Unable to "view" attached docs from email

I've been  having the same problem ever since the revised Xfinity Connect email program came out, with numerous other subtle changes which I'm able to work around.  But there seems no way to get Comcast to act on this inability to view matter.  "Download" is too cumbersome a way to view an attachment.  It should not be the only oprion.  How do we high-paying customers get Comcast to correct the stituation?!

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@lenstermon wrote:

Hello all.

It seems that for a few months now,  From Xfinity email, I have been unable to view a document before I decide to download it. Now I get this response:

 

"An error occurred converting the document so it cannot be displayed. Please download the file using the button below. "

 

I am using an iMac, and my browser is Chrome.   

 

If I am recalling correctly, xfinity sent out a notice stating that they might be turning that feature off, but the button is still there.  I was waiting to find out if a workaround would be offered.  

I don't want to keep cleaning out my download folder just to view docs. 

 

Does anyone experience this?  Have you found a solution?  

Thanks - Len

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I'm not sure why that View link is problematic.  I get the same error you did if I try to use it.  However consider this:

I sent myself two test emails with attachments from my Outlook.com account.  One had only one pdf attached to it, and the other had 4 files of different types.  In the same line as the View and Download links, look at "Attachment(s)" to the left.  Click on the little arrowhead to the right of it, and you will see the attachments listed underneath that.  Click on one and you will see "View" again in a small drop menu.  Click on that and see if the file opens in a viewing window for you.  Mine look like this--------------

Also, In the header, look all the way to the right and you will see a blue icon that looks like 4 little squares.  Click on that and it will generate a thumbnail of each file.  Then you can click on the thumbnail and it opens it in a viewing pane----------------

Latoque,

What kind of computer do you have and what OS? And which browser do you use?

I tried your suggestions.  It still does not work. By the way, the typical file is a .doc or a .pdf, which are common.    

No problem when using my wife's Chromebook.  Must be a setting on this computer. 

The hunt continues. 

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@lenstermon wrote:

Latoque,

What kind of computer do you have and what OS? And which browser do you use?

 

 

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I have two computers:  my desktop is an iMac running Catalina, and when I did those screenshots I was using the latest version of Firefox.  It also works well using Vivaldi.  But not with Safari.  The other machine is a Dell Windows 10 2-in-one laptop, and I tried with Edge and Chrome----------no joy with either one.  But using the latest version of Firefox (v71.0) it works as it should, and it also works OK using IE-11.  So I'm not sure if it's an issue with the operating systems or the different browsers not playing nice with the Appsuite email software.  I'm going to escalate this and see if I can get someone to look into this issue.  I'm inclined to think it's a browser compatibility thing more than the OSs.

After reading that Latoque had sucess with Firefox I switched from GoogleChrome to Firefox, and, VOILA!  IT WOEKED! 

I READ ATTACHMENTS BY CLICKING ON "VIEW" IN THE MESSAGE HEADER JUST LIKE OLD TIMES.

Now to figure out why the problem spontaneously arose with GoggleChrome????

from the OMG Department...

I went back to GoogleChrome and numerous emails in my inbox with attachments with which I had the "view" problem, and... THE "VIEW" PROBLEM DISAPPEARED!
What is going on??!!!

Update and Conclusion. / / / / / 

Just posting to let you know that it seems to have been a Chrome issue.

Apparently something got corrupted.

I shut down Chrome on my iMac,

Then I opened Safari to download and install Chrome, 

I did this as an over-write. I did not uninstall Chrome before this.

That way all my bookmarks and settings carried over.

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And finally, the test.  I opened an email that had an attached doc, and it opened successfully. 

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Thanks all, for your help and information. I hope this helps somebody in the future.