Outlook won't preview PDF files

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
June 24, 2021
3 replies
45269 views

Hi guys,

When I open an email in Office Professional Plus 2013 and click on a PDF file attachment I get the error message"This file cannot be previewed because there is no previewer installed for it". The same issue occurs in Explorer.

Reinstalling Adobe Acrobat Reader DC I now can see the preview of a PDF in Explorer.

When I look in the Trust Center for Outlook I see that "PDF Preview Handler" is not listed.

Repaired Office, no change.

Anyone know how I get it to come back?

General troubleshooting

Correct answer pmunbodh

Thanks, bullmoon137. Had the same as well only to find that the PDF Previewer setting in PowerToys was the culprit all along.

To fix PDF Previewer issue in Outlook:

1. Right-click the PowerToys icon in the Show Hidden Icons tray (lower right hand side of taskbar).

2. Select Settings.

3. Go to File Explorer Add-Ons on the left hand menu.

4. Deselect "Enable PDF (.pdf) preview".

5. Close Outlook, PowerToys and any other app and restart computer.

6. PDF Previewer now working in Outlook.

P

Peter25227529uepn

Participating Frequently

In Outlook, navigate through “File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center settings > Attachment Handling” and: Make sure that “Turn off Attachment Preview” box is unchecked. Click “Attachment and Document Previewers” button and check if “PDF Preview Handler” is enabled/ticked in the list in the opened window.

This May Work,

Peter

B

bullmoon137

Participating Frequently

I had this same issue - tried several crazy ideas of repair / reg hack / firewall...etc. Turns out I had recently installed PowerToys for Windows and it has a PDF previewer as well - it can be disabled in the settings and once I did that, all was good.

M

Mike22886829vtp3

New Participant

This was driving me nuts. PowerToys was the culprit for me as well.

Amal.

Community Manager

Hi there

Hope you are doing well and sorry for the trouble. As described you are unable to preview the PDF documents in Outlook.

Please try to turn off the Acrobat protected mode for testing (Windows Only). Go to Edit > Preferences > Enhanced Security > Uncheck 'Enable Protected mode at startup' Turn off the protected mode and uncheck 'Enhanced Security' > Click OK and reboot the computer once.

Note: please turn on the security after testing to avoid any security risk.

If it doesn't work, please check the steps shared in the similar discussion i have found on Microsoft help page https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_outlook-mso_win10-mso_o365b/help-cant-preview-pdf-documents-in-outlook-anymore/fff713c5-cbd5-48cb-a8d8-fdd0ece81e75 and see if that helps.

Regards

Amal