Gmail users on Microsoft Outlook for Mac unable to view email attachments, support allegedly aware

Attachments are an essential feature, and are the only method for sending files over otherwise text-only emails. Hence, their unavailability may render emails useless for some. Just like in the below-mentioned case.

Gmail attachments are not showing on Microsoft Outlook for Mac, and frustrated users have taken to official Gmail forums as well as the Outlook ones to vent their anger.

This looks like it’s becoming more widespread as I have users at my company experiencing the same issue and have found multiple threads at answers.microsoft.com with the same issues. All Gmail accounts on their Outlook for Macs unable to view attachments. I’ve tried numerous solutions but the issue keeps coming back after a couple of hours. Hoping to see a solution found.
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I am experiencing the same issue on 2 different computers. I have tried re-synching the folders and also repairing the folder. Attachments exist in GMAIL web interface but not in recent emails on Outlook for Mac.
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As apparent from the above comments, users facing this issue are unable to view their attachments at all via the Outlook app for Mac.

There’s also no form of indication. However, they can still be viewed via the Gmail web interface.

Moreover, a few users have indicated that the problem seems to be restricted to business Gmail accounts only, as attachments are still viewable on personal accounts.

The support told me that they are aware of the problem, but couldnt give any date when it will be fixed.
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Hopefully, the problem might be fixed soon as support is apparently aware of the matter. There is no ETA for when a fix will be made available though.

Workaround #1: The very first thing you need to do is to switch over to the new layout. To do this, you need to first make sure that you are on the latest Outlook version.

Next, open Outlook and turn on the “New Outlook” switch at the top. For more details check out this link.

I had/have the same issue, I changed outlook to the new outlook and now I can see attachments again.
I will be sticking to this as the new design as it doesn’t change much for me.
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The issue seems to be limited to the old Outlook layout only, as several users have reported that they were able to view attachments once again, after switching to the new one.

Workaround #2: Now, the Gmail attachments not showing issue may be new on Mac, but isn’t exactly a unique problem. It has been previously reported by Windows users as well.

If you are a Windows user and are facing a similar issue, then you may try the following. Mac users who tried the first workaround with no success are also welcome.

The only work-around I’ve found was to add the mail account using IMAP settings, rather than adding it using Mail’s baked-in Google account option. After adding the Gmail account by manually entering IMAP settings, the Mail app seems to once again pull attachments correctly.
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However, the Windows version of the issue seems to have been fixed already, as reported on this Reddit thread.

That being said, let us know in the comments below if the above workarounds fixed the Gmail attachments not showing issue for you.

We will also keep our eyes open in case anything related pops up and update this article accordingly.

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