How to open email attachment previews in reading pane instead of a new window?

Question

How to open email attachment previews in reading pane instead of a new window?

TGD 0

In New Outlook, how can I open an attachment preview in the reading pane instead of a new window like I could in Classic Outlook? I work for a large government agency and handle an extremely large volume of emails each day with PDF attachments. Being forced to open and close a new window for each one instead of just handling it in the reading pane has slowed my work significantly, which is not a good use of taxpayer dollars. If this is not a feature of New Outlook, please please please please PLEASE add it so I can go back to doing my job efficiently! (Using Outlook on the web is not an option.) Thank you.

0 comments

1 answer

Your answer

Answer 1

Teddie Dang 1,445 Independent Advisor

Hi @TGD

Unfortunately, New Outlook currently does not provide the same attachment-preview experience as Classic Outlook, where supported attachments such as PDFs can be previewed directly within the Reading Pane.

In New Outlook, selecting the attachment, or clicking the drop-down arrow next to the attachment and selecting Preview, can open the attachment in a separate preview window rather than within the existing Reading Pane. There does not appear to be a setting available to change this behavior and keep the attachment preview embedded in the Reading Pane.

Since this significantly affects your workflow, I recommend submitting feedback directly from New Outlook by going to Help > Feedback > Make a suggestion and requesting the ability to preview attachments directly within the existing Reading Pane, as in Classic Outlook.

Alternatively, you can submit your suggestion through the Outlook · Community. If you share the link to your feedback here, other community members can vote for it, potentially increasing its visibility to the Outlook product team.

TGD 0 Reputation points

2026-10-07T03:44:02.47+00:00

Thank you! Not the answer I wanted, but hopefully enough people will complain that they'll incorporate the feature into New Outlook.
Teddie Dang 1,445 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-07T04:50:48.47+00:00

Hi @TGD

I understand that this is not the outcome you were hoping for. Hopefully, continued feedback from users will help bring more attention to this request. If you submit a suggestion through the Outlook Feedback Portal, feel free to share the link here so other community members can vote for it as well.