"This file can't be previewed because of an error in the Microsoft Word previewer."

Question

The issue is: Outlook 2013 simply will not give a preview of Word (nor Excel) docs in attachments.

Never had the issue with Outlook 2010. Using Outlook 2013 on Windows 7 64bit SSD with Word 2010.

I did notice that "Microsoft Word" is not listed specifically in Trust Center attachment handling, could that be part of the problem? Excel, Visio, RTF and many more are there.

Update: strange, search can be performed in Word attachments... but can't preview Word file. So, Outlook can 'see' Word docs but won't let us have that preview.

For reference, here is a similar question I posted in the Microsoft Answers forum.

Solution 1

1. Close outlook → Start Regedit
2. Navigate to \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PreviewHandlers

Make sure to back up the contents of course

3. Delete the key for Microsoft Word previewer

4. Restart outlook → preview a Word doc & you should now get a message “ You should only preview files from a trustworthy source ”

Solution 2

It is because of the temp file folder exceeds its storage level.

just do the following & the problem is solved.

1. Exit outlook if its running

2. Go to "START" & find the "Run" function

3. In "Run" Function type or paste the following:

   %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Outlook\

4. A Folder will be open & there is a sub folder. Open the Sub folder & Delete the entire files, contain in the sub-folder.

5. Please don't delete the sub-folder.

& done.

Open the Outlook & it will working properly

Comments

[ᔕᖺᘎᕊ]

Try running outlook as admin (answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-word/…‌​)

[CharlieRB]

Linking to an existing forum where the problem was discussed is not acceptable here because links can die. For the purpose of improvement, please edit your question to include the basic idea of the information included in your link so the post is still relevant if the link dies.

[CharlieRB]

On another note; do I understand correctly you have only upgraded Outlook but not all Office applications to 2013? Has this issue happened the entire time with Outlook 2013? Or did it work previously (besides with 2010)? Have you tried a repair install of Outlook 2013?

[kmote]

Also, this did not fix the problem for PDF previewer. (In that case I got a new message: "This file cannot be previewed because there is no previewer installed for it.") And it broke the Windows Explorer pdf previewer. A re-install of Adobe fixed Explorer's previewer, but not Outlook's.

[Antonio Petricca]

It doesn't work.

[Antonio Petricca]

It doesn't work.

[StayOnTarget]

I used this to fix the TXT previewer in outlook. I didn't actually delete the key, I just renamed it to {1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22} OLD so it was backed up in place