FIX: Cannot Preview EXCEL Files in Outlook 2016
The release of Microsoft Office 2016 attracted many users because of its many new features such as new dark themes, real-time simultaneous collaboration between multiples users on the same Word Document, touch input optimization and many more. So with its release, quite a number of users were those who simply upgraded to Microsoft Office 2016 from the earlier Microsoft Office version instead of a fresh installation which is normal and shouldn’t cause any problem.
But in some cases, users have reported that they were unable to preview Microsoft Excel files on their accounts in Microsoft Outlook 2016. When they tried to do so, an error is thrown their way which states “This File Cannot Be Previewed Because There Is No Previewer Installed For It”. The same error may also appear if you try to preview a Microsoft PowerPoint file in Microsoft Excel, and in similar scenarios where you preview a Microsoft office file in a Microsoft Office product.
The error message can be rather misleading. The previewer is installed, but incorrect values in Windows Registry and corrupted registry strings cause this error. Following is the solution that is known to work for this error.
Solution 1: Correct Windows Registry Entry
Press and Hold the Windows key and Press R. Run dialog box will appear.
Type regedit and Press Enter. Click Yes if a User Account Control confirmation message appears.
In the left pane, Double Click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE to expand it. Under it, similarly Double Click on Software to expand it.
Now the navigation path from here will differ by the type of Microsoft Office you have installed and the bitness of Microsoft Office and your Windows. If you are not sure about the bitness or the type of product, you can try all of the below paths and if you cannot find the next folder while following a certain path simply move on to the next path.
If you have installed the Click-to-Run version of Microsoft Office, which is the case with most users, then follow this path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\REGISTRY\MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PreviewHandlers
If you have installed a 32 Bit version of Microsoft Office and you have a 64 Bit Windows installed, then follow this path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PreviewHandlers
If you have a 32 Bit version of Microsoft Office installed on a 64 Bit Windows or a 64 Bit version of Microsoft Office installed on a 64 Bit Windows, then follow this path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PreviewHandlers
Once you have Selected (Highlighted) PreviewHandlers in the left pane, there will be number of registry strings in the left pane. But there are only 4 of them that concern us.
On the right you will be able to see three columns; Name, Type and Data. In the Name column, search for the four strings by the following names and make sure the corresponding value in Data is exactly the same as written below.
Name Data
{21E17C2F-AD3A-4b89-841F-09CFE02D16B7} Microsoft Visio previewer
{65235197-874B-4A07-BDC5-E65EA825B718} Microsoft PowerPoint previewer
{84F66100-FF7C-4fb4-B0C0-02CD7FB668FE} Microsoft Word previewer
{00020827-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} Microsoft Excel previewer
If the value differs in any one of the strings, then Double Click the incorrect string to Modify it.
In the text below Value Data, Erase the old value and Type the value according to the table above. Then Click OK.
If more than one string has the incorrect value then you will have to correct them all.
If the registry strings are missing entirely, then Right Click in the left pane and Click New and then Click String Value. Then name the registry string according to the table above.
After that, Double Click the registry string to Modify it and Type in the Value Data according to the table below. Repeat the process for the other 3 strings too.
Now Restart your computer and check if the issue resolved. If not, tell us your exact situation in the comments section and we will get right to it.
