Unable to view certain emails in Outlook 2016

[avant-guvnor]

I am using Outlook 2016 with the account setup for Microsoft Exchange. I am receiving emails from my telecom provider (PlusNet) which are listed in the email list but when selected, the body of the email is not displaying in the Reading Pane. When I double click the email I get the following error message:
Sorry, we're having trouble opening this item. This could be temporary, but if you see it again restart outlook. The text formatting command is not available. It may not be installed correctly. Install Microsoft Outlook again. Out of memory or system resources. Close some windows or programs and try again.

If I click the message at the top of the body; If there are problems with how this message is displayed, click here to view in a web browser, I can view the body of the message fine in Internet Explorer. If I login to outlook.com online, I can view the email fine. If I open the Outlook app on my android tablet and phone, I can view the email fine.

Other emails with picture content in the body are viewable fine in Outlook 2016.

I have checked all the necessary settings in Outlook 2016 but the problem persists only for emails from Plusnet.

Please advise? TIA

 

[Diane Poremsky]

If you hit forward on a message, does the body show up in the forward?
If you change the setting in file, options, trust center, to read all mail in plain text does the body show?

 

[avant-guvnor]

If you hit forward on a message, does the body show up in the forward?

No and often (but not always) I get the error; The text formatting command is not available... etc.

If you change the setting in file, options, trust center, to read all mail in plain text does the body show?

Yes, as text and links etc.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Ok, so we know the message is apparently fully downloaded. If the message format was corrupt (usually caused by missing HTML tags, like HEAD or BODY), forwarding usually fixes it, so either the message is more corrupt or it's something in Outlook. Before doing a full repair (Control Panel, Programs & Features), I would check for this key in the registry -

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer
Is there a value called NoUACforHashMissing ?

If not, type regedit in the Start menu search field and open it.
On the Edit menu, point to New, then select DWORD Value.
Type or paste NoUACforHashMissing, and then press Enter.
Right-click NoUACforHashMissing, and then click Modify.
In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
Close the registry editor and restart Outlook.

if that fails, do the full repair - it can take an hour (or more) though.

 

[avant-guvnor]

There is no registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer

only
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
and
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection

 

[Diane Poremsky]

If it doesn't exist, create it.

 

[avant-guvnor]

If the message format was corrupt (usually caused by missing HTML tags, like HEAD or BODY), forwarding usually fixes it, so either the message is more corrupt or it's something in Outlook.

If the message was corrupt, how am I able to view it via the Internet Explorer browser and the Outlook.com web gui and the Outlook android app, but not in the Outlook 2016 windows desktop app?

Also, creating the registry key did not resolve the issue.

Finally, by repair, I assume you are referring to Quick/Online repair of Office 365? Will this retain my Office 365 customisations?

 

[Diane Poremsky]

some apps can handle badly formatted messages better than others - outlook desktop is not one of those apps.

Yes, do the online repair. You can try the quick repair, but it usually just fixes shortcuts and simple things - i'm not sure it will work here (not totally sure a full repair will either) but if you want to try it first, it doesn't take too long.

 

[avant-guvnor]

I have performed the online repair and it took about 15 mins. Sadly, as I suspected, it did not fix the issue.

 

[The Computer Men]

I have performed the online repair and it took about 15 mins. Sadly, as I suspected, it did not fix the issue.

No need to panic, I just fixed this issue in my clients PC, so that can be done by updating your PC OS. you need all the security patches installed and outlook updated. it should resolve the issue.

 

[avant-guvnor]

No need to panic, I just fixed this issue in my clients PC, so that can be done by updating your PC OS. you need all the security patches installed and outlook updated. it should resolve the issue.

Thanks for your help, but this is a problem with Outlook 2016 (and this has been confirmed by Microsoft thru a support incident) but there is so far, no resolution.

The emails in question have been forwarded to many Windows 10 PC users, running Outlook 2016 and no-one can view the emails in Outlook 2016, but can view them in the Outlook.com web gui and the Outlook android app.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

The emails in question have been forwarded to many Windows 10 PC users, running Outlook 2016 and no-one can view the emails in Outlook 2016, but can view them in the Outlook.com web gui and the Outlook android app.

As in "hit the Forward button"? That often allows outlook to fix the bad formatting.

 

[avant-guvnor]

As in "hit the Forward button"? That often allows outlook to fix the bad formatting.

Yes, I forwarded the emails using the Outlook 2016 Forward (Ctrl+F) button, to other Outlook 2016 users to see if the problem was isolated to my PC/Microsoft account, but they are also unable to view the emails in Outlook 2016.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Could you drag one of the affected messages to the desktop to save as a MSG file then zip it and send to me at diane @ slipstick ?

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Not surprisingly, i can't see the body either. The raw code looks ok to me but I'm obviously missing something.

 

[avant-guvnor]

Not surprisingly, i can't see the body either. The raw code looks ok to me but I'm obviously missing something.

Yes, it's odd. I can view the email (via the link in Outlook 2016: If there are problems with how this message is displayed, click here to view it in a web browser) in Internet Explorer 11 no problem.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Imagine my shock today when I was cleaning out my test folder and your email loaded! I'm using the latest Insider build of Outlook 2016. (Unfortunately, with the same build, some emails i get from Microsoft won't load until i download images. Go figure. )