in order to avoid it, it's siggested to close other programs and restart your Outlook in safe mode to check(Windows + R> type "Outlook.exe /safe">enter)

If the issue still exists or you still need further assistance, please provide me with more information about your issue, so that I would provide you with more targeted help.

---

If the response is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Answer 2

Good morning, the version of Outlook they are using is Outlook 2013 (15.0.5257.1000) . Here are some answers to your following questions:

• I can open email fine in Outlook Web Access
• If I right click nothing happens to the attachment
• Checked double click speed settings, does not seem to make any difference unfortunately
• Have tried safe mode and disabling plugins, no luck there either.
  I cannot think of anything else it may be, totally stuck on this one. If you have anymore questions for me let me know, thank you for your help!
  Jon