We’ve learned that some users may be intermittently encountering errors, or delays, when attempting to attach or download files within Yahoo! Mail.
Our engineers are reviewing the situation, but in the meantime I wanted to confirm with you that we are aware and are on the case. You should also know that in many cases users have been successful (attaching or downloading) after repeating the initial attempt.
We apologize for any inconvenience this is causing.
***UPDATE – 11/14/08***
Some adjustments have been made, and it appears that the issues should be just about completely resolved. The engineers made some additional tweaks that are expected to further aid the situation. We’ll be monitoring closely over the weekend and I should have more detail on Monday.
***UPDATE – 11/20/08***
I’ve confirmed that many users have had their issues completely resolved, but it appears that some of you are still encountering delays. I am following up with the engineering team to get additional information.
I couldn’t open attachments either received or sent because I use Trend Micro Antivirus, but teeg’s posting on Feb. 17th worked! Thank you teeg.
Now can anyone figure out how to show attached file names when printing emails; the actual email shows the attachment file name but when you print it, it disappears; tech support says they don’t know how to make it show when printing..very bad engineers I guess; filenames appear automatically with Outlook and Outlook Express.
Really, no update since November 2008?!?
Anyone know the status of this?
Yes, for months I have not been able to download attachments with the same symptoms listed here. I am glad that I have a gmail account so that I can forward all my attachement-laden mail to so that I can actually get to them.
Perhaps if microsoft buys them, their engineers can figure out how to make it work…
I have been having a problem getting attachments for several weeks. Frustrating!
I can get some downloads, but any that are named something a little odd (like with a parenthesis, etc, in the name) – won’t download. I can forward it to someone else with a Yahoo account and they can log in on my same computer and download it fine. So it must be something in my account. When will this be fixed!!!????
2.18.09-
I am having problems trying to open attachments. This problem started 2 weeks ago. I can’t open an email attachment (any file type) from my yahoo email account on my HP notebook computer that operates using Windows XP professional – This problem is evident using yahoo mail from both the Mozilla browser, and Internet Explorer browser. I can open attachments from a gmail account on this HP notebook computer. I can also open attachments from my yahoo email on my other computer?
When I select the attachment, Yahoo does the Norton virus scan, and I receive the VIRUS SCAN window that says – “No Viruses detected” with the enabled button to download the attachment. When I select the “download attachment” button, Yahoo looks for an IP address. The “progress bar” goes from empty to full, and then the message”Done” appears, rather than the window asking where/how to download the attachment.
I have had my son (who is a network admin for a small company) take a quick look at this to
no avail. Please advise.
Hi All, I updated my Yahoo account from classic to the newest version. Using Explorer and Mozzilla it now works fine. It states when uploaded file may problems, but send anyway and its fine. Also downloads files no problemo!
If you have Trend Micro Anti Virus software you have to:
- Open Main Console
- Select Virus & Spyware Controls
- Select “Settings” from “Protection from Viruses & Spyware”
- Deselect (uncheck) the box “Threats in Web mail attachments”
File attachment problems only started yesterday on one of my UKYahoo email accounts. “No file specified. Please try again”.
I sent a 700KB JPG file from Google Mail to Yahoo Mail Classic and the thumbnail appears in Yahoo with the message “Virus scanning temporarily unavailable, Norton Antivirus”. The file opened OK.
I have been using Yahoo for more than 7 years and another UKYahoo email account is still working OK for attachments.
This is using a Linux Acer Aspire One and also a Windows PC.
Updated from Classic to new version. Still states problem but does send AND let you download attachments. Phewwww.
Cannot send any documents, used different browsers, firefox, safari, explorer…no good. What is the issue? I can open yet not send. 7 days and I change my provider if this issue goes on.
facing problems in reply, forward & attachments in yahoo mail
Doing anything in Yahoo Mail has been a pain for almost a month now. At least 10 times a day I wait 10-15 seconds to do things as mundane as open the Inbox or delete Spam. This happens both at work and home. I thought it was New Yahoo Mail, which I had been using for months, so I switched to Classic a week ago to no avail. Same problems – including not being able to see attachments until I download them and not being able to attach anything without an error. For the first few weeks it was just slow, not I get Error 14 & 15 2-3 times a day. What is the problem?
I had been using the “All New Yahoo Mail” for months. Trying to view only flagged messages doesn’t work, but the worst problem is not being able to download attachments. After successful AV scanning, both the open and save attachment options would hang and never complete. After reading a number of the comments posted here, I got the bright idea to switch back to “Classic Yahoo” and try to download an attachment. I have been able to download a number of Word docs and a PowerPoint presentation. I will remain on “Classic Yahoo”, as a result. I hope this may help someone else.
makes it pretty hard to sent out resumes when your email provider wont let you do attatchments, looks like im finding a new email provider
Well, I think a) nice to know I’m not along and b) this SUCKS – I don’t have all day to wait for attachments – I work from home as well – the reason I started using yahoo exclusively over hotmail was because hotmail use to have the same issue of being horribly non-user friendly. Now Yahoo is a Pain the YOU KNOW WHERE and if it doesn’t get fixed, I’m going to have to change my primary email, my business cards, my website address, etc. ….
Yahoo people please help me. I almost spent 2 hours clicking the “Attach Files” whenever I want to compose mail using Yahoo Mail but whenever I click it, the “browse” tab for attachment doesn’t show. In that case, how and where will I be able to locate the file when I couldn’t click the “browse” tab because there’s none.? Help please I couldn’t attach my resume.
I have not been able to open any email attachments since October 2008 (it is now February 2009—4 MONTHS!!!!!) This is RIDICULOUS!!!! WTF IS THE ISSUE!!!
Hello Yahoo? Are you out there? This problem has been going on for months now. We can only attach files less than a couple hundred KB. For large files, it says scanning and attaching and the circular arrows spin around forever.
It takes up to 20 minutes to attach a small file to a message. I am very close to using another mail service as this has been going on for a month. Can this be resolved?
Hoping there is strength in numbers by adding this comment. I have not been able to download or attach docs for the past month. I reluctantly switched to the “new” yahoo mail and am able to attach but not download. I’ve troubleshot with Yahoo’s online chat support but that did not help. I am able to download the same documents when I forward them to my hotmail account. I’m very frustrated as yahoo has been my primary email for several years now both personally and professionally. I fret at the thought of having to leave and send out the dreaded “change of address” note. Please help, Yahoo!
I am having the same issue as everyone else. I can not download pdf attachments. I have tried turning off McAfee email scans, the version supplied by AT&T, it still doesn’t work. I am running XP. If I read email with a Vista machine it works fine, also running McAfee AT&T version. This seems to be an XP related issue for me. What gives on this Yahoo?
I agree. I have lots of attachments to open. I have been with yahoo for 10 years now but am slowly getting fed up. It should not take this long to clear a problem that we have never had before
I have had Yahoo mail for over a year and it still will not let me attach a file. How much longer do I have to wait?
I still have problem with download attachment even with McAfee scan email option turn off.
I have used Yahoo mail for 10 years…for the last couple of months I cannot download attachments and have researched fixing it to the max. I work at home and it is vital for me to be able to open my work…this is very very inconvenient as I must have my yahoo address on dozens of sites on the Internet. I have dozens of .jpg files I need to open as I work with artists and I cannot understand why this is not resolved! Please do something about this. I am paying Yahoo for this box and it is becoming obsolete.
I have read through all of the comments regarding everyone’s inability to open up their e-mail attachments. I have tried all of the suggestions many of you have recommended without success. I have been unable to open attachments on my home PC computer for at least a month. I can open them on a MAC at work. I have tried using different browsers at home, etc. It seems from what I am seeing Yahoo is not seeing this as a priority. I have used Yahoo mail for more years than I can remember. However, I cannot continue to use a system that does not work. If I knew Yahoo was really working on solving the problem I would hang on. However, I might need to look at switching to another e-mail provider, which I really don’t want to do. I see a number of you have mentioned gmail and hotmail that have been successful for you. I might need to check them out. I really don’t want to change accounts as I have been a faithful Yahoo person for years…but I really need to get into my attachments both at home and work. If only Yahoo would do something I wouldn’t change.
any ideas I am a tax accountant and my clients send me excel spread sheets and I can’t open any of them in yahoo mail either any suggestions. I have vista is this a yahoo problem or a vista problem or combination I’ve got to do something soon.
Cannot attach. I zipped and tried to atttach only two pages. It gets slower every day.
Go on vacation and return to a system that will let me open an attachment. The problem is not able to send out attachments. I need someone to tell me how to correct the problem.
have been having the problem of not opening my attachments for over a week now….what gives???
Same problem not being able to download attachments. Popup stating the file is downloading but nothing happens. Will Try Safari per another user and see if that works. Yahoo should get on this one quickly.
As of 12/31/2008 I have not been able to open any attachments. I would click on the download file button, and at the bottom of the screen I would see the the text stating the file is waiting to be downloaded with the moving green bars to show the status of the file being downloaded, yet when it is done no file is opened. I have tried opening an exel file and I get unable to open internet error page coming up. It isn’t even a webpage, it is only an MS office spreadsheet. What gives?
I