Hello,

Outlook 2010 has changed the way it handles attachments on some computers without the user changing any setting.

As usual, attachments appear in a bar above the email under the SENT and TO fields. However, the behaviour has changed. The first "attachment" is the message, with subsequent attachments displayed to the right.

With the new behaviour, when you click on an attachment, it brings up the ATTACHMENT TOOLS section of the ribbon. You cannot select all the attachments with a click and swipe (as you would with text). It is also frustrating that it stays in the attachment tools section, when the preference is to have the HOME section active.

These computers have attachment preview switched off in the Trust settings.

The previous behaviour was to just display the attachments in the bar. You could click and swipe all the attachments, which was useful if you wished to drag them into a folder, and it did not activate the attachment tools section of the ribbon.

Is there any way to reset Outlook 2010 to return to the previous behaviour? Altering the attachment handling in the Trust Centre Settings has no effect on this issue.

yours sincerely,

Brer

The first "attachment" is the message, with subsequent attachments displayed to the right.

Hi Brer,

I'm not sure if I've understood you correctly, but as far as I know, the Message tab is always there for any email messages with attachments in the Attached line under the Subject line. It's a consistent appearance in multiple versions of Outlook clients (Outlook 2007, 2010 and 2013).

I noticed you've mentioned that this only happens "on some computers". Please share the screenshots of both behaviors with us for further reference.

You can send the screenshots to this email account: ibsofc@microsoft.com and inform us here (the email subject should be the link of this thread).

Regards,

Ethan Hua
TechNet Community Support

Hello Ethan,

Unfortunately, all the computers are now displaying the new behaviour!

Luckily, I have found that the reason for this is the installation of patch KB2956128.

I uninstalled this patch on one machine and the old behaviour returned, i.e. no Message tab, and the ability to select the attachments by click and swipe.

Here are the screen shots of the alternative behaviours:

Pre KB2956128 update

Post KB2956128 update:

Unfortunately, this means that for the present, I must uninstall & then stall the installation of KB2956128 update to retain the old behaviour, which is a nuisance!

Any ideas around this problem?

yours sincerely,

Brer

P.S. I have also sent the screenshots to the email address you mentioned.

P.P.S. I have also noticed it changes the behaviour and options of right clicking on an attachment, e.g. Print vs Quick

Hi Brer,

Thank you for sharing the screenshots.

We've seen some other reports of KB 2956128 will cause Outlook 2010 not working properly, the symptoms are various.

We've submitted this issue to the relevant product team via our internal channel, we'll let you know if we have any update on this.

Thank you for your understanding.

Regards,

Ethan Hua
TechNet Community Support

Update on the change of behaviour:

Previously I had uninstalled update KB2956128 which restored the previous behaviour in Outlook.

We have recently received the latest batch of updates from Microsoft.

Unfortunately, one of the updates KB2956203, altered the behaviour in the same way as KB2956128, which stops the user from drag selecting the attachments, brings back the message button and pulls focus to the attachment section on the ribbon bar. In the old behaviour, this only happens when you have preview switched on in the attachment handling section of the trust centre.

I tried installing both KB2956128 & KB2956203, but that also leaves Outlook in the new behaviour state.

I had to ensure that both updates were uninstalled to make sure Outlook is in the old behaviour state.

yours sincerely,

Brer

Update:

Outlook 2010 KB2965295

The above Windows Update was installed on 15th April 2015.

It again modified the behaviour in the same way as the previous updates.

I have uninstalled this Windows Update.

yours sincerely,

Brer

I ran into a similar issue after installing KB2956203. I am using Windows 7 and Outlook 2010.

KB2956203 changed the behavior of Outlook when clicking on attachments.

For me, with KB2956203, a single click was bringing up the "Attachment Tools" ribbon. I wouldn't have an issue with this, except it prevents me from double clicking on an attachment. An event is firing on mouse down before it has a chance to register that it was a double click (not a single click). For me, it changes the vertical position of the attachment on the screen when the Attachment Tools ribbon is loaded, which makes the second click of my double click hit nothing (I'm making an assumption that the events are transpiring in that order).

Uninstalling KB2956203 restored outlook to the previous behavior. (for me at least).

Two more updates received through Windows Update are breaking the behaviour of attachments.

KB3015585

KB2687567

I've uninstalled these too.

Will there be any fix for this problem any time soon? It's frustrating that I cannot obtain the updates without changing the way I work.

Brer