Outlook/Word 2013 - Cannot open ANY docs due to Protected View

[roiiploe]

All,

After using Office 2013 for the better part of two years - today I go to do a Quick Print (to my PDF Printer) on a Word attachment within a Outlook email and get this annoying message:

Office has detected a problem with this file. To help protect your computer - this file cannot be opened.

Then if I click on the Show Help button - I see this:

"The Office File Validation feature has blocked this file from opening as it may contain harmful content.
More information about this error message online."

Then I try another email and another - ALL give me the same message.

I have gone into the Trust Center settings in Word and Outlook and turned off everything I could find on Protected view, added all local drives as Trusted locations etc etc and NOTHING worked.

I do not see any references to Office File Validation and need to find a way to stop it.

I cannot find any way to print any Word doc to any printer - if it is an attachment within a email.

My gut feel is that this last Office Update pack (Sept 2016) via Windows Update -which I applied a few days ago - has now compromised my scene.

Anyone else come across this - with any way to shut this crap off?

VP

 

[MoxieMomma]

Hi:

The normal workaround for trouble printing directly from an attachment or link would be to first save the document locally on the computer (e.g. desktop) and then print it.
That usually works when attempts to print just do nothing...

HOWEVER HOWEVER from the warnings you're seeing, it sure sounds as if, in this case, you may be dealing with a potentially malicious file.
Email attachments are a common means of ransomware transmission these days.
But it could contain a malicious macro distributing a range of malware.
As such, I do NOT suggest downloading or saving or opening or printing the document in question without more data.

Disabling security features and lowering Trust Center settings sounds like a dangerous strategy, until more information can be obtained.
Those security settings are in place to help protect you.

I'm also not quite clear of the scope of the issue. At first it sounded like you reported only a problem with "Quick Print" of a specific attachment. Then you said you "cannot find any way to print any Word doc to any printer'.

So, perhaps you could please clarify for us a bit?

Also, what happens if you use the workaround (save the document to the desktop and then try to print) using a KNOWN, SAFE document attachment (as opposed to the one(s) that is/are throwing up the security warning)??

Thanks,
MM

 

[roiiploe]

I'm also not quite clear of the scope of the issue. At first it sounded like you reported only a problem with "Quick Print" of a specific attachment. Then you said you "cannot find any way to print any Word doc to any printer'. So, perhaps you could please clarify for us a bit?

Sure thing

All the documents in this case are known good valid files. Not malicious and certainly not infected. They are radio scripts being sent to me in Word format from reliable known sources.

On Monday - I would get an email (with script attached in Word format) and I could right click on the attachment preview (top of the email dialog) and choose Quick Print.

First I get the usual - Do you want to Open or Save this document window - which is fine. Then the document would go right to my default printer (PDF Factory Pro) - and the PDF Factory window would open - allowing me to save the doc as a PDF in a directory on the local LAN.

But today (after this last office update mid week - which is all I can think of that has changed) - I now get the error I described - for every Word Doc via the process described above.

Note: Saving every document out to a local folder is extra steps I do not need (or want) to take - considering I have been doing this method (Quick Print) for 10 years without being stopped for any reason.

I am very frustrated that I have shut off all known sources of Protected Files and it still stops me?

What is going on here?

VP

 

[MoxieMomma]

Thanks for the clarification.

For the record, even "known" senders can have their emails hijacked/spoofed. So knowing the sender is not a 100% guarantee of safety these days. Even "safe" emails can contain malicious attachments.
If it were a simple compatibility issue with Outlook and your PDF printer application, I would expect an error message, but not a security warning.

However, IFFFF the security warning is not real, then it suggests a problem between MS Office and your 3rd-party PDF printer.

I merely suggested the workaround step of first saving the document and then printing it as a means to troubleshoot.
But if you're not willing to try it to help isolate the issue, then I'm out of ideas for now.

Perhaps someone more facile with Outlook and PDF Factory Pro will be better able to assist you.
Sorry I could not resolve your issue.

Good luck,

MM

 

[Ranger4]

@ Vocalpoint. You mentioned that this problem occurred after an Office 2013 Update, via Windows Update. Office 2013 updates do not come via Windows Updates. The click to run versions of Office, which Office 2013 is, run in the background, from time to time.

This leads me to suspect that you may have more than one version of Office installed. That is not a problem but you can only have one version of Outlook on a computer. Other versions of Office such as 2007 & 2010 do update vis Windows Update, but Office 2013 does not.

I use Office 2013 Pro & I have it set to receive updates automatically, so I am never aware that it is updating. You can check when your Office 2013 last updated, if you have it set for automatic updating, by opening Control Panel, select Programs & Features, scroll down to Microsoft Office 2013 & it should show the last version & the date it was installed.

 

[roiiploe]

@ Vocalpoint. You mentioned that this problem occurred after an Office 2013 Update, via Windows Update. Office 2013 updates do not come via Windows Updates. The click to run versions of Office, which Office 2013 is, run in the background, from time to time.

Well - on 9/9/2016 - Windows Update was flashing in my tray reporting 8 "patches" for Office 2013 and I installed them as usual.

Been doing this for years. Not sure how anyone else would do it - I certainly have never done it via Office in any way, shape or form.

You may be confusing Office enhancements/service packs with security updates.

ALL security updates for both Windows 7 AND Office now come thru WU.

