How to open attachments in edit mode (not read-only/protected view) in Outlook?

For example you received an email with an attachment of Word document in Outlook. When you double click the attachment to open it, the Word document is opening in Protect view, and then goes to the Read-only view after clicking the Enable Editing button. So how could you to open attachments in edit mode directly in Outlook? Two things you need to do:

Enable Editing by default. Open Excel program, Click the File tab. Click on ‘Options’; the Options dialog box appears. Click Trust Center and then click Trust Center Settings. In the Trust Center, click File Block Settings. Select Open selected file types in Protected View and allow. When a user opens a document with Word or PowerPoint 2007,SharePoint or OneDrive creates a lock on the document and prevents other users of Office from editing that document. To take best advantage of co-authoring in Word or PowerPoint, we recommend that everyone work with at least Office 2010 or newer versions, which includes the Office web. Office 365 offers users the services of popular Microsoft products such as Word, Excel, Outlook, etc, which are all among the most commonly used tools for document formatting, organization, and customization. With an ever growing customer pool, the Microsoft team consistently updates and scans these applications for bugs. The Word file may be set to open in read-only mode, which is why you are unable to edit it. If editing the Word document has been restricted, then this problem can occur. The Protected view feature is enabled can restrict editing documents that can potentially harm your computer. If more than one user has the document open in a shared network.

Open attachments in edit mode in Outlook:
Part 1: Prevent attachments from opening in Protected mode/view
Part 2: Prevent attachments from opening in read-only mode/view

New Word 2013 content control object model members. With the new enhancements and additions to content controls in Word 2013, the object model for Word has been updated to allow for programmatic manipulation of the new feature set. In addition, changes have also been made to the underlying Open XML File Format for word processing documents.

Open attachments in edit mode in Outlook

Part 1: Prevent attachments from opening in Protected mode/view

First of all, you need to disable the protected view for Outlook attachments. This needs you to uncheck the Enable Protect View for Outlook attachments option in Microsoft Office programs.

For example you want to open the Attachments of Word documents directly in Outlook, Please do as follows:

1. Create a Word document, and click File > Options.

2. In the opening Word Options dialog box, click the Trust Center in the left bar, and then click the Trust Center Settings button. See screenshot:

3. Now in the Trust Center dialog box, click the Protected View in the left bar, and uncheck the Enable Protect View for Outlook attachments option. See screenshot:

4. Click OK > OK buttons to save the Word options, and then close the document without saving.

From now one, all attachments of Word documents won’t be opened in Protect view in Outlook.

Note: To prevent other types of Outlook attachments (says workbooks) from opening in Protect view, you need to uncheck the Enable Protect View for Outlook attachments in corresponding Microsoft Office programs (such as Excel).

Prevent attachments from opening in read-only mode/view in Outlook

Secondly, you can prevent attachment from opening in Read-only mode in Outlook with below steps:

5. In Outlook, go to the Mail view, open the mail folder containing the email with the specified attachment, and then open the email with double clicking.

6. Now the email opens in Message window. Please click Message > Actions > Edit Message. See screenshot:

Enable Editing Microsoft Word 2016

7. Go to the Attachment Bar, and double click the specified attachment to open it.

8. And in the Opening Mail Attachment dialog box, please click the Open button.

And now the specified attachment is opening in edit mode directly (neither in Protect view nor in the Read-only view).

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Demo: open attachments in edit mode (not read-only/protected view) in Outlook

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• To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
  I have a question - I get the protective view part, it prompts you to think for a second before enabling content. But read only on ALL attachments? Why there is such a setting in the first place. How can I permanently disable this setting in outlook?
• To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
  Go into File - Options -- General -- Start up Options and uncheck: Open e-mail and other uneditable files in reading view
  It will open right up without Read Only.

  • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
    I have tried all of the above and nothing is working. My attachments are still showing in read-only view. Also I don't have the option to 'Open email and other uneditable files' in my start up options under General??

    • To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
      3 years later and still usefull, I found that Meredith referred to Word-Options, not Outlook. So 'Open email and other uneditable files' should be an additional step between 4 and 5 in Wors options dialog.