outlook cannot double-click to open a message

Copper Contributor

It is found that multiple computers upgraded to Outlook (version 2303 Build 16.0.16227.20202) do not respond when double-click the email. I uninstalled "Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime" to fix the problem, but soon the system automatically installs "Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime" again, and the problem is stuck in a loop. Windows 11 system cannot uninstall Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime

8 Replies

having the same problem, have you managed to solve your issue? @owenwang770 

@owenwang770 

This issue may be related to the "Protected View" feature in Outlook.

When a message is opened in Protected View, double-clicking on a link or attachment in the message may not work as expected.

To disable Protected View in Outlook, follow these steps:

  1. Open Outlook and click on the "File" tab.
  2. Click "Options" in the left-hand menu.
  3. Click "Trust Center" in the left-hand menu.
  4. Click the "Trust Center Settings" button.
  5. Click "Protected View" in the left-hand menu.
  6. Uncheck all of the options under "Protected View" and click "OK".
  7. Close and reopen Outlook for the changes to take effect.

 

Please note that disabling Protected View may reduce the security of your email messages. If you decide to disable it, be sure to exercise caution when opening email attachments or clicking on links in messages from unknown or suspicious sources.

 

If disabling Protected View does not solve the issue, you can try resetting the Outlook views by following these steps:

  1. Close Outlook.
  2. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box.
  3. Type "outlook.exe /cleanviews" (without quotes) and press Enter.
  4. Wait for Outlook to open and rebuild the views.

If the issue persists, you may need to repair or reinstall Outlook.

 

I hope one of these suggestions helps you solve the problem!

@owenwang770 

We're having the same issue on about 10% of our workstations. Double-clicking a message or a contact does not open in a new window. The users are also reporting that double-clicking a word in Outlook to highlight it also stops working. Uninstalling webview2 causes the issue to go away...until it reinstalls itself. I've discovered that if you change Outlook to online only access (no cache or ost file) it works fine also (not a permanent solution). Microsoft has been helpful in trying to solve the issue. Most recently, they instructed me to patch Outlook to Build 16501.20210, but after a few hours the problem reappeared. It only affects Outlook. Double-clicking on anything outside of Outlook continues to work fine. As a work-around the users are highlighting the message or contact in the left column then hitting "Enter", and that opens both in a new window just fine. BTW, I've already tried all the usual; create a new profile, rebuild the cache file, etc. Also, this happens on various versions of Office - 2016, 2019, 2021 and 365

@ScottJ2270 

Did you ever manage to resolve this?

Experiencing the exact same thing with one of our users

@ScottJ2270 Sorry, did everything that Microsoft recommended doing, but it didn’t help. Our users have just been working around it by clicking on the item once to select it, then hitting the enter key to open it. 

We resolved ours by whitelisting the msedgwebview2.exe and sysfer.dll in our antivirus (Symantec). @ScottJ2270 

@KELYB Didn't think of trying that. We do use Symantec so I'll definitely give that a shot. Thanks.

Having the exact same problem, but only when lightly double tapping on trackpad. Works on 95% of PCs at the office running the same version of Outlook, no issues with any other programs or anything. Based on the other responses in here it seems to be some kind of issue related to security/AV? We've tried all the potential fixes in here, as well as clean reinstalling the users computers but to no avail.