Fix Unable to Open .msg Files in Outlook 2016 Error

This article focuses on few handy and manual methods to resolve unable to open .msg files in Outlook 2016 or any below edition issue in simplest way. Read this post and get some knowledge on a few helpful facts.

You might be aware of data files – OST and PST, which are related with Microsoft Outlook. Just like them, there is one more file you can create and access through MS Outlook i.e. MSG file. Well, this MSG file is a file format for single mail message format utilized by Microsoft Outlook as same as Microsoft Exchange. The files are most useful for the purpose of storing, archiving, or sharing important emails to the users of Outlook. And also the files may be contained with just the text message or the message with images and other attributes in HTML format.

On the other hand, users may come across with strange problem or issue sometimes while opening the MSG files into Outlook which comes with the error like “cannot open MSG file”. In this article, we have described few common issues that frequently make problems for users to open MSG file. Along with this, we have provided how to resolve or fix the error “unable to open .msg files into Outlook without any too much effort.

Key Reasons for Not Opening MSG File

If any one of the below provided reasons is true, then an MS Outlook user will be unable to open .msg files in Outlook 2016, 2019, 2013 or any other edition:

• When Microsoft Outlook has not configured correctly
• When the MSG files preview created by Hex editors which is difficult to understand by users
• When the MSG file is already open in Outlook and user also trying to open
• If users don’t have the rights to access or open the file
• Trying to open MSG files by using Outlook 2002/XP or previous, that has been generated in UNICODE file format

Steps to Fix Unable to Open .msg File into Outlook Problem

Well, there are two different solutions that can be very helpful to resolve unable to open .msg files in Outlook problem. One of the solutions is mentioned below:

 

Opening the MSG file created by new UNICODE file format message in older editions of MS Outlook

For accessing the MSG File, you can ask the sender to send the MSG email message again after storing it in ANSI file format before transferring it to you.

 

Simple Steps Involved to Fix the Error are as follows:

To change the default UNICODE .msg file to ANSI .msg format, you need to drag and drop an email message out of MS Outlook into an Explorer folder and do the following settings which are as below.

To fix the problem of unable to open .msg files in Outlook 2016 or any other edition, follow the below-described steps:

For Outlook 2003, and 2007

Go to Tools >> Options >> Tab Other >> Advanced Options button >> Disable Option: Use Unicode Message Format when saving email messages

For Outlook 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019

Go to the File menu >> Options >> Mail >> Section >> save Messages >> Disable Option: Use UNICODE Format

Note: When you save the MSG file, change the Save as type from UNICODE (*.msg) to (*.msg).

“Just like problems in Outlook MSG file, you may come across facing trouble with Outlook PST file as well. In such type of instances, you can easily resolve the problem unable to open .msg files in Outlook 2016 or any other edition by using the MSG to PST Software just within a while without any issue.”