I run Office 2013 Home and Business. I've just realized that Outlook 2013 refuses to preview Word, Excel and Powerpoint files saying "This file cannot be previewed because of an error with the following previewer"... and so on. After downloading the file I won't open either.

I finally came across solution allowing to open such downloaded files by modifying (=disabling) all Protected View components in Office apps, which in fact seems ridiculous for me as I used to run Office 2010 and the earlier solution (a bar with warning about opening a file from Internet) was just fine to live with. What's the purpose of this feature if one has to disable it to have Office apps working?!

Anyway, I'm able to open those files now.

However, modifying the Protected View options in other Office apps hasn't made Outlook preview working - how can I turn it back again?

• Edited by mikolajek Tuesday, July 02, 2013 11:05 AM

Also having the same issue on all workstations so far.

We are running Office 2010 and Outlook 2013. When trying to preview an Office attachment (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) getting error: This file cannot be previewed because of an error with the following previewer: Microsoft Word Previewer. Non Office attachments work fine, can preview JPG and PDF's without an issue. Confirmed that attachment previewers were turned on in Trust Center. Also turned off security in Word Power Point and Excel in each individual trust center to test with no avail. Documents will open, but not preview.

All systems running WIndows 7, some 64bit and some 32bit, all with the same issue.

It's only an issue with Office products, Microsoft must be aware and have a solution by now. Any information would be appreciated.

• Edited by Thedudman83 Wednesday, September 04, 2013 8:07 PM

I have the same problem.

All of the sudden, while everything worked flawlessly in previous months, I could not open office attachments out of Outlook (manipulating Protected View settings did the trick, although it rather sounds like a bad, potentially dangerous workaround) or preview such attachments anymore. I can still not use the preview functionality even after trying different things like a repair install or the creation of a new email profile. Would reinstalling Office 2013 or the whole OS (Win 8) help at all or has anybody already tried this?

mikolajek wrote: "....After downloading the file I won't open either.".

To open the file after downloading: Write-click the file and select "Properties". Click the "Unblock"-button and the saved file should open.

However: When it comes to the preview-issue and opening the file from Outlook, I have the same problems...

I use Win8/64-bit, Office 2013

• Edited by gas29 Tuesday, October 01, 2013 1:56 PM

Hi,

I to have the same problem as Thedudeman83, I use Office 2010 and Outlook 2013 on Windows 7 (64-bit), when I click a attach file it opens Excel 2010, but the document is grey. When I save it however I can open it from my desktop with no problems.

Its been happening since September, while being bearable so far, its starting to become a real pain.

• Edited by Fritch94 Friday, October 04, 2013 10:54 AM

I have the same issue with my Outlook 365 none of the previewers work any more, pdf, xcel, .doc even just a simple html file can't be viewed. Has anyone found the answer?

Thanks Jon

Hi,

I was having same problems with .DAT and .LOG files.

Solution was quite simple.

You have to open REGISTRY EDITOR and find your extension. In my case it was .DAT and .LOG.

And replace VALUE DATA field with   *_auto_file .

In my case it was DAT_auto_file for .DAT entry and log_auto_file for .LOG entry.

• Proposed as answer by Ales Jirsa Friday, October 11, 2013 12:24 PM

@Ales,

can you please make a quick guide on exactly how you solved the issue and the location of the keys you edited?

thnx

I re-installed then did the work around mentioned above with the protective view and now I can open attachments

Does anyone know where these reg entries for file extensions can be found?

Does anyone know where these reg entries for file extensions can be found?

Close outlook, start regedit

Navigate to here HKLM\software\microsoft\windows\current version\preview handlers

Making sure to back up the contents of course

Delete the key for Microsoft Word previewer, etc.

Restart outlook, preview a word doc you should now get a message you should only preview files from a trustworthy source

This worked for me. Unchecked "always warn before previewing files" and I was able to preview attachments. Only tested on Word so far.