I have been seeing this message on and off with attachments for some time now in outlook:
Can’t Create file: VoiceMessage.wav. Right-Click the folder you want to create the file in, and then click properties on the shortcut menu to check your permissions for the folder
In this case it was a voicemail. Sometimes it is a PDF file, other times it is a BMP. The only connection I started to notice was the name of the file.
After some research I discovered that Outlook saves every single attachment you download – in a temp folder. If the same file name exists, it simply appends a number like this:
The only problem is that it gets stuck at 100. Once you have had 100 attachments with the same name you get the error message I described.
The trick is finding *where* outlook is storing all of this. Microsoft decided that they would create a random folder name to keep viruses and maleware from finding this folder and exploiting it to their advantage.
The folder path can be found under this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security
See the variable on the right named “OutlookSecureTempFolder” – That is your path
Now that you know where the files are you can simply clear them out from time to time, and the error will go away.
Still, I am a little irritated that this problem has not been fixed by know in a service pack, or a patch. Hopefully Outlook 2007 does not have the same issue.
You’re a genius
This has been driving me nuts all morning! THANKS!
Awesome ! That was exactly it – that was VERY annoying….
Thanks a lot. Your information solves my problem at all.
Thanks, fixed the problem easily here.
FYI it is not fixed in Outlook 2007 maybe we can hope for a fix in 2010
Does anyone know the fix for Outlook 2007? Followed the above steps but there is no ‘OutlookSecureTempFolder’. I saw another site that referenced 12.0 vs 11.0 for Outlook 2007 but 12.0 does not exist either.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The procedure is the same for 2007. Except that you will find it under this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Security
Had the exact same issue with 2007. These steps worked great. You’d figure a temp folder would be just that temp! lol I wonder how long it actually stores the attachments
Solved my problem in Outlook 2003 today. This had been bugging me for some time. I decided to do something about it today and fortunately found this post.
This seems like the fix for my problem, but the path given in regedit does not exist…??? It says the path for OutlookSecureTempFolder is “C:\documents and settings\btalbert\local settings\temporary internet files\content.outlook\r1wj1k5w.” When I start browsing (and I can see the hidden files), I get to local settings, and the only choices are Application Data, Apps, and Temp..???
Any idea how to proceed?
Thanks-
Try putting the entire path into explorer…I think that will get you there.
Awesome! Thanks so much.
Thanks! This helped out 100%!!