No Longer Able to Drag and Drop Email from New Outlook to Desktop/File Explorer

Question

No Longer Able to Drag and Drop Email from New Outlook to Desktop/File Explorer

Alex Rourke 91

We are already struggling to increase adoption of the new version of Outlook because Microsoft arbitrarily restricted the ability to drag and drop emails or their attachments directly into web browser file upload dialogs (including to places like SharePoint). This used to work in the new version of Outlook and Microsoft actively removed/blocked this feature because "security".

Our workaround for this was having users drag attachments/emails to their desktops or into File Explorer and then from there, dragging it to the file upload dialog. This was inconvenient, but it worked.

Today, we're now noticing that while I can still drag attachments from Outlook to File Explorer, the ability to drag emails to File Explorer is now restricted. We can reproduce this behavior on several computers.

So here's where we're at when it comes to attaching an email from Outlook in to a web file upload dialog:

Outlook (Classic) and previous versions of new Outlook (1 step):
1. Drag the email directly from Outlook to the web browser file upload dialog.
New Outlook (prior to today) (2 steps):
1. Drag the email to the desktop.
2. Drag it to the file upload dialog.
New Outlook (Today) (at least 6 steps):
1. Click the ellipses on the email
2. Click "Save As"
3. Select a format
4. Select the save destination (we'll assume it is the desktop, one click to get there)
5. Click "Save"
6. Drag the email from the desktop to the web browser file upload dialog.

Is anyone else noticing this new behavior? Unfortunately, we'll be recommending all of our users go back to using Outlook (Classic). I hope this is a bug or that I'm misunderstanding something here, but I fear I'm not.

UPDATE (12/1/25):

Based on some confusion in the comments, I want to clarify some things:

This issue impacts new Outlook, not Classic Outlook
The problem has to do with dragging and dropping individual email messages (which save as EML/MSG files) directly to file explorer to save them. This does not impact dragging and dropping attachments in emails.
This does not appear to have begun with a particular version of New Outlook. I can reproduce the behavior in both the current and previous versions. It may (however) be related to November updates to Windows, which were installed around the time these issues began occurring (Mid-November)
This is an issue regardless of whether Copilot is enabled or not. Disabling and reenabling Copilot has no impact.
This impacts newly provisioned computers with clean installations of Windows 11 and no additional non-Microsoft software installed on them.
This issue is happening on computers which do not (and have never had) the software "HP Wolf Security Tool" installed.
I have left feedback related to this issue using the appropriate channels. As is the case with nearly all feedback channels Microsoft provides, I suspect this is a completely frivolous exercise.

All of our testing indicates that this is an issue with either new Outlook or Windows - not an issue on our individual computers, not with third-party software, and not due to any configuration settings we have set on the device. This is either a bug or a feature in Outlook/Windows and is 100% the responsibility of Microsoft to acknowledge and/or resolve.

Emmy Z 25 Reputation points

2025-11-24T14:41:52.0833333+00:00

I am having the same problem. Unable to move emails from Outlook into File Explorer. This has just started happening today. I have been able to do this process for the past 4 months with no issues, but today it isn't working. Was there a recent update with Outlook? Again I've been using the same process and Outlook for the past 4 months to do this.
Rovira, Erica N 5 Reputation points

2025-11-24T16:43:32.5+00:00

This issue started for me as well on 11/21/25. It also won't let me use Save As on an email whether I try saving as .msg or .eml, both give an error message. So I have no workaround and cannot save emails to File Explorer at the present moment.
Smith, Glenda 15 Reputation points

2025-11-24T18:57:26.6633333+00:00

I am having the same issue. It is a complete waste of time.
BrennaF 0 Reputation points

2025-11-25T17:13:24.43+00:00

I agree. I used to just drag and drop into a shared drive folder for work, and I can no longer do it this way. The save option takes a lot longer and is a complete waste of time.
BrennaF 0 Reputation points

2025-11-25T17:28:58.33+00:00

Hi! I think the checkbox, related to the email, must be checked in order to drag and drop the email into File Explorer. I just started doing this with my emails and it seems to be working. If I don't check the box, I cannot drag and drop the email.
Alex Rourke 91 Reputation points

