5 Best Ways to Fix Unable to Open Links in Outlook

In an ideal world, Outlook would seem like an obvious choice over Gmail for PC users, as it offers an app for Windows and Mac. Unfortunately, the actual experience with the Outlook app is slightly different than you might imagine, as the app has its fair share of issues. One of these issues occurs when you cannot open links in Outlook.

Among other reasons, the problem mainly occurs due to incorrect file association or when using Chrome or Firefox as the default browser. We will show you what fixes you can try to fix Outlook hyperlink issue. Let’s get started.

1. Reset the browser

In most cases, the Outlook hyperlink problem is related to the browser. So if you can’t figure out what is preventing you from opening Outlook links, you can try resetting your browser to see if that helps. Here’s how.

To note: Resetting your browser will clear your browser cache and cookies, search engines, and pinned tabs.

Reset Google Chrome

To reset Chrome, type chrome: // settings / reset in the address bar at the top and press Enter. Under “Reset and clean”, click “Restore settings to their original defaults”.

In the confirmation pop-up window, click Reset settings to continue.

Reset Firefox

To reset Firefox, click on three horizontal bars (menu icon) in the upper right corner and go to Help> Troubleshooting Information.

On the next page, click the Refresh Firefox button.

Reset Microsoft Edge

To reset Edge, type edge: // settings / reset in the address bar and press Enter. Now click on under Reset settings, click on “Restore settings to default values” and then click on Reset to confirm.

Reset Internet Explorer

Step 1: Open the Start menu, type internet options and press Enter.

2nd step: In the Internet Properties windows, switch to the Advanced tab and press the Reset button under “Reset Internet Explorer settings”.

Step 3: Check the box that says “Delete personal settings” and click Reset.

2. Try another browser

If resetting your browser doesn’t help, you can try changing the default browser on your PC. Since the issue is mostly reported by users who have Chrome or Firefox as their default browser, switching it to Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer may help resolve the issue.

Read on to learn how to change the default browser in Windows 10.

Step 1: Open the Start menu, type default apps and press Enter.

2nd step: On the Default Applications tab, under Web Browser, click your current browser and change it to Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer.

Now go ahead and try opening links in Outlook to see if the issue is resolved now.

3. Repair Microsoft Office

Like any other application or service, Microsoft Office applications are also likely to experience issues from time to time. Fortunately, Micorosft 365 also offers a repair tool that can easily fix such issues. Here is how to use it.

Step 1: Press Windows key + I to open settings in Windows 10. Next, go to Applications.

2nd step: Scroll down to select Microsoft Office 365 and click Change.

Step 3: Select Quick Repair and press Repair. Follow the on-screen instructions to finalize the process.

Now restart your PC and see if you can open hyperlinks in Outlook. If the Quick Repair doesn’t help and you are connected to the internet, repeat the above steps to perform an online repair instead.

4. Correct HTML file associations

Many Windows users have reported that they have successfully resolved the Outlook hyperlink issue by modifying the existing HTM / HTML values. Here’s how to do it.

Step 1: Open the Start menu, type cmd and click Run as administrator to open Command Prompt with elevated access.

2nd step: In the console, copy and paste the commands one by one, also press Enter after each command.

REG ADD HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareClasses.htm /ve /d htmlfile /f

REG ADD HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareClasses.html /ve /d htmlfile /f

REG ADD HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareClasses.shtml /ve /d htmlfile /f

REG ADD HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareClasses.xht /ve /d htmlfile /f

REG ADD HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareClasses.xhtml /ve /d htmlfile /f

Now restart your PC and see if the problem is resolved now.

5. Try System Restore

If the Outlook hyperlink problem started fairly recently and all of the above methods fail, you can try performing a System Restore on your PC. This will help you restore your PC settings to a certain point before the problem first appears.

Note that System Restore is completely safe as it does not result in any data loss. However, you will lose any changes made to the system or settings.

Related right

In most cases, the above solutions should help resolve Outlook hyperlink issues on Windows 10. Until then, you can still use the web version of Outlook on Microsoft Edge to get the job done. Let us know which solution worked for you in the comments below.