Monthly Archives: September 2013

Cannot open MS Word attachment from Outlook “Word experienced an error trying to open the file”

This is a new one for me, and I believe it may have popped up after the recent Windows Update:

9-10-2013 3-01-48 PM

“Word experienced an error trying to open the file”.

Now if I SAVE that same file out of outlook (or copy and paste it to a drive), and then open from there – it opens fine.

Here is the solution:

  • Open Word 2010, 2013 or 2016
  • Go to File | Options | Trust Center | Trust Center Settings | Protected View
  • Un-checkĀ  the “Enable Protected View for Outlook Attachments” checkbox

9-10-2013 3-06-21 PM

Click ok/save that setting.

Go back to outlook and your word document should now open fine.

 

UPDATE 6/20/16:

I have double checked this and it does work fine for Word 2016 as well.