Forum Discussion
Outlook 2019 Locking MSG Files After Opening Attachments
I am having an issue on my Windows 2016 server running Outlook 2019 Standard, not 365. This is a brand new install of Office 2019. It is locking MSG files that have been saved to disk. It occurs when Outlook is already running and I open a saved MSG file, then extract an Attachment. If I close the message window I can no longer reopen the MSG File and receive the following error. The error message persists until I close Outlook completely.
"We can't open {Path to File}. It's possible the file is already open, or you don't have permission to open it. To check your permissions, right-click the file folder, then click Properties."
I have tried the following troubleshooting …
1) Disabled all Plugins
2) Started in Save Mode
3) Verified I have the proper permissions
4) Verified I have the latest version of Outlook (2019 MSO 16.0.10371.20060) 32bit
5) Verified I have the latest OS Update (2021-02)
6) Tested switching saving in Unicode and ANSI formats
I found a similar issue outlook-stops-opening-msg-and-oft-template-files it says that a fix was expected for my version in June of last year but I can't verify that this actually happened. Also it has a work around of disabling the "User Experience Virtualization Service". However, this service is already disabled on my server.
Thank you in advance for any assistance or insights you can provide,
Jonathan
Update 2-19-21
I have done some more testing and get the same error ...
1) With the 64 Bit Version
2) With the oldest version of 2019 I can download, LTSB2018 10341.20010
3) On my Windows 10 Pro, 20H2 2021-02 laptop
No Errors are being logged that I can find. This seems to be a bug from the beginning, and a very amateurish mistake not to clear a file lock.
- NorthernWillCopper Contributor
Jonathan176 did you ever find a solution to this problem? Experiencing this in 2023... Thanks.
- paulflintCopper ContributorFor me the issue was caused by Teams Meeting Add-in
With Outlook open, select File > Options > Add-ins > COM Add-ins > Go
Then uncheck these add-ins if they are present:
Microsoft Teams Meeting Add-in for Microsoft Office
Skype Meeting Add-in for Microsoft Office
Click OK
Hope that helps.
Paul Flint