Several users, including me, are seeing a strange issue with voicemail emails in classic Outlook. The message shows a paperclip, but the MP3 attachment itself is missing from the email. If the message is forwarded, the attachment suddenly appears, and it can also be accessed through the web version of Outlook. Basic troubleshooting and Trust Center checks have not helped. The problem seems to have started after a recent Outlook update, and some organizations are reporting the same behavior with WAV files as well. Has anyone found a reliable workaround or heard of a fix?
4 Answers
We are seeing the same behavior in our Microsoft 365 environment, and it started after Outlook updated. Before the update, the audio files displayed normally. I have not found a permanent fix yet, so it may be a regression in a recent classic Outlook build.
A temporary workaround is to open the message in Outlook on the web, where the attachment is visible. In classic Outlook, forwarding the message also exposes the file; you do not have to send the forwarded message. This is not ideal, but it allows the voicemail to be opened until the desktop client is fixed.
The issue is not limited to MP3 files. Another organization reported the same missing-attachment behavior with WAV voicemail files, while users on the newer Outlook client did not have the problem. That points more toward a classic Outlook rendering or voicemail-form problem than a file-specific issue.
We are also seeing it around the same timeframe, which makes a recent Office update seem likely. It would be useful to compare whether affected installations are 32-bit or 64-bit, although there is no confirmed difference yet.
There was a previous Microsoft fix for a similar voicemail-form issue, so it may be worth checking whether the related update or workaround applies. However, the commonly suggested troubleshooting steps have not resolved this newer attachment-display problem for everyone.
That matches what we are seeing too. There appear to be several recent reports, but no confirmed fix yet.