VP

 

[Ranger4]

I am not confusing Office 2013 updates in any way. Office 2013 does not update via Windows Updates. Are you sure you have Office 2013 installed. What you have described about Office & Windows Updates is what happens with older versions of Office such as Office 2010.

According to this MS website the last version of Updates for Office 2013 was in August 2016. It also tells you how to get the latest updates & how to get auto updates set as well.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/gp/office-2013-365-update

 

[roiiploe]

Are you sure you have Office 2013 installed.

Absolutely - see Office_Installed attachment.

Office 2013 does not update via Windows Updates.

Well - It does for me as I get OS Updates AND Office updates via Windows Update - most likely because I have told the OS (via the WU interface) to "get updates for other Microsoft Software" (aka Microsoft Update). See Office_2013_Updates below.

The attached screencap shows my Windows Update dialog and it's recent Update History. 8 updates for Office 2013 were offered by WU and installed on 9/9/16

You can see all the September 2016 updates Office 2013 - that were released via Microsoft Update (and ultimately appearing in Windows Update - like on my machines) - by going here:

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com...mber-2016-non-security-office-update-release/

I have never updated any Office version from within any of it's programs. I have always gotten ALL applicable Office updates via the Windows Update interface in Windows 7

Cheers!

VP

 

[Ranger4]

Thanks for getting back. It seems that you have the business version of Office 2013, which installs updates in the usual Windows Updates way. My apologies for not realising this point. There are 2 versions of office 2013, one is the Click to Run version which is probably the one most home & small business users would install & the other is the MSI version, which is probably the version most large businesses, that have a Volume Licence, would install, as it allows for selective programs like Word etc. to be installed, but allows non installation of ones that aren't wanted.

As you have the list of updates that were installed on the 9/9/2106 in Windows Updates, you could uninstall each update until you find the one that might have caused your Outlook problem. Even if you have uninstalled most of them & you have found the one that caused the problem, then you can ask your computer to Check for Updates & it should show all the office updates that you have just uninstalled ready to be installed again. Check through those & Hide the one that caused the problem & reinstall the rest.

 

[MoxieMomma]

Yep, there are at least a few ways to go about this, for isolating and (perhaps) resolving the issue.

First thing I would try (as it requires only a few mouse-clicks) would be the suggestion I already made -- save the document locally and try to print both with the 3rd-party PDF printer and a physical printer.

Another easy thing to try would be printing directly from the attachment to a physical printer, rather than the PDF printer.

Those two steps would help to narrow down the cause of the issue.

And one might also check with PDF Factory Pro to be sure one has the most current version and that it fully supports Office 2013.

The most definitive, but most complicated, test would be to follow @Ranger4's suggestion of uninstalling the individual patches, to try to determine which one (if any) caused the issue. One would then need to hide it from further reinstallation, as mentioned. One would need to weigh the benefit of doing so vs. the risk of hiding a security update.

Another approach would be a different 3rd-party PDF handler.

Good luck,

MM

 

[roiiploe]

First thing I would try (as it requires only a few mouse-clicks) would be the suggestion I already made -- save the document locally and try to print both with the 3rd-party PDF printer and a physical printer.

This works without issue. As long as I print - from within Word Itself (File-Print). If I save the document locally from the email to a local folder - then go to the folder and right click on the document and choose Print - the error occurs there as well.

Another easy thing to try would be printing directly from the attachment to a physical printer, rather than the PDF printer.

Works just fine - again as long as I am in Word itself. (File->Print).

Today I have made another interesting discovery. Seems that if the attachment is a .doc format (Word 2003 and prior) vs a Word 2007 format (.docx) and greater - the error does NOT occur.

So it seems the plot thickens and only seems to apply to *.doc files in this case.

I was on the phone with MS for 40 minutes today and no one there has any idea what is going on. Another fine case of support having little clue about their own software.

I am very annoyed at what has suddenly changed to make .doc files seem so dangerous.

I totally "get" that malicious files are a fact of life and that MS is trying to help less educated users understand the dangers. But in this case - I really need to turn this file protection off completely and get Office to not be so heavy handed with it's fear over certain file formats.

VP

 

[Ranger4]

It's very interesting that .doc files give the problem & .docx seem to work as before. This could have something to do with MS no longer supporting Office 2003 programs, so as security updates etc. are no longer supplied, they have made .doc files come up with the warning you are getting.

So perhaps MS are not really intending to give you troubles, but they are just protecting users from the possibility of getting infection problems from downloaded & opened .doc files that are not longer covered by security updates.

 

[roiiploe]

It's very interesting that .doc files give the problem & .docx seem to work as before. This could have something to do with MS no longer supporting Office 2003 programs, so as security updates etc. are no longer supplied, they have made .doc files come up with the warning you are getting.

This one gets even stranger. After getting the errors with two very recent .doc files (sent to me on Friday) - I knew I had opened .doc files many times in the past so I went searching for other .doc files I know I have received in the last few months. Easily found about a half dozen in my Outlook archives - and low and behold - they ALL Quick Print just fine. Sigh.

Seems it's just these two files - sent on Friday that for some very peculiar reason - are kicking this error up all of a sudden. Maybe there is actually something wrong with these two files - but it is nothing malicious. And even more strange is that the two files came from two completely different sources of mine. One in USA and the other in Canada.

Bizarre. I knew I wasn't seeing things

VP

 

[Ranger4]

Were the 2 .doc files sent to you from different sources actually composed by the senders or were they files passed on from someone else.

This is just a question that may help you unravel this mystery.