Outlook Attachment Download and Text Gray Out Issues.

Chris Fasching 0 Reputation points
2026-09-01T12:43:51.6+00:00

Outlook email attachment files are not downloading, nor can they be saved to my hard drive. Error is to try again later. This occurs from a browser as well as from the App.

Also, when logged in from a browser, the text lines in each email turn pulsating gray. This does NOT happen when I log in via the app. I have a hotmail account in which these problems are NOT occurring, but they are occurring from my [--PII REMOVED--] @outlook.com account.

Thanks.

Chris Fasching

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Email

1 answer

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  1. Lucus-V 13,645 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-09-01T17:46:13.1333333+00:00

    Hi Chris Fasching,

    Please note that our Microsoft Q&A forum is a public platform, and we will modify your response/ question to hide your personal information in the description. Kindly ensure that you hide any personal or organizational information the next time you post an error or other details to protect personal data.

    Thank you for the information.

    To help narrow this down, could you confirm whether the attachments that fail to download are from:

    • Recently received emails (for example, within the last few days), or
    • Older emails that have been in the mailbox for a longer period of time?

    Also, does the issue occur with all attachments or only with specific emails/senders?

    Based on your description, since the issue occurs in both Outlook on the web and the Outlook app, and you've also noticed email content displaying as gray loading placeholders, this may be related to a temporary Outlook.com service or mailbox-side issue rather than a problem with your device.

    For now, please try again after 24 hours and see whether the attachments can be downloaded successfully.

    If the issue persists after 24 hours:

    1. Ask the sender to re-send the email and attachment.
    2. Test the newly received email and attachment.
    3. Let us know:
      • Whether the issue affects recent emails, older emails, or both.
      • Whether all attachments are affected or only certain ones.
      • Whether the re-sent attachment downloads successfully.
      • Whether the gray loading/pulsating text is still appearing in Outlook on the web.

    If the issue continues after these checks, please let us know the results and we'll continue investigating further.

    Was this answer helpful?

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