Outlook 2010 - sending mail with attachment - "The system cannot find the file specified"

Question

Hi forum Fellows,
I have the following failure scenario:
1. A user receives an e-mail with an attachment.
2. The user opens the attachment --> Forwards the mail and writes something in the body of the e-mail
3. For whatever reason the user leaves the e-mail and works on something else --> the user comes back to the e-mail an hour or more later.
4. The user then wants to send the e-mail but gets the following error message: "The system cannot find the file specified"
5. The effect is that the user cannot send the e-mail.....
------------------------------ TROUBLESHOOTING -----------------------
- I can see that when the user opens an attachment this attachment is saved in the OutlookTemp folder. Actually, there is a difference between opening the attachment before or after clicking forward on the e-mail.
---- Before: Two files is written to the OutlookTemp folder. For example if the attachment name is FileX.pdf - there will be a FileX.pdf but also a FileX (2).pdf in the folder (if OutlookTemp is empty/do not contain a file with the name FileX.pdf already)
---- After: Only one file is written to OutlookTemp. That is FileX.pdf
- Running Process Monitor when trying to forward the e-mail I can see that Outlook is calling a file that is not in the OutlookTemp folder anymore.
**** To me this is the heart of the issue. For some reason, when a user has an e-mail with an attachment open for an extended period of time (not sure on exactly how long is necessary), files in the OutlookTemp folder is deleted - files that Outlook is depending
on to be there.
- Going with a totally clean OutlookTemp folder does not help.
------------------ NOW WHAT ---------------
- The question now is: Is this by design? Can it be fixed by some Outlook 2010 patch? Or perhaps a group policy/registry setting as a workaround.
------------------------------ TECH. INFO -----------------------
Outlook 2010 v14.0.7132.5000
Outlook bit depth: x86
Running on a 2008R2 SP1 TS environment.
No antivirus on the TS
Looking forward to hear from you.
Regards The Red Baron
Red Baron

Answer 1

Hello Red Baron,
Although not a complete answer, the way to treat attachments in emails require some discipline:
1. Never open an attachment directly from the email (and NEVER edit it from there). Always save it in a known location as the desktop or (better) in a designated document folder. Then you can proceed as usual, like editing the contents, printing, forwarding
the new version etc.
2. Directly forwarding the attachment is ok, along with additional text in the body of the email.
3. Having any (unsaved) document open for several hours should
never occur. What if there is a power outage?
Bottom line is thus Discipline. This is regardless of Operating System (which might handle temporary files differently).
These are the rules I teach my customers and they never leave any document unsaved for hours ...
Best regards George