Outlook for Mac uses autodiscover to both setup the initial account and sporadically poll for new connection information/settings. I recently setup a DAG here, with a CAS server at our main site and a CAS server at our failover DC. Therefore, to fix this Outlook for Mac not downloading attachments error, follow the step-by-step procedure as given below: Initially, choose the navigation pane and then, right-click on the account In the next step, click on the Properties option After that, click on the Empty Cache option.
Outlook is one of the most prominent email client application preferred by Mac users. But sometimes Mac Outlook spark up unnecessary error due to which email communication get halts. Nowadays, Mac Outlook user are continuously facing various errors such as Mac Outlook 2016 not downloading attachments, Mac Outlook 2016 attachments greyed out or attachments not showing up. Thus, we will discuss all these errors in the consecutive parts. For now, we will consider the Outlook for Mac not downloading attachments in this blog along with their resolutions.
Top Free Methods to Fix Mac Outlook 2016 not Downloading Attachments
Among all of the Microsoft Office programs, Outlook is one of the most widely used email application, especially in a business environment. Moreover, it is available for both Mac and Windows platform but it supports different file format for saving data. As everyone knows, the primary work of these email programs is to send or receive emails. Thus, if a Mac Outlook user is unable to download the attachments then, it becomes a serious issue and cannot be ignored.
Therefore, in the upcoming section we are going to describe a manual procedure to let users know how to troubleshoot Mac Outlook 2016 not downloading attachments issue. Before proceeding this, first let us consider the following scenario, which is taken from forum site:
“A couple of days, I have to travel for work but facing a problem in Mac Outlook 2016 linked with MS Exchange account to my official id. Within it, some of the random mails do not show attachments. Even I have not deleted any messages still Outlook for Mac attachment not downloading. Although I am unable to know the reason behind it as it is not showing any error message. I failed to fix these kinds of problems. So, I am searching for a quick solution that helps to fix this Outlook for Mac not downloading attachments as soon as possible.”
Several Reasons of Mac Outlook 2016 Attachment Problem
If users are facing any issue while downloading the attachments in Mac Outlook, then there should be certain reason behind. This problem is mostly experienced by end users when they upgrade the version of Microsoft Outlook. There could be some compatibility, which sometimes may lead to result in such type of problem in Outlook for Mac. The main problem with the Outlook application not with the file format. So, users need to fix Outlook for Mac Not Downloading Attachments by using manual tricks described in the next section.
Direct Approach to Fix Outlook for Mac Not Downloading Attachments Issue
Sometime users have an urgent need of email attachments but they are facing an attachment not downloading issue in their Mac Outlook. Also, no have that much of time in urgency to follow the manual techniques. So, in that troublesome situation users can try an automated solution to download the attachments from Outlook for Mac. Outlook Attachments Extractor Mac is tool which is developed only for attachments extraction task.
This software is capable to download multiple email attachments in few minutes without losing and data. So, follow the five simple steps to get rid of this issue and download your attachments from Outlook for Mac.
Step 1: Download the tool and install it on your machine.
Step 2: Choose Auto-Locate Mac Outlook 2019/2016/Office 365 Profiles option.
Step 3: Select Maintain Folder Hierarchy option.
Step 4: Click on the Change button to select the destination location.
Step 5: At last click on the Export button to download the attachments.
3 Approaches to Fix “Outlook for Mac not Downloading Attachments” Issue
When it comes to fix Outlook 2011 for Mac not downloading attachments issue, then there are various troubleshooting approaches available. In this section, we will discuss top three methods to Mac Outlook 2016 not downloading attachments problem:
Approach #1: Check for All Updates
First of all, the users can try to check Outlook have some updates. Now, for doing same, users must have to follow below steps:
- Open Mac Outlook 2016 on your local machine
- After that, go to the Help option
- Next, you can select Check for Updates option
You can simply follow the above instructions in the AutoUpdate application and fix this issue. If it does work move to the next approach.
Approach #2: Download Attachment via Office 365 Account
If users have Outlook for Mac account synced with MS Office 365, then it is really that easy to view and download all attachments. Moreover, it is one of most reliable ways to download the attachments from Mac Outlook in case of emergency. If it fails then, users can go for next solution to fix Mac Outlook 2016 not downloading attachments problem.
Approach #3: Empty or Clear the Cache on Mac
There might be possibility that there is some synchronization problem in MS Outlook and attachment getting stuck in midway. Therefore, to fix this Outlook for Mac not downloading attachments error, follow the step-by-step procedure as given below:
- Initially, choose the navigation pane and then, right-click on the account
- In the next step, click on the Properties option
- After that, click on the Empty Cache option
- Right-click on a particular folder that contain email attachments, which are not downloading
- Finally, hit on Synchronize Now option
All these manual methods are very useful to troubleshoot Outlook 2016/ 2011 for Mac not downloading attachments. Follow any of the approach that will definitely overcome this issue and users can easily download their emails in Mac Outlook 2016 without any complications.
