Why can't I view attachments to Emails?

[AC Question]

Cannot View Attachments to Emails

Galaxy 5S - have had for several months, no problems. In last week, I am finding that I cannot view attachments to emails I receive. I am using Email app that came with phone, running two accounts - one personal Hotmail account and one business account that is Outlook based and IMAP on phone. PC access to both accounts is fine - can view all attachments. Hotmail on phone - with PDF attachment, selecting "preview" gets me "Cannot display PDF (XXXX is of invalid format). Selecting "download" gets me the file downloaded, but again, I cannot open. I open attachments with Polaris and have had no problems for months. I can even open older downloaded PDFs with Polaris still. Problem is only for PDFs I've received in last week. Hotmail on phone - with Word attachment, I can get it to "open," but then document is blank.

Once again, I shouldn't need to download Adobe or some other PDF reader. Everything was absolutely FINE until 3 or 4 days ago. The issues seemed to coincide with a change to appearance and operation of Outlook on my PC, but don't know if there is correlation.

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Cannot View Attachments to Emails

Welcome to Android Central! First, try clearing the cache of the Email app (in the App Manager). If that doesn't help, then what happens if you remove the email account from the phone, then add it back again?

 

[UserJimV]

Re: Cannot View Attachments to Emails

Cleared cache - no effect. Removed both email accounts, cycled power, added them back - no effect. I can download and read PDFs fine via web browser. But if I download same PDF to my laptop and then email it to my Hotmail account and access the email via my phone, then I get the error message. The name of the file shows in the downloads, but it shows as 0KBs.

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Cannot View Attachments to Emails

Very odd. Try going to Settings>Security>Clear Credentials​, then try again.

 

[Sn1ps]

My wife and I have just started having the same issue within the last few days. She has the s6 and the s5 for myself. Doesn't matter what app or viewer we try it won't open. Works just fine on the computer.

 

[peter1986]

Re: Cannot View Attachments to Emails

Galaxy 5S - have had for several months, no problems. In last week, I am finding that I cannot view attachments to emails I receive. I am using Email app that came with phone, running two accounts - one personal Hotmail account and one business account that is Outlook based and IMAP on phone. PC access to both accounts is fine - can view all attachments. Hotmail on phone - with PDF attachment, selecting "preview" gets me "Cannot display PDF (XXXX is of invalid format). Selecting "download" gets me the file downloaded, but again, I cannot open. I open attachments with Polaris and have had no problems for months. I can even open older downloaded PDFs with Polaris still. Problem is only for PDFs I've received in last week. Hotmail on phone - with Word attachment, I can get it to "open," but then document is blank.

Once again, I shouldn't need to download Adobe or some other PDF reader. Everything was absolutely FINE until 3 or 4 days ago. The issues seemed to coincide with a change to appearance and operation of Outlook on my PC, but don't know if there is correlation.

I got the same exact problem few days ago. It was working totally fine before that. I need help please.

Thank you

 

[peter1986]

Re: Cannot View Attachments to Emails

I'm with rogers

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Re: Cannot View Attachments to Emails

This is what I would try. Go to the defaults and find the app that used to open pdf's, clear defaults, try and open a pdf and see what options you have.

Your previous app could have stopped pdf support on mobile. These are the options I have on my Note 5 to open a pdf.

 

[Hendri Hendri]

Re: Cannot View Attachments to Emails

Sometimes, while i'm typing my email, the cursors will jump to another line ... anyone experience this ?

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Cannot View Attachments to Emails

Sometimes, while i'm typing my email, the cursors will jump to another line ... anyone experience this ?

Posted via the Android Central App

I suggest creating a new thread about your question, to avoid confusion or thread hijacking. This thread is about difficulty viewing email attachments. Thanks!

 

[peter1986]

Re: Cannot View Attachments to Emails

Hey Kelly
Thanks for answering. But is still not working. And their is no app.... it's drive pdf viewer. I even downloaded adobe and it still doesn't work. Don't know how that just happened all of a sudden.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Re: Cannot View Attachments to Emails

Hey Kelly
Thanks for answering. But is still not working. And their is no app.... it's drive pdf viewer. I even downloaded adobe and it still doesn't work. Don't know how that just happened all of a sudden.

Ok, test this..

If you go to a pdf document in chrome or browser and open it, will it open with drive?

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Re: Cannot View Attachments to Emails

I will also re-enable stock email and set it up and see about some default settings.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Re: Cannot View Attachments to Emails

Ok, set it up.. First time I tried to open a pdf, got the preview or save option. Now.. I am working with a Note 5 on 5.1.1 here.

It asked me what to open it with. You might need to clear defaults and cache on the email app and try to open one again. If the drive doesn't open one from the browser, you might be best to uninstall it uninstall updates on drive and reinstall/update drive again.

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Re: Cannot View Attachments to Emails

After these two things.. Not sure.

 

[peter1986]

Re: Cannot View Attachments to Emails

I tried it. Still not working . Thank you for your help though.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[peter1986]

Re: Cannot View Attachments to Emails

Yes if I log in on Google Chrome and try to open the attached file. It works well

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Re: Cannot View Attachments to Emails

Did you say you had called Samsung?

 

[peter1986]

Re: Cannot View Attachments to Emails

Ya I called them. They told me it has nothing to do with them since it works well with Gmail. This is so frustrating. I'm gonna try to reset my phone completely and see if that will work.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Kelly Kearns]

Re: Cannot View Attachments to Emails

I would call again and get a supervisor. That is their stock email client.