Outlook will not download attachments or images.

Question

Outlook will not download attachments or images. I receive an error message and am asked to try again later.

Answer 1

Hi @Bill Sewell, 

Good day, and thank you for the detailed information and for your patience while we work through this with you. 

Based on the details you shared that you reported that Outlook on the web is not downloading attachments or loading embedded images, and you receive an error asking you to try again later. 
 

This can happen when Outlook on the web temporarily cannot retrieve the attachment or image content from the service, so the download request does not complete and you see messages such as “Error downloading the file content.” In some cases, browser session data or extensions can interfere with the attachment service, and certain attachment types can also be restricted by security rules in Outlook on the web.  

Please follow the steps below, as this approach is the most suitable for your situation: 

1/ Refresh your Outlook on the web session 

• Sign out of Outlook on the web. 
• Close every browser window to fully end the session. 
• Open a new browser window, sign in again, then retry downloading the same attachment or loading the same email images.  

2/ Isolate the browser impact and refresh site data 

• Open a private browsing window, sign in to Outlook on the web, and test the same message there. 
• If it works in private browsing, clear site data for Office related sites, then restart the browser and test again. 
• Temporarily disable browser extensions that filter traffic, such as ad blockers, privacy tools, or download managers, then retry the attachment download.  

3/ Apply the most suitable workaround based on your mailbox scenario 

• If this happens when you are opening an additional mailbox in Outlook Web App, try using the light version by adding ?layout=light to the URL of the additional mailbox, since this is a documented workaround for attachment download and preview failures in that scenario. 
• If you have access to the Outlook desktop app, open or download the attachment there, as this is also a supported workaround when Outlook Web App cannot download or preview attachments from an additional mailbox. 
• Finally, if the attachment is blocked due to file type restrictions, ask the sender to share it using a OneDrive or SharePoint link instead of attaching it directly. 
• Reference: Attachments can’t be downloaded or previewed from Outlook Web App - Microsoft Support 

4/ Contact IT administrator:   

Since your account is managed by your organization, please contact your IT administrator to review your permissions and policies. If the issue persists after these checks, ask your IT administrator to submit a support request directly to Microsoft Support team.        

They can raise a support ticket by visiting: Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn  

As community moderators, we appreciate your understanding that our access to internal development details is limited. Our primary role is to guide users toward the appropriate resources and support channels. While we may not have visibility into deeper backend analysis, we’ll continue doing our best to support you within the scope of our responsibilities.      

I hope this information is helpful. Please follow these steps and let me know if it works for you. If you have any updates regarding the issue, please feel free to share them with me.        

Thank you for your patience and your understanding. I look forward to continuing the conversation.  

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Answer 2

For Outlook on the web, this behavior can occur if the mailbox is being accessed as an additional/shared mailbox in OWA on an Exchange Server 2016 or 2019 environment with specific cumulative updates.

If the issue happens when opening a shared or additional mailbox via Open another mailbox in OWA and then trying to preview or download attachments, it matches a known issue where:

• Attachment preview shows: "Something went wrong while the document preview was being created. Please try again later."
• Downloading the attachment opens an empty page, often with a URL starting like https://outlook.office365.com/owa/....

Resolution (server-side, for admins):

1. If using Exchange Server 2019 and are on Cumulative Update 7, install:
   • Cumulative Update 8 for Exchange Server 2019, or
   • Any later cumulative update for Exchange Server 2019.
2. If using Exchange Server 2016 and are on Cumulative Update 18, install:
   • Cumulative Update 19 for Exchange Server 2016, or
   • Any later cumulative update for Exchange Server 2016.

These updates fix the issue caused by an HTTP 302 redirect to a static Office 365 URL when accessing attachments in an additional mailbox in OWA.

Workarounds (until the server is updated):

1. Use the full Microsoft Outlook client (desktop) to open or download attachments from the additional/shared mailbox.
2. Use the OWA light version for the additional mailbox:
   • Add ?layout=light to the mailbox URL.
   • Example: https://owa.contoso.com/owa/******@contoso.com/?layout=light.

If the problem is with a shared mailbox in OWA, contact the Exchange or Microsoft 365 administrator to confirm the current Exchange Server version and apply the appropriate cumulative update.

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References:

• Attachments can’t be downloaded or previewed from Outlook Web App