2025-11-25T17:36:27.22+00:00

I cannot drag and drop emails to File Explorer whether or not I check them before trying.
BrennaF 0 Reputation points

2025-11-25T20:22:58.58+00:00

Bummer. It seems to be working for me on most of the emails I have, but there have been a few that I have checked the box and still cannot move them. I hope MS fixes this, as it is so frustrating to not be able to drag and drop emails.
Sören Wagner-Emden 0 Reputation points

2025-11-26T16:26:16.5566667+00:00

Same Problem here
Hornblower409 2,650 Reputation points

2025-11-26T17:10:04.32+00:00

@Sören Wagner-Emden

Can you not drag-and-drop emails from your Outlook message list, attachments from inside an email, or both?

If it's emails, have you tried Selecting the email first? (Checking the box to the left of the email in the message list)
Is this only from a shared mailbox?
Sören Wagner-Emden 0 Reputation points

2025-11-27T08:53:12.2066667+00:00

Hi - for me the problem was solved by uninstalling HP Wolf Security Tool!
matthew maxwell 0 Reputation points

2025-11-27T12:04:26.1566667+00:00

You will need to go back to the old version. Shame, it was a good start but without this function i cant operate.
Sören Wagner-Emden 0 Reputation points

2025-11-27T13:04:39.1866667+00:00

@Hornblower409 Both - but I uninstalled HP Wolf Security and now it works
Hornblower409 2,650 Reputation points

2025-11-27T18:59:03.6533333+00:00

@Sören Wagner-Emden

-- I uninstalled HP Wolf Security and now it works

I am glad you found a solution, but I don't think that will apply to most people reporting this issue.
Alan Dunne 10 Reputation points

2025-11-30T13:34:47.1633333+00:00

I think I know how to fix this, but before I note it, can I just say to Microsoft that you are an absolute shambles of a company. I had to move to new Outlook last week after I got so sick of the old Outlook freezing and taking ages to do abolutely anything. I'm still on W10 too because W11 is an abomination.

So earlier this morning I dragged an email to a folder no problem. Then about 30 minutes ago I noticed the Copilot button on the new Outlook. I pressed it thinking it would be off, but low and behold it was turned on. So I turned it off, because I have no interest in it.

About 5 minutes later I tried to drag an email to file explorer and it woudn't work. After googling for 20 minutes and finding this thread, but getting nowhere, I tried turning Copilot back on. Low and behold I can now drag emails to file explorer again.

Microsoft I hate you. Your software has so many bugs, the most annoying of which is file re-naming using F2 - laughable, you're in a speed race to type a letter in the position you want before Windows re-highlights the entire string by itself.

I for one am planning on moving to Linux rather than Windows 11. I'll hopefully get the time to do this over Christmas.

TLDR: Copilot needs to be on in order to drag files to explorer.
BrennaF 0 Reputation points

2025-12-01T17:05:57.3833333+00:00

My co-pilot is always on because it is required by my work, and I am still struggling with dragging an email into File Explorer. One minute it works, the next it doesn't. I have tried checking and unchecking the box, and it works or it doesn't. I end up shutting down Outlook and reopening at least 20 times a day, as this is the only quick fix that I can find to allow me to drag and drop emails again. So very frustrating. If this wasn't a work thing, I would probably do something completely different, but I am tied to this and all the issues. It worked great, up until about 2-3 weeks ago... now, not great!
Alan Dunne 10 Reputation points

2025-12-01T17:13:53.05+00:00

BrennaF yes I think I'm incorrect with my previous post. Sometimes it works with CoPilot on, sometimes it doesn't - I could get iot to work by restarting Outlook most of the time. I'm after getting so annoyed with the whole thing, I've gone back to old Outlook.
Nick9801238 5 Reputation points

2025-12-01T17:17:28.5466667+00:00

Still running into this issue. Seems like this has stopped working over the last 2-3 weeks randomly between users in New Outlook. Instead of dragging/dropping you now have to right click save as -> EML and manually choose where to save it. Or select the email and click File -> Save As -> EML. Annoying but I guess we are at the mercy of Microsoft until they acknowledge a fix for it.
Alan Dunne 10 Reputation points

2025-12-04T14:34:38.2766667+00:00

Did Microsoft delete my posts on here, wow!!
BrennaF 0 Reputation points

2025-12-04T16:02:43.8066667+00:00

I see your comments above, under Alex's initial post on 11/21.
Alan Dunne 10 Reputation points

2025-12-04T16:05:07.2366667+00:00

Sorry yeah I see them now, needed to press the see more comments button.

