Office document attachments open in Protected View in Outlook

Office document attachments open in Protected View in Outlook, files from the internet or any other potentially unsafe location are opened in Protected View on your Windows 10 or Windows 11 device. In this post, we provide the solutions to the issue of Office document attachments open in Protected View in Outlook. This problem occurs even though the email was sent to you by another user in your organization via Microsoft Exchange Server.

The following notification is displayed at the top of the document when this issue occurs:” either of the following notification is displayed ”

Email attachments can contain viruses and it’s safer to stay in Protected View unless you need to edit the attachment.
This file was originally an attachment in an email, and might not be safe. Click for more details.

Office document attachments open in Protected View

If you’re having trouble opening Office document attachments in Protected View in Outlook on your Windows 10/11 PC, try our recommended solutions below in the order presented.

1. Disable Protected View
2. Troubleshoot Outlook in Safe Mode
3. Temporarily disable security software
4. Modify MarkInternalAsUnsafe Registry key
5. Contact IT Administrator

Description:Let’s examine the process described for each of the solutions listed.

1] Disable Protected View

To start troubleshooting to fix the Office document attachments open in Protected View in Outlook issue on your Windows 11/10 PC, you can just disable Protected View in Microsoft Office and check if that helps. Otherwise, try the next solution.

2] Troubleshoot Outlook in Safe Mode

The error may occur due to some Outlook third-party add-ins you have installed on your system. To rule out this possibility, you can launch Outlook in Safe Mode. In Safe Mode, Outlook will be launched with only the essential add-ins enabled.

To start Outlook in Safe Mode on your Windows 11/10 PC, follow these steps:

• To open the Run dialog, press Windows key + R.
• In the Run dialog box, type outlook.exe /safe and then hit Enter. This should start Outlook in Safe Mode.
• In the Outlook Safe Mode, select the Outlook profile from the drop-down menu that you want to launch.
• To fix Outlook error 0x800CCC67, follow the instructions in the guide.

If the problem is still not fixed, you can try the next solution.

3] Temporarily disable security software

Related Post: Apps for Outlook do not load data in Outlook

If you’re having trouble opening Office documents on your Windows 11/10 computer, it could be because of your security software. Try temporarily disabling your antivirus and firewall, especially if they’re from a third-party vendor. If you have Protected View disabled for Office documents, that could also be the problem.

To disable your antivirus software, find its icon in the notification area or system tray on the taskbar (usually in the lower right corner of the desktop). Right-click the icon and choose the option to disable or exit the program. You can disable your Windows Defender security software if you wish.

4] Modify MarkInternalAsUnsafe Registry key

Since this is a registry operation, it’s a good idea to back up the registry or create a system restore point before proceeding.

• Close Outlook.
• Press the Windows key and R at the same time to bring up the Run dialog.
• In the Run dialog box, type in “regedit” and hit Enter to open Registry Editor.
• Navigate to the registry key path below:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\x.0\Outlook\Security

If you’re using Outlook for Microsoft 365, Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, or Outlook 2013, follow these steps to check for updates.

• At the location, double-click the MarkInternalAsUnsafe entry on the right pane to edit its properties.
• At the location, on the right pane, double-click the “MarkInternalAsUnsafe” entry to edit its properties.
• Click OK to save the change.
• Exit Registry Editor.
• Launch Outlook

5] Contact IT Administrator

By default, Office document attachments from your own Exchange organization are not opened in Protected View. So, if nothing has worked so far, you can contact your IT/Exchange Server administrator. Your system administrator may have to disable the Use Protected View for attachments from internal senders policy in the Group Policy Management Console.

How do I open attachments in Outlook without asking?

To open attachments in Outlook without asking, follow these instructions:

• Start Outlook by pressing and holding CTRL+SHIFT+click on the Outlook icon.
• You may be prompted by User Account Control (UAC) to approve this action.
• Provide administrator credentials when prompted.
• Open the attachment and uncheck “Always ask” option.
• Close Outlook and restart it.

How do I turn off Protected View in Outlook?

Outlook’s “Protected View” can be turned off by disabling the option to enable it for attachments. You may also want to disable it for files coming from the Internet. Once done, the registry can be modified to disable the “Open/Save” dialog.