Help...Corrupt MS Office files ONLY when downloading from OWA/Outlook. Advice?

CW2 Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 18:25:12 -0400

Alright so here's the deal. I've been meaning to ask this to the community, hopefully the G6/S6 types that are super smart on this sort of thing.

I have two programs on my computer. I have MS Office 2010 and OpenOffice.org's suite of programs. My buddy has Office 365. Neither of us can open documents that were sent from a government email or downloading from Outlook Web Access (OWA).

We get errors that say "the file is corrupted". It isn't, though, because they open fine on the OpenOffice Suite. Also, PDF works fine.

If I upload a file to Google Drive from work and download at home - no issue. If I email myself a file through GMail and don't go through .mil, no issue. However, if I receive an attachment, regardless of content (in other words, not restricted to files with personal information or something..it could be a blank PowerPoint) and open it at home from OWA, it says the file is corrupted.

This is happening to everyone I know. And it randomly started awhile back, but never happened before.

Is there some sort of encryption setting that is physically changing the file or something?

Response by CW5 Sam R. Baker made Jun 10 at 2015 6:56 PM

CW5 Sam R. Baker — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 18:56:02 -0400

I cannot wait to see the answer from a 25 or 255 on this, it is an issue that a lot of us are having.

Response by SGT Michael Sutherland made Jun 10 at 2015 7:10 PM

SGT Michael Sutherland — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 19:10:12 -0400

this issue is mainly due to the network admins are enabling digital signature to files created on the network to try and mitigate the issue of people not in the network from accessing the files.

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Jun 10 at 2015 8:56 PM

MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 20:56:49 -0400

I had to google this so I can't take credit or blame for the answer. One possible solution is 32 bit vs. 64 bit programs. One post said that if your machine is running a 64 bit operating system with 64 bit software - MS Office being one of them - and OWA is running on a 32 bit server, the local machine could have an issue opening the file from OWA. If your machines at home are running 32 bit, no problem. Copying a file is no issue either because you are just moving the data. OWA being web based is downloading that file from a 32 bit system onto a 64 bit system and if everything isn't perfect, the file won't be read correctly resulting in the misleading error. Again, 1 possibility.

Ok quick primer - 32 bit vs 64 bit. It relates to how the processor accepts instructions from software and uses memory. A 64 bit system can accept 32 bit instructions but a 32 bit system can not accept 64 bits. Think of it like this, a 64 bit system has 64 paths going in and out of the processor while a 32 bit system only has 32 paths. Its a little over my head too.

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Jun 10 at 2015 8:58 PM

MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 20:58:36 -0400

Here is another. This seems like its more feasible because there is a way to fix it (supposedly)

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2387587

If you started experiencing the problem, then perhaps your network folks made some security updates/changes that affected some of these settings. Again the error is kind of bogus because the file is fine, it's a setting that's not allowing the file to be opened properly.

Response by SFC Maury Gonzalez made Jun 10 at 2015 9:21 PM

SFC Maury Gonzalez — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 21:21:45 -0400

Sometime if you have file open, then click on the email button to send while file is open outlook will corrupt the attachments. Make sure file is closed before you sent. Also do file /save as and select lower office format like office 2003 or 2010.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 10 at 2015 10:20 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 22:20:46 -0400

Try disabling the Protected options in Trust Center of excel/word/powerpoint

Please try these steps to further address the issue:
1. Open Excel 2010(maybe Excel 2013 for your Office 365).
2. Click on File > Options.
3. Select Trust Center > Trust center settings.
4. Select Protected view.
5. Uncheck all the options under Protected View > OK.
6. Restart Excel 2010 and try to open Excel documents.
This may work for Word, Powerpoint etc..

Note: Mainstream support for Office 2010 ends Oct 13, 2015 and extended support ends Oct 13, 2020.
Microsoft defines end of support as termination of Windows Update support. To receive the full period of Extended Support from Microsoft, the latest operating system/office suite service pack must be installed.

Current Microsoft policy is to provide critical security updates via Microsoft Update or Windows Update sites through the full Extended Support period. At Microsoft's option, compatibility updates may be provided during extended support.