Outlook 2016 is sending corrupt attachments that cannot be opened on the receiving end.
The original file was confirmed to be fine and could be opened on the sending computer. Once it was attached to an email and sent however, it could no longer be opened.
The error when trying to open the file is:
We’re sorry. We can’t open because we found a problem with its contents.
MS Word further responds saying the file is corrupt and cannot be fixed.
Solution
It turns out this is a problem with the Adobe Send and Track Add-in for Outlook.
- Go to File, Options, Add-ins
- At the bottom click Go, beside COM Add-ins
- Unclick the checkmark beside Adobe Send and Track Add-in for Outlook
- Click Ok, then restart Outlook
Adobe Send and Track allows you to send large files as an attachment using Adobe Document Cloud. Obviously if you un-click this Add-in you no longer have that feature.
Adobe is somehow changing the file so that you receive a corrupt attachment on the receiving end.
NOTE: The Adobe support page says that this Add-in will not work if your Outlook message format is RTF (Rich Text), so that might also be something to check. Most emails these days are sent in HTML format. You can check your message format in Outlook 2016 by going to File -> Options -> Mail.
Has anyone with this issue done the following:
1) Save the ‘corrupt’ file to your desktop.
2) Change the file extension to .png
3) Double click to open.
4) See if the ‘corrupt’ file was an image that should have appeared in the sender’s signature?
I’ve had a handful of users reporting the corrupt attachment issue, and I’ve found ONE thread that’s pointed to signature images. Using the steps above, I’ve found it to be the case in 100% of our instances. Going to try nuking the Adobe add-in and see if that makes a difference. Switching from embedded to linked images in the signature made no change.