Message when you try to open an attachment in Outlook Web Access or Outlook Web App: "Right-click the link, and then click 'Save Target As' to save the attachment."

Consider the following scenarios.

Scenario 1

• A user's mailbox is hosted on a server that is running Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.
• The user starts Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access.
• Either of the following conditions occurs:
• The user views a signed or encrypted email message.
• The user composes a new email message in Windows Internet Explorer 8 or a later version.


• The user tries to view an email attachment.

Scenario 2

• A user's mailbox is hosted on a server that is running Microsoft Exchange Server 2010.
• The user starts Microsoft Outlook Web App.
• Either of the following conditions occurs:
  • The user views a signed or encrypted message.
  • The user composes a new email message.
• The user tries to open an email attachment.

In either of these scenarios, the user cannot view the attachment, and the user receives a message that resembles the following:

This issue occurs if the S/MIME control is installed.

This behavior is by design.

The behavior that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section is intended to increase compatibility between browser versions. Modern browsers, and this includes Windows Internet Explorer 8 and later versions, help provide increased stability by starting a new process to host the document for a new window.

However, earlier versions of the S/MIME control did not expect a new process to be created. Therefore, newer versions of the S/MIME control force the attachment to be saved in order to increase compatibility.

For more information about opening files that are attached to email messages, visit the following Microsoft TechNet website: For more information about opening files in Microsoft Outlook Web App, visit the following Microsoft TechNet website: