There’s a global issue affecting Microsoft Outlook today (12th May 2021) — the contents of emails are not displaying properly. This has been caused by a Microsoft Office security update and affects those using the latest version of Outlook (which is a component of the Office suite.)

The good news? There is a workaround, until Microsoft roll out another update to fix it.

The following text can be typed into the “command prompt” (if you have access you must load the Command Prompt using “run as administrator”): it must be exactly this syntax.

NB: This syntax can be extremely useful in any situation where a recent patch has broken a feature of Microsoft Office; amend the version number as required.

"C:\Program Files\common files\microsoft shared\clicktorun\officec2rclient.exe" /update user updatetoversion=16.0.13901.20462

per Microsoft.com, EX255650 known issue

It may prompt you to close the Office programs you are using. Once it has completed, without rebooting you can open Outlook and you’re good to go.

Then, from the File menu, select Office account and then (temporarily) you can disable the automatic updates: if you do this, please ask your smartphone to remind you to re-enable them in a week or so.

NOTE: If you have webmail access (GSuite, Office365) to your emails, then those are unaffected.

If you need our assistance with this, please phone 07 44345402 and one of our team can talk you through this. Alternatively, one of our techs can remotely assist with this if you book a time.