Quick Fix: Outlook 2013 Cannot Create File When Saving Attachment.
June 24, 2014 9 Comments
I had a call this morning regarding a user who could not save a PDF attachment, they also could not even open it.
When they tried to save, or open they received this error.
Cannot Create File. MyAttachment.PDF. Right-Click the folder you want to create the file in, and then click properties on the shortcut menu to check your permissions for the folder.
What is odd, is that other attachments like a Word document, or Excel spread sheet would open ok. Of course i duly checked the permissions of the folder i would attempt to save in but this proved fruitless.
The fix, was simple if not a little crude.
You may have heard of a folder called ‘Content.Outlook’ this is a temporary folder much like your Temporary Internet Files folder.
If you go into the Registry you will find your Content.Outlook folder path.
It should be under: HKCU > Software > Microsoft > Office > Office Version > Outlook > Security
In my case, Outlook 2013 is under the 15.0 folder.
Now, go to that path in Explorer, you will see a folder within Content.Outlook that is a random string of characters.
Rename this folder, appending .old and you will find you can now open your attachments.
And now, back to playing Roller Coaster Tycoon.
About Robert Pearman
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Thank you for this fix, it worked on x64 Office 2013
It didn’t work for me, it created a new one , but still outlook stop working when saving files or even touching the PDF attachment , only is happening with one sender , the others are fine
Hi Rob, great article, great solution – great graphics too.
How do you create the pretty arrows and the ragged edges?
What software/tool does that? Curious
Regards
Isaac
The Hague
Hi Isaac, I use ‘Snag It’ from Tech Smith.
Thanks robert,
It worked
This Fix actually worked. Thanks. a bunch!!! the only this I would recommend is to copy and and paste the path that you find in the registry to file explorer. it will get you to your location faster. sometimes it does not show up when you are trying to navigate through the C:\users\etc…..
Well, don’t sound too surprised it worked, will you!
Excellent work! I switched domains in my home setup and my TEMP IE cache lives externally on my mechanical drive, not the SSD. I used Profile Wizard (awesome for trying to retain a windows profile! and changes permissions to the user folder for the new user) but permissions for my temp location were not considered/changed so only my old profile could have written to that Outlook cache folder. Once I renamed the folder, voila :) thank you from a computer nerd of 23 years :) to be fair I could have used Process Monitor to figure out what I’m missing permissions to but your article showing up in my first Google search saved me at least a half hour. Thank you!
Another thank you – worked a treat. Simply explained and good supporting images.