How to open unsafe or blocked Outlook email attachments

Posted on August 25, 2007 at 4:24 pm

By default, Outlook XP, 2003 and 2007 automatically block what are considered “unsafe” attachments, such as executables, zip files, and scripts. This is a great security feature for those people who are not technically savvy and may open an attachment with a virus. However, the blocked file types list in Outlook is quite long and includes lots of files that are perfectly legitimate and safe for some people. Or maybe you are receiving a file from a trusted person and you don’t have to worry about the quality of the attachment.

Traditionally, to get past this restriction you had to hack the registry and add some keys along with the file types that you wanted unblocked. This, of course, is not for the faint of heart and could result in a corrupted registry or Outlook not working correctly. Luckily, a Microsoft MVP created a COM Add-In for Outlook that creates an options tab in Outlook itself whereby you can pick which file types you want to allow or disallow visually.

AttachemntOptions works with Outlook 2000 SP3 or higher, Outlook 2002, Outlook 2003, and Outlook 2007. Using the program you can move file types from the Level 1 designation to Level 2. Level 1 is basically high alert and any of these attachments cannot be viewed, saved or opened from Outlook. Level 2 is considered safe and can be saved on to your computer.

Once you install the program, go to Tool, Options and click on the Attachment Security & Options tab.

On this tab, you can easily change move individual file types or remove all restrictions.

As you can see from the list on the left, there are LOTS of blocked file types including .MDB (Microsoft Access Database), .ASP (Active Server Page), .MSI (Windows Installer Package), etc. For tech people like me or someone who will receive unusual files like these, it is very annoying when they are automatically blocked! Simply move it over to the right and restart Outlook for the changes to take effect.

Now instead of getting the message blocked access message below:

You’ll be able to download your attachment freely:

Of course, it’s always a good idea to protect yourself, so once you download your attachment, go ahead and move it back to Level 1 restriction. If you’re getting something in that format all the time and you know for sure it’s trusted, then it’s ok to leave it as Level 2.

I won’t bother mentioning how to modify the registry because this program works great and there’s no real reason to mess around in there! This has been a great help for me and I’m sure it’ll be very useful for certain people. Enjoy!

Src: http://exchangepedia.com/blog/2005/08/unblock-outlook-attachments.html

[tags]unblock outlook attachments, blocked outlook attachments, allow outlook attachments, cannot open outlook attachments, outlook, email attachments[/tags]

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