How to Fix MSG File Not Opening Problem in Outlook?

Have you got tired and confused and now searching “why MSG file not opening in Outlook”? If this is your question, you have landed in the right place. In this article, we will investigate the factors that contribute most often to this issue and provide methodical approaches to resolving if you can’t open msg files in Outlook. In addition, we will talk about some of the drawbacks of these methods and provide some suggestions on how you can prevent problems like this from occurring in the future.

Why Open MSG Files in Outlook?

Nowadays, the most important form of communication for both personal and professional encounters is email. Microsoft Outlook has a long history of being a reliable friend for effectively handling one’s emails. It has been widely popular for its ease, productivity, and most advanced collaborating platform. Users do, however, sometimes run into a particularly annoying problem: they are unable to open msg files in Outlook.

Common Causes of MSG File Not Opening in Outlook

When you try to open it .msg files in Outlook but are unable to do so, the problem most likely stems from one of the following causes:

• There’s a chance Outlook’s .msg file configuration is incorrect.
• Manually opening.msg files may result in problems.
• It may not function if the .msg file was created using a different version of Outlook.
• You can’t open msg files in Outlook if it’s corrupted.
• Your computer can have a hard time handling large.msg files.
• The correct password is required to access password-protected .msg files.
• Problems with servers or the network may also raise issues with opening .msg files.

Solution of Unable to Open MSG Files in Outlook Issue

There is a possibility that Microsoft Outlook was not properly set to deal with .msg files. This misconfiguration may be the consequence of program upgrades, add-ins, or changes in settings. There are various solutions to resolve this issue. Either you can directly convert MSG to PST or try the solutions given below. Let’s look at how we can solve this if MSG file not opening in Outlook.

Solution 1: Change Configuration in Outlook 2003 and 2007

1. First, launch Microsoft Outlook on your computer.
2. Go to Tools section then Options> tab other
3. Pick “Advanced” in the Outlook Options box.
4. Go to disable option and click Use Unicode Message Format.

Solution 2: Change Configuration in Outlook 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019

1. Click on File tab, and hit the “options” box if MSGfile not opening in Outlook.
2. Choose Mail> Section and then save messages.
3. Now navigate to Disable option:  Use UNICODE Format.

Limitations:

Changing the parameters of Outlook may not always fix the problem, especially if the .msg file itself is defective or includes components that are not compatible with Outlook. Also, a non-technical person should not make such a major change when they can’t open msg files in Outlook, a single error can cause a lot of trouble. 

Solution 2: Open the MSG Files in Outlook Manually

It’s possible to open the .msg file manually rather than relying on Outlook’s built-in functions since this is sometimes what causes the issue. Let’s look at the several ways you may accomplish it manually:

1. The first thing you need to do is locate the file ending in .msg on your PC.
2. Select the .msg file with the right mouse button click.
3. Make sure to hover your mouse pointer above the “Open with” option.
4. Pick “Microsoft Outlook” from the list of apps that are available to use.

Limitations:

When you open an MSG file directly in Outlook, you may not have access to all of the functions and capabilities that are accessible to you when working with other file types. There is a possibility that not all email attributes and attachments may appear properly.

Solution 3: Incompatibility With Other Versions of Outlook

Incompatibility between different versions of Outlook is another typical cause of MSG file not opening in Outlook. It’s possible that you’ll run into problems if the .msg file was originally written in an older version of Outlook. Let’s work together to solve this issue.

The third solution is to use the exact same version of Outlook that was used to create the MSG files:

1. The first thing you need to do is identify if you can’t open MSG files in Outlook, the version of Microsoft Outlook that was used to produce the .msg file. This information is often located in the email header or the metadata of the message.
2. If you don’t already have it, download and install the same version of Microsoft Outlook onto your own computer.
3. The next step is to launch the appropriate version of Outlook to solve your problem if unable to open msg files in Outlook.

Limitations:

Users who want the most recent features and security upgrades may find that using an older version of Outlook is not the best option for them. It is quite necessary to compare the requirements for compatibility with the advantages of using a certain version of Outlook.

Solution 4: Fix “MSG File Not Opening in Outlook” Issue Without any Limitation

In order to accomplish this goal, you can use a verified trusted application which must be specially built to convert MSG files into multiple file formats and also open the MSG files that are corrupted. By converting the file format, you may increase the likelihood that you will be able to view the material across a variety of email applications and versions of Outlook. 
You can use BitRecover MSG Converter Wizard to avoid running into these limits and to guarantee that .msg files are compatible with Outlook without any problems. You can convert files with the .msg extension to a format that is more widely supported, such as .pst, .eml, .olm, .mbox, etc.