I've had to go back to old Outlook, even though it's buggy as hell and freezes a lot. The new Outlook stopped letting me resize the reading pane on right, which made it completely unusable.
Shane Spurgers 0 Reputation points

2025-12-04T21:32:40.6+00:00

I had a user with this issue. To fix it, we had to set Message organization to Do not group messages.

4 answers

Your answer

Emmy Z 25 Reputation points

2025-11-24T14:41:52.0833333+00:00

I am having the same problem. Unable to move emails from Outlook into File Explorer. This has just started happening today. I have been able to do this process for the past 4 months with no issues, but today it isn't working. Was there a recent update with Outlook? Again I've been using the same process and Outlook for the past 4 months to do this.
Rovira, Erica N 5 Reputation points

2025-11-24T16:43:32.5+00:00

This issue started for me as well on 11/21/25. It also won't let me use Save As on an email whether I try saving as .msg or .eml, both give an error message. So I have no workaround and cannot save emails to File Explorer at the present moment.
Smith, Glenda 15 Reputation points

2025-11-24T18:57:26.6633333+00:00

I am having the same issue. It is a complete waste of time.
BrennaF 0 Reputation points

2025-11-25T17:13:24.43+00:00

I agree. I used to just drag and drop into a shared drive folder for work, and I can no longer do it this way. The save option takes a lot longer and is a complete waste of time.
BrennaF 0 Reputation points

2025-11-25T17:28:58.33+00:00

Hi! I think the checkbox, related to the email, must be checked in order to drag and drop the email into File Explorer. I just started doing this with my emails and it seems to be working. If I don't check the box, I cannot drag and drop the email.
Alex Rourke 91 Reputation points

2025-11-25T17:36:27.22+00:00

I cannot drag and drop emails to File Explorer whether or not I check them before trying.
BrennaF 0 Reputation points

2025-11-25T20:22:58.58+00:00

Bummer. It seems to be working for me on most of the emails I have, but there have been a few that I have checked the box and still cannot move them. I hope MS fixes this, as it is so frustrating to not be able to drag and drop emails.
Sören Wagner-Emden 0 Reputation points

2025-11-26T16:26:16.5566667+00:00

Same Problem here
Hornblower409 2,650 Reputation points

2025-11-26T17:10:04.32+00:00

@Sören Wagner-Emden

Can you not drag-and-drop emails from your Outlook message list, attachments from inside an email, or both?

If it's emails, have you tried Selecting the email first? (Checking the box to the left of the email in the message list)
Is this only from a shared mailbox?
Sören Wagner-Emden 0 Reputation points

2025-11-27T08:53:12.2066667+00:00

Hi - for me the problem was solved by uninstalling HP Wolf Security Tool!
matthew maxwell 0 Reputation points

2025-11-27T12:04:26.1566667+00:00

You will need to go back to the old version. Shame, it was a good start but without this function i cant operate.
Sören Wagner-Emden 0 Reputation points

2025-11-27T13:04:39.1866667+00:00

@Hornblower409 Both - but I uninstalled HP Wolf Security and now it works
Hornblower409 2,650 Reputation points

2025-11-27T18:59:03.6533333+00:00

@Sören Wagner-Emden

-- I uninstalled HP Wolf Security and now it works

I am glad you found a solution, but I don't think that will apply to most people reporting this issue.
Alan Dunne 10 Reputation points

2025-11-30T13:34:47.1633333+00:00

I think I know how to fix this, but before I note it, can I just say to Microsoft that you are an absolute shambles of a company. I had to move to new Outlook last week after I got so sick of the old Outlook freezing and taking ages to do abolutely anything. I'm still on W10 too because W11 is an abomination.

