Enable or disable Forgotten Attachment Reminder in Outlook

Outlook attachment reminder not working? In this post, we will show you how to enable or disable the Forgotten Attachment Reminder in Outlook. Many of us must have gone through such a situation sometimes when we forgot to attach documents before sending an important email. Such situations can cause concern not only for us but also for the recipient, especially when it is very important to receive the document on time.

For those who are not aware, Outlook comes with a built-in feature that will likely catch it if you intend to include an attachment but forget it while sending the email. The feature is called Attachment Reminder and in this post, we will talk about this Outlook feature in detail.

How to enable Forgotten Attachment Reminder in Outlook

Attachment Reminder can be turned on and off via Outlook mail options. If Outlook attachment reminder is not working, you can enable it by following these steps:

1. Launch the Outlook desktop client.
2. Click on the File tab in the top-left corner. Account Information page will appear.
3. In the left panel, click Options at the bottom-left corner. Outlook Options window will appear.
4. Click on Mail in the left panel.
5. Under Mail options, navigate to the Send messages section.
6. Check the option ‘Warn me when I send a message that may be missing an attachment‘ to turn on the Forgotten Attachment Reminder.
7. Click on the OK button.

This feature is enabled by default in Outlook. So when Outlook notices that you’ve used the keyword ‘attach’ (or something similar) in your mail body but have forgotten to include an attachment, it shows a popup window that says:

Attachment Reminder – You may have forgotten to attach a file.

How to disable Forgotten Attachment Reminder in Outlook

If you prefer not to use the Attachment Reminder feature, you may turn it off by following the steps mentioned below:

1. Open Outlook.
2. Go to File > Options > Mail.
3. Uncheck ‘Warn me when I send a message that may be missing an attachment‘ under Send messages.
4. Click OK.

Using Outlook 2010 or older?

Microsoft ended support and security updates for Office 2010 in October 2020. But if you still use it on your Windows PC, you can use a third-party add-in to get attachment reminders in Outlook. Forgotten Attachment Detector (FAD) from Office Labs is one such popular free add-in, but unfortunately, it has been discontinued. So you can either buy a premium add-in (such as Attachment Forget Me Not from Sperry Software), or write the following piece of code in the VBA editor of MS Outlook:

• Launch Outlook.
• Enable the Develop tab (File > Options > Customise Ribbon> Main Tabs > Developer).
• Under the Developer tab, click on Visual Basic.
• Navigate to ThisOutlookSession within the Project Explorer in the left panel.
• Double-click on ThisOutlookSession. A Code window will appear on the right side.
• Type the following code in the window:

  Private Sub Application_ItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As Boolean)
  If InStr(1, Item.Body, "attach", vbTextCompare) > 0 Or InStr(1, Item.Subject, "attach", vbTextCompare) > 0 Then
  If Item.Attachments.Count = 0 Then
  answer = MsgBox("There's no attachment, send anyway?", vbYesNo)
  If answer = vbNo Then Cancel = True
  End If
  End If
  End Sub

• Press ALT+Q to close the VBA Editor and return to Outlook.

I hope you find this helpful. Keep reading this space for more interesting tips and tricks.

Also Read: How to send a Calendar Event as an attachment in Outlook.

How does Outlook know I forgot to attach a file?

Outlook has a built-in setting known as Attachment Reminder that warns the user about a missing attachment in the email. The setting, when enabled, looks for ‘attach’ or a similar word in the subject line or the mail body. If it detects that no attachment has been included in the mail despite a mention, it displays a warning message.

How do I turn off attachment security warning in Outlook?

Protected View is a security feature for all Office documents in Outlook. To disable this feature, launch Outlook. Go to File > Options > Trust Center. In the Trust Center window, click on Protected View in the left panel. In the right panel, uncheck the option ‘Enable Protected View for Outlook Attachments.’

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