This specific issue was fixed in the August 19 2015 Product Update.
After upgrading to Windows 10, some users are having problems opening Office documents that are attached to Outlook messages. When they try to open the attachments, they receive an error message that there is an error or the file is corrupt.
Excel: "This file is corrupt and cannot be opened"
Word: "Word experienced an error trying to open the file"
PowerPoint: "The application was unable to start correctly", "PowerPoint found a problem with <filename>", "Sorry, PowerPoint can’t read <filename>"
The files are not corrupted but there are issues with the file permissions after the upgrade that affect opening the files in Protected View. Protected View is enabled by default when opening file attachments in Outlook, files from untrusted locations, or files that were downloaded from the Internet.
While you could disable protected view to fix it, it’s not recommended as it can allow infected documents to run code.
The recommended solution is to fix the file permissions, or run Office's Online Repair.
To fix the file permissions:
- Right click on the Start button and choose Command Prompt (Admin)
- Copy icacls "%programfiles%\Microsoft Office 15" /grant *S-1-15-2-1:(OI)(CI)RX
- Right click in the command prompt window and choose Paste.
- Press Enter to run the command.
If you are unable to fix the file permissions, you’ll need to do an Online Repair of your Office installation from Control Panel, Program and Features. Note that Online Repair can take a long time to complete.
- Right click on the Start button and choose Programs and Features (marked with an arrow in the screenshot above). If it’s not listed, choose Control Panel and search for programs.
- Double click on Programs and Features when it comes into view.
- Select your Microsoft Office install and choose Change from the menu above the program list.
- Select Online Repair then click Repair to begin.
More Information
Error opening Office documents after upgrading to Windows 10
Published August 6, 2015. Last updated on August 20, 2015.
Hi, I tried both, the quick repair and the online, neither solved my problem.
When I have n attachment in outlook, be it a photo or document, when I click to open, the black box appears with all the app options to use for opening, but ithin a split second, the box disappears.
If I am super quick and manage to click on paint for example, then a think box pops up with a red circle a white cross through and it says along the lines of windows cannot find cuserspauliAppDataLocalpackagesMicrosoft.windowssc…
And so on.
Please help.
This >> cuserspauli\AppData\Local\packages\Microsoft.windowssc… it's looking for a store app. What version of Office and Windows do you use?
Thanks, the Office 365 Repair fixed my problem. I'm running Win 10.
Failure. I don't have "command prompt" on my system, it's PowerShell.
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> icacls "%programfiles%\Microsoft Office 15" /grant *S-1-15-2-1:(OI)(CI)RX
OI : The term 'OI' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the
spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At line:1 char:65
+ ... ls "%programfiles%\Microsoft Office 15" /grant *S-1-15-2-1:(OI)(CI)RX
+ ~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (OI:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException
command prompt is there, it sounds like you replaced it with powershell )it's a windows option). Type cmd in the search field on the start menu or taskbar. It should bring up Command Prompt as the first result. (You could search for command promp instead but cmd is less typing. :)) Right click and choose run as admin.
If search doesn't work, paste this inthe the address bar of windows explorer and press Enter. look for cmd.exe:
%windir%\system32\
right click and choose run as admin
My attachment appears in the body of the email instead of an attachment?
That means the message format is RTF. It should be HTML or Plain Text, especially when sending to internet addresses. The title bar of an opened message (or new message form) will have the format at the end for the subject5 "- Message (Rich Text)".
Neither fix worked for me. Totally disgusted with Microsoft.
What version of Outlook do you have?