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Opening Excel Attachment from Outlook 2003

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17 replies

by rbowers

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I have just started having a problem where I cannot access Excel files sent to me. I run Outlook 2003, and when I try to open or save the attachment I get the following message :

Can't create file: Filename.xls, Right-click the folder you want to create the file in, and then click the shortcut menu to check your permissions for the folder

I have tried 'detect and repair' from Outlook help, and have deleted the contents of the temporary internet files folder.

Any ideas what else it could be?

Thanks

17 replies

by lmayeda

Did you say that you can't even SAVE the attached file? If you can save it, then Open Excel first and then open the saved file. If you cannot save it as .xls, try saving it as a .txt file, then try opening it from Excel. How about trying to re-install Office Pro?

by charliespencer

By default, when you open an attachment in Outlook, the file is created in C:\ Documents and Settings \ yourusername \ My Documents. This folder is used even if you have assigned the desktop My Documents folder to another location, such as a network drive. I suspect that's what the error message means: Outlook can't create the attachment as a file in the My Documents folder. Check the permissions on that folder.

Until you can get the problem fixed, remember you can always right-click the attachment, select Save, save the attachment as a file in a folder, then go to that folder and open the file.

by conor

Outlook 2000, XP, and 2003 Can't Open PDF or TIF Attachments
You may receive the following error message when opening attachments in Outlook (such as PDF faxes):

"Can't open this item. Can't create file: send2fax1.pdf. Right-click the folder you want to create the file in, and then click Properties on the shortcut menu to check your permissions to that folder"

Microsoft Outlook uses a temporary folder to save and open the attachments. By default that folder is hidden and the only way to locate it is to look in the Registry:

1. Open REGEDIT.EXE and go to Edit -> Find... In the Find dialog box type "OutlookSecureTempFolder" without the quotes and locate that registry key.
2. That key will contain the actual folder location, and will look like:
C:\Documents and Settings\%USER_NAME%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLK#\ (where # is a random letter or number)
3. Copy the location of that folder.
4. Click on Start -> Run... and paste the folder location from step #4 then click OK.
5. Windows Explorer will open that folder. Please, delete all files present.
6. Restart Microsoft Outlook and you should be able to open your attachments.

(I had this problem some time ago and found the above solution somewhere - apologies for plagiarizing the original writer but I cannot remember from where. While searching today I remembered I had emailed it to a colleague - hope it helps).

by jhbobo

i have exp the same problem with one of my user and i have tried the above method and it works. thanks for the tip

by rkhan

Excellent, thanks for the quick fix. Thanx for sharing.

by aaron

This fixed the problem one of my users was having with outlook 2003 opening an excel 2003 file. Thank you!

by aungbobo

Thank you so much for this post .. It work .

I did the step what your say .

Thank a lot
ABB

by sherudipak

Conor,
Reg idea is not exactly working in my outlook....m still facing da same problem...Plz five any solution asap....
waiting 4 ur reply.

Regards
Deepak D

by geek-goddess

Anyway, to prevent these temp files from building up in those temp directories, so that a manual deletion is not required?

Thanks and keep up the great job!
Glad to be a member!

Ciao,
B

by williamjacobs

In my case this error was caused by a corrupt windows profile.

Create a new one for the affected user:
Log on with an administrator account. (not the original user, help desk may be needed.)

Go into the C;| drive in ?My Computer?
Open Documents and settings?
Locate the folder with the problem user?s logon id.
Rename it. (If the original profile can?t be renamed, you may need to move it OUT of the documents and settings folder first.)

Have the person log on.
A new profile will be created.

Move the favorites, cookies, and desktop items from his old folder to his new.

by sharee.kay

I found this on the Microsoft website: there is a minor alteration that I had to do in order to correct the issue though.
Method 2: Delete the temporary files in the Outlook temporary folder
To delete the temporary copy of the e-mail attachment, you must first determine the location of the Outlook temporary folder. Then, you must delete the files in the Outlook temporary folder. To do this, follow these steps: 1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Locate and select the following subkey:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security
3. In the details pane, locate OutlookSecureTempFolder in the Name column. Note the path in the Data column. In this scenario, the Outlook temporary folder path may resemble the following path:
C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLKC\
4. On the File menu, click Exit to exit Registry Editor.
5. Start Windows Explorer. To do this, right-click Start, and then click Explore.
6. Locate and then select the folder that you noted in step 3.
7. On the Edit menu, click Select All.

Note All the files in the Outlook temporary folder are selected. In this scenario, the Outlook temporary folder is the OLKC folder.
8. On the File menu, click Delete.

Note If you are prompted to delete the files, click Yes.
9. On the File menu, click Close to exit Windows Explorer.

The alteration that I had to perform was this: While in the registry (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security ) I selected the line that had the folder location, I then edited the folder name, saved the change, closed out of and re-opened Outlook, then tried again. Since all information was cleared out of the Temporary folder the file was able to be opened.

From what I have read, the reason behind this is: when you open a file out of Outlook it creates the file in a temporary folder named OLK# (# is variable), if you have to open a file with the same name again, Outlook adds a number to the file name up to 99. 99 is the cut off, when you try to open up #100 with the same name, this is the error you will recieve.

Hope this helps! (it took me all morning to get this fixed for my user!)

by beccag64

Found a free outlook clean up tool that cleans out that full temp folder. Works on all versions of outlook so it says. I used it on Outlook 2010 with no problems. I downloaded it to my usb thumb drive to use it over and over again.. I call it my magic wand and my sales guys call it my lucky charm. No regedit needed you don't even have to locate the temp file it does it for you.. AWESOME and FREE!!! http://www.intelliadmin.com/index.php/downloads/
look for the download called Outlook cleanup tool its a keeper in my book

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