Unblock “unsafe” attachments in Outlook

So I went to open the .exe file that I sent myself yesterday and I found out that Outlook 2007 will not let you download “unsafe” attachments (unsafe meaning “Any file with an executable extension”). This bothered me, so I googled how to disable the feature.

Sadly you cannot completely disable it, you can only add file types that you want to download anyway.

Open the registry editor (Click Start->Run and type regedit)

• Browse to:

Outlook 2007

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Security

Outlook 2003

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security

Outlook 2002

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Security

Outlook 2000

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook\Security


• Add a new String value named: Level1Remove

• Edit the value and add the extension(s) that you would like to allow (use a ‘;’ as a delimeter)

Ex: .exe or .bat;.exe;.mst


• Restart Outlook (You don’t need to restart the computer)

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