Bottom Line
It is always necessary to eliminate any sort of errors related to Mac Outlook as these errors may lead to data loss. Out of which, one such error message showing like this “Mac Outlook 2016 not downloading attachments”. Therefore, in this write-up, we have discussed a manual procedure to fix this issue. Furthermore, we have discussed various reasons behind the occurrence of this error. Thus, end users can follow any approach as per their need or convenience.
Comments are closed.
If you use Outlook for email on your Mac, it deals with attachments in one of two ways. If you configure it using an IMAP server, attachments are stored on the server until you open them. If you use a POP 3 server, they will be downloaded with the message. Either way, attachments take up room on either your Mac or the email server — a problem if your account has limited storage. There are lots of reasons, then, why you may want to delete attachments. And several ways to do it. We’ll cover them here, starting with methods you can use without any additional tools. As you might expect, these take a bit more effort, and time, than the automated method we’ll show at the end. If you’d rather not spend the time, you can skip straight to the last one, which uses CleanMyMac X to speedily delete mail attachments and give Outlook a cleanup.
The slow, manual way to delete Outlook attachments
Locating attachments outside of Outlook is tricky, so the easiest method is to delete them from within the application. However, this is also the slowest method.
- Launch Outlook.
- Click on your inbox.
- In the toolbar, click on the Filter Email tool and choose ‘has attachment.’
- You should now only see in your inbox those messages that have attachments.
- Start with the first message, click on it and then click on the arrow next to the attachment.
- Choose ‘Remove’ then confirm by pressing “Delete” when the dialog box opens.
- The attachment will now be deleted.
- You can now go through the rest of the messages in your inbox one by one and repeat steps 5 and 6 to delete their attachments.
- Once you’ve finished deleting attachments from messages in your inbox, you can repeat the process for messages in other folders.
The slightly quicker, but more complicated manual method
If you’re thinking that it would be much quicker just to locate attachments in the Finder and delete them all at once, you’d be right. However, that only works for attachments that have been downloaded. If you use IMAP, that means those that you’ve opened. If you use POP 3 it will be all attachments.
The problem with locating them in the Finder is that different versions of Outlook store them in different places. Add in to that the fact that you could be using one of several versions of macOS, it gets messy quickly. Fortunately, there are a couple of ways of identifying where the “Outlook Temp” folder that holds attachments in Office 2016 is located.
Here’s how to delete Outlook attachments for Outlook 2016:
- In the Finder, click on the Go menu, choose Go to Folder, and type: ‘private/var/folders’ into the box, then hit Go.
- Outlook attachments are stored in a folder called Outlook Temp, which is inside another folder called ‘com.microsoft.Outlook’. However, that folder is hidden inside other folders and where it is not obvious. You could go through each of the folders in ‘private/var/folders’ and dig into each of their sub-folders looking for ‘com.microsoft.Outlook.’ However, that could take quite a while, so step 3 has a shortcut.
- In Outlook, locate a message with an attachment that is a Microsoft Word, Excel, or Powerpoint document (PDFs and images won’t work since they open in Preview). When you find one, open it.
- Go to the File menu and choose Save As.
- When the Save dialog opens, you should see ‘Outlook Temp’ as the default save location. Click on it to see the full path of the Outlook Temp folder.
- Note down the path, paying attention to the folders between ‘folders’ and ‘com.microsoft.Outlook.’
- Go back to the Finder window where you navigated to ‘private/var/folders’ and use the path you noted in step 6 to locate Outlook Temp.
- Inside Outlook Temp, you’ll find all the attachments that have been downloaded to your Mac. You can now drag them to the Trash and empty it.
An alternative to steps 4 and 5, once you’ve opened the attachment, is to go to File menu in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint and choose Properties. In the General tab, you will see the path to the Outlook Temp folder. You can note that down and use it in step 7.
How to delete Outlook attachments in older versions of Outlook
Prior to Outlook 2016, attachments were stored in your user Library folder. Here’s how to delete them.
- Go to the Finder and choose the Go menu.
- Select Go to Folder.
- Type “~/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/Outlook Temp”
- That will take you directly to the folder where attachments are stored. You can now drag them to the Trash and empty it.
How to delete Outlook attachments quickly and easily
Each of the methods described above takes quite a bit of effort, and in case of the first one, a great deal of time, too. However, there is a much easier way. CleanMyMac X allows you to quickly and easily delete Outlook attachments at the press of a button. It does the hard work of scanning your Mac and finding the attachments, then allows you to review them so you can decide whether or not to delete them. Here's how to remove unneeded attachments with CleanMyMac X:
Outlook Attachment Security Warning
- Download CleanMyMac here for free and launch the app.
- Click the Mail Attachments tab.
- Click Scan.
- Select Outlook Attachments.
- Click Clean to remove them all at once.
If you have plenty of free space on your Mac or in your email account, you may not need to delete attachments. But, like all temporary files, it’s good practice to get rid of them once you don’t need them anymore, or to make copies in easy-to-find folders, and delete the originals. Those originals are stored in a couple of different places, dependent on which version of Outlook you’re running. But the methods described above will allow you to identify the path to the folder that holds them so you can drag them to the Trash and get rid of them.