Changing Default Programs for Viewing Attachments

Question

How do I change default program for viewing attached PDF files in the New Outlook?

* Changed to a question

Answer 1

Thank you for the information Eleni. This seems like a huge step backwards for Outlook. Not being able to immediately open an attachment in your default program requires several additional steps to download the attachment to an appropriate separate location and then open the document. Since the new Outlook also does not allow you to drag the attachment directly to your desktop it takes additional steps and time to complete the download process. In a corporate world where we often need to simply zoom in on the view of a document to read it or make a quick simple note or mark-up on a document and send it back in a response, the program takes what was a simple process and makes it much more cumbersome as well as leads to clutter on the desktop or in project folders that are otherwise needlessly created. I would ask Microsoft to reconsider these restrictions on both Outlook and any future Office 365 programs. The end result of this will likely require us to migrate away from utilizing the new Outlook as our preferred email program.

Thanks again for the information and the very timely response.

Dave-

Answer 2

Dear David E. Flemings,

Good day. Thank you for posting in the community. We've received your query and you can expect to receive a response from one of our community moderators accordingly.At this point, we appreciate your patience and cooperation. Thank you.Sincerely,Community moderator

Answer 3

Hello David E. Flemings,

Greetings!

Thank you for posting on Microsoft Community!

I understand that you want to open the PDF file with different apps in New Outlook. I conducted some tests in my own environment and I also consulted a lot of Microsoft internal knowledge articles. Please note that attachments in New Outlook can be only viewed on the built-in viewer of New Outlook. You may need to download the PDF files into your computer and change the default PDF viewer by following the steps below:

1. Search for "Default apps" and open it on the Windows search bar.

2. Scroll down and select "Choose default apps by file type"

3. Find the file type of .pdf and select the default app.

If the above-mentioned information does not address your concern, feel free to reply and provide more information to us. We will continue to support you.

Thank you for your time and cooperation. Wish you have a nice day!

Sincerely,

Eleni | Microsoft Community Moderator