So earlier this morning I dragged an email to a folder no problem. Then about 30 minutes ago I noticed the Copilot button on the new Outlook. I pressed it thinking it would be off, but low and behold it was turned on. So I turned it off, because I have no interest in it.

About 5 minutes later I tried to drag an email to file explorer and it woudn't work. After googling for 20 minutes and finding this thread, but getting nowhere, I tried turning Copilot back on. Low and behold I can now drag emails to file explorer again.

Microsoft I hate you. Your software has so many bugs, the most annoying of which is file re-naming using F2 - laughable, you're in a speed race to type a letter in the position you want before Windows re-highlights the entire string by itself.

I for one am planning on moving to Linux rather than Windows 11. I'll hopefully get the time to do this over Christmas.

TLDR: Copilot needs to be on in order to drag files to explorer.
BrennaF 0 Reputation points

2025-12-01T17:05:57.3833333+00:00

My co-pilot is always on because it is required by my work, and I am still struggling with dragging an email into File Explorer. One minute it works, the next it doesn't. I have tried checking and unchecking the box, and it works or it doesn't. I end up shutting down Outlook and reopening at least 20 times a day, as this is the only quick fix that I can find to allow me to drag and drop emails again. So very frustrating. If this wasn't a work thing, I would probably do something completely different, but I am tied to this and all the issues. It worked great, up until about 2-3 weeks ago... now, not great!
Alan Dunne 10 Reputation points

2025-12-01T17:13:53.05+00:00

BrennaF yes I think I'm incorrect with my previous post. Sometimes it works with CoPilot on, sometimes it doesn't - I could get iot to work by restarting Outlook most of the time. I'm after getting so annoyed with the whole thing, I've gone back to old Outlook.
Nick9801238 5 Reputation points

2025-12-01T17:17:28.5466667+00:00

Still running into this issue. Seems like this has stopped working over the last 2-3 weeks randomly between users in New Outlook. Instead of dragging/dropping you now have to right click save as -> EML and manually choose where to save it. Or select the email and click File -> Save As -> EML. Annoying but I guess we are at the mercy of Microsoft until they acknowledge a fix for it.
Alan Dunne 10 Reputation points

2025-12-04T14:34:38.2766667+00:00

Did Microsoft delete my posts on here, wow!!
BrennaF 0 Reputation points

2025-12-04T16:02:43.8066667+00:00

I see your comments above, under Alex's initial post on 11/21.
Alan Dunne 10 Reputation points

2025-12-04T16:05:07.2366667+00:00

Sorry yeah I see them now, needed to press the see more comments button.

I've had to go back to old Outlook, even though it's buggy as hell and freezes a lot. The new Outlook stopped letting me resize the reading pane on right, which made it completely unusable.
Shane Spurgers 0 Reputation points

2025-12-04T21:32:40.6+00:00

I had a user with this issue. To fix it, we had to set Message organization to Do not group messages.

Answer 1

Hendrix-C 8,165 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Alex Rourke,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

According to your concern, I have tested with my New Outlook desktop app (version 1.2025.1119.200). For the result, I can still drag and drop the email or attachment in both Desktop and File Explorer. However, I must have the email clicked in the Inbox pane first and then I can able to drag and drop that email. If I choose email 1 then drag and drop a different email (email 3), Outlook doesn't allow me to do that.

User's image

You can try double checking this if you're experiencing the same behavior. If the issue still persists, I greatly suggest letting all of our users go back to using Outlook (Classic) as you intended to prevent any inconveniences or trouble this issue may have caused to your workflow.

Since this is an unexpected behavior of New Outlook and there is currently no official article or announcement addressing it, you should submit your feedback through the Outlook (new) · Community portal. This is the most effective way to ensure your voice reaches the product team and can be considered for future improvements.

User's image

Once you've submitted your feedback, feel free to share the link here in the comments. I’ll be happy to upvote it to help bring more visibility.

Additionally, since many other users have expressed similar concerns but may not know where to submit feedback, if my response has helped you better understand the situation and guided you toward a possible next step, please mark it as the “Accepted Answer.” Your action will help pin this post to the top, making it easier for others in the community who are experiencing the same issue to find your feedback and support it.

Thank you again for your time and for raising this important usability concern.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have any extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Hendrix-C 8,165 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-24T16:43:25.97+00:00

Good day @Alex Rourke,

Hope things are running smoothly on your end.

Following up on the support thread we've been working on. If you are still facing the same issue or need assistance with anything else, kindly respond to this email, and I will be happy to help.

We want to make sure everything is working as expected and that your experience remains uninterrupted.

Thank you for your patience and understanding throughout the troubleshooting process.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Rovira, Erica N 5 Reputation points

2025-11-24T16:48:07.0566667+00:00

My Outlook is set to open an email when it is clicked, meaning I am unable to "select" an email.
Hornblower409 2,650 Reputation points

2025-11-25T07:11:21.6433333+00:00

@Rovira, Erica N

You can select an email by checking the box next to the item in the message list. Then you can drag-and-drop it.
David Kiernan 15 Reputation points

2025-11-25T13:16:13.5233333+00:00

I think the OP means to drag ATTACHMENTS to a File Explorer window. This post indicates dragging an entire message to Desktop or Explorer.

Like OP, this is not working for me either.

I'm not sure what MS is doing with this steaming piece of garbage they call "new" Outlook, but it is absolute garbage. Not even ready for Alpha testing, let alone near-impossible-to-opt-out status.

So many issues with simple tasks that worked for DECADES in classic Outlook.

Every day is a surprise of new frustrations. GARBAGE.
Hornblower409 2,650 Reputation points

2025-11-25T16:41:43.0466667+00:00

@David Kiernan -- to drag ATTACHMENTS to a File Explorer window

I can confirm that drag and drop of attachments from New Outlook for Windows to the Windows Explorer only triggers a Download dialog.

But I think it has always been like this?

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5577004/for-new-outlook-i-cant-drag-and-drop-attachment

Kristen-L Oct 6, 2025, 1:08 PM Dragging and dropping attachments is currently not supported in New Outlook for Windows. This is a known limitation in the resigned Outlook client.
Kb 0 Reputation points

2025-11-25T17:01:47.6966667+00:00

Having the same issues as OP, unable to drag and drop the attachments. This is incredibly inefficient for our company that requires 100's of emails to be saved monthly on our server. As others mention, each day of this new outlook has a new surprise of which functionality has been reduced or just completely omitted... Terrible functionality and needs to be reverted!
Alex Rourke 91 Reputation points

2025-11-25T17:21:33.7766667+00:00

We used to be able to drag and drop either whole emails OR just the attachments on those emails directly from Outlook (New) to File Explorer. We can still drag and drop attachments; we can no longer drag and drop emails. This doesn't appear to be directly related to the version of Outlook being used but is a problem we're seeing more and more since my original post - whether that's related to Windows updates, WebView updates, or something else, I couldn't say.
David Kiernan 15 Reputation points

2025-11-26T15:46:24.15+00:00

In Classic Outlook, with an email open, you could drag the attachment(s) to File Explorer.

I can't recall if that was ever the case in this new garbage version.

I can confirm that neither dragging the attachments or the email itself to File Explorer (or Desktop) work at the moment.

Dragging the message to File Explorer shows the red circle/slash to indicate it's not a valid option. Dragging an attachment to the same Explorer window shows the pointer arrow small square and a plus sign to suggest that drag-n-drop is an option, but it does not actually drop. Apparently it's drag-n-tease.

I can't even get the messages to pop open in a new window reliably with a double-click, so while I'm disappointed and frustrated at this loss of feature, I'm not surprised.

This whole release has been hot steaming garbage.

If you want "early adopters" to accelerate feature focus and bug fixing - limit it to those willing to put themselves through it.

Don't force this unfinished, buggy, feature-lacking, steaming pile of garbage on everyone!
Petrescu Eliade 0 Reputation points

2025-11-27T04:16:20.9866667+00:00

I am with David on this one.

Suddenly my Classic Outlook is refusing to work. I can still enter it but it is moving extremely slow and it no longer loads newly received emails. You can imagine that this can be extremely bad if most of your work revolves around receiving & sending emails. So this has caused a sudden roadblock in my workflow and for the last hour- maybe even more I have been doing debugging for my Classic Outlook until I gave up and switched to the newer version knowing full well that I dislike this version but without any other options I am forced to use it.

And to my surprise, even a BASIC FUNCTION such as the drag and drop DOES NOT WORK AT ALL. I have wasted maybe half an hour looking in the settings hoping that there might be an option somewhere to enable it but no. Nothing.

Having to go through 6 steps like OP mentioned above to complete a simple task is beyond ridiculous.
Hornblower409 2,650 Reputation points

2025-11-27T11:24:30.7733333+00:00

@Petrescu Eliade -- Classic Outlook is refusing to work. I can still enter it but it is moving extremely slow

I think you would be better served by posting your problem as a new Question instead of as a comment on this thread. It will get much better visibility. Only people already following this thread will probably see your comment.

Answer 2

Hi @Alex Rourke,

Thank you for sharing your update.

Over the past few days, it appears this issue has only recently started occurring. As can be seen clearly in this post, there are more users reporting the same experience with drag and drop feature in New Outlook is not working properly. This strongly suggests that the problem may be an unintended effect of the latest New Outlook update. Unfortunately, Microsoft has not yet released any official statement or documentation regarding this behavior.

As moderators, we’ve already escalated this matter internally, but we highly recommend submitting your feedback through the Outlook (New) Community portal. This is the most effective way to ensure your concern reaches the product team and is considered for a potential hotfix.

User's image

Once you’ve submitted your feedback, please share the link here in the comments so others experiencing the same issue can upvote it and help increase visibility.

Additionally, since many users have similar concerns but may not know where to submit feedback, if my response has clarified the situation and guided you toward the next step, please mark it as the Accepted Answer. Doing so will pin this post, making it easier for others to find and support your feedback.

Thank you for your understanding and contributions to the community.

Erik Lenaerts 5 Reputation points

2025-12-02T09:15:49.2+00:00

Thank you. just upvoted various topics about drag & drop on the MS Outlook (New) community portal .

Answer 3

Nick 0

We experienced the same problem, but today Outlook had an update and the issue seams to be resolved. Edit: spoke to soon, it suddenly stopped working. Then after restarting Outlook it worked, but while testing some drag drop operations it just crashed. Started again and now it's working again. When not working, the CF_HDROP is missing from the formats enum.

Nick 0 Reputation points

2025-12-04T09:14:44.93+00:00

There is one caveat: the mail has to be selected first! If mail 1 is selected and you drag mail 2 it will not work. First select the mail, then drag it.
Arron Borson 0 Reputation points

2025-12-04T10:27:30.31+00:00

Can you tell me the version number of your Outlook
Nick 0 Reputation points

2025-12-04T10:50:52.32+00:00

Microsoft Outlook version: 1.2025.1111.100

Clientversion: 20251128003.04

WebView2-version: 142.0.3595.94 (Stable)
BrennaF 0 Reputation points

2025-12-04T16:04:42.0066667+00:00

Still not working for me 100% of the time. I have to restart Outlook several times a day to get it to work. I check the box or uncheck the box, make sure nothing else is highlighted when I go to drag and drop and still doesn't work all of the time. It is a hit and miss situation. Still frustrating.

Answer 4

Hunter Addleman 0

I am running Version: 1.2025.1121.100 on New Outlook which seems to be working fine. I have my emails organized by conversation, which wont allow me to drag and drop the whole conversation, but only one email in the conversation; The conversation also needs to be selected for it to work. Again I have yet to run into any issues.

Update: It seems to only work when you group your emails by conversation. (I didnt have the time to read all of the comments, so if someone already said that I apologize). Drop down the conversation and drag the latest email.

BrennaF 0 Reputation points

2025-12-05T20:00:23.62+00:00

My emails are organized by grouped conversations, and it still doesn't work consistently dragging and dropping one email, selected or unselected (box checked). I haven't tried dragging and dropping a whole group of emails, as usually I only need one from the group. I hope it continues to work for you. I am still struggling, but it is so hit and miss. I don't understand why some will allow me to move them and others I have to go through the whole save eml process.

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No Longer Able to Drag and Drop Email from New Outlook to Desktop/File Explorer

4 answers

Your answer