Preview Attachments to Messages (Outlook 2007)

Now you can preview attachments in the Reading Pane, without opening the files. In other words, you can, for example, now view an Excel spreadsheet that's attached to a message, without having to open the file in Excel. In the bad old days before Outlook 2007, if you wanted to view a file attached to a message, you had to open the message, then open the attachment in the appropriate program.

Why is this new approach better? Primarily because previewing within Outlook is faster and more convenient than launching another application and opening the file in it. It also feels more intuitive.

You want to see what's in the attachment? Just peek inside and give yourself an idea what it is without a lot of fuss.

How is it possible to preview attachments without opening them? Outlook comes with a group of attachment previewers, little programs that give a basic view of the contents of a file without the capabilities of the full application that normally opens the file.

Outlook 2007 comes with previewers for major Microsoft Office files, as well as common image and text file types. And it is likely that other companies will create downloadable attachment previewers for their own file types, so there's a good chance that you will be able to preview any legitimate file that arrives in your Inbox.

How Does it Work?

The button you click determines what appears in the Reading Pane.

Here's a preview of a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that is attached to a message:

While it is pretty simple to preview attachments, there are a number of things you should be aware to get the most benefit from this ability. See this page for more information.