How-To

Disable Protected View for Outlook Attachments

By Austin

Last Updated on October 13, 2021

Tired of Microsoft Office getting having a fit every time you open a downloaded Outlook email attachment? Here’s how to disable protected view for Outlook email attachments in this groovy tip.

Anytime you download a file and open it in Microsoft Office, the office program will autonomously enter Protected View. In the protected view, you cannot make modifications to the file, only view it. This also applies to email attachments downloaded via Outlook.

It’s a helpful security feature, but if you only download documents from trusted sources, this feature is more annoying than helpful.

To disable it, open Microsoft Word, Excel, or Powerpoint, etc…and then click File >> Options.

From the options, menu select Trust Center > Trust Center Settings.

Go to the Protected View tab in the trust center and then uncheck the bottom box titled Enable Protected View for Outlook attachments. Click OK to save changes and apply.

Now anytime you open an Outlook email attachment that’s an Office document, the protected view notification won’t bug you anymore.