Unblocking Attachments in Outlook 2003

On April 2, 2006

To provide enhanced security, Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 is designed to prevent you from unblocking attachments.

Because Outlook is so widely used, it has been the target of several virus attacks in the past that have affected millions of people. Microsoft has acted to protect people from files, such as .exe and .bat files, that are often used to run malicious scripts when opened. Unfortunately this makes file sharing less convenient for many people, but security must take precedence.

Microsoft Office 2003 file types most commonly shared between people, such as .doc, .xls, and .ppt files, are not blocked.

If you need to share files that have file types blocked by this feature, you have several options, including the following:

Rename the files to include a temporary file type that is not on the list of blocked file types. For example, you might rename MyFile.exe to MyFile.exe_EXTRA, and then attach the file to the e-mail message. You can include instructions in the message to save the file with the correct name, for example, MyFile.exe, when the recipients save the file to their computers.

Use a program, such as WinZip, to package files before you attach them to your e-mail message. In your message, you can include instructions explaining how to extract the files from the package to make it easy for recipients to access the files.

Post the files to a secure network share. In your message, you can include a link to the share that you have given the recipients access to.

If your organization uses Microsoft Exchange Server, your e-mail administrator can control which file types are blocked. If you are the e-mail administrator, you can learn more about configuring blocked attachment behavior in Outlook by referencing the Microsoft Office 2003 Editions Resource Kit in the online Deployment Center. See Configuring Outlook Security Features to Help Prevent Viruses. For a list of attachment file types that are blocked by Outlook click here.

Print 🖨