Don't let Outlook stop you

There was a lot of frustration with Outlook 2003. If an Access MDB file is received, Outlook expects the worst and blocks the attachment.

The trick has been to ZIP the file or change the extension to something like .DAT.

Here's a registry trick that restores Outlook to the good old days.

Outlook 2003, Outlook 2002 and Outlook 2000 SP3 allow the user to use a registry key to open up access to blocked attachments. (Always make a backup before editing the registry.) To use this key:

1. Run Regedit, and go to this key:
   
   

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Security 

   
   (change 10.0 to 9.0 for Outlook 2000 SP3 or to 11.0 for Outlook 2003)
   
   
2. Under that key, add a new string value named Level1Remove.
   
   
3. For the value for Level1Remove, enter a semicolon-delimited list of file extensions. For example, entering this:
   
   

   .mdb;.url

   
   would unblock Microsoft Access files and Internet shortcuts. Note that the use of a leading dot was not previously required, however, new security patches may require it. If you are using "mdb;url" format and extensions are blocked, add a dot to each extension.
   Note also that there is not a space between extensions.
   

If you are using this registry entry, a glance at Help>About Microsoft Outlook will show Security Mode: User Controlled above the license information.

After applying this registry fix or using one of the above tools, the user still has to save the attached file to a system drive before opening it. In effect, the fix rolls the attachment behavior back to Outlook 2000 SR-1, with its included Attachment Security Fix.

An end-user cannot bypass this "save to disk" behavior and open the file directly from the mail message, though an Exchange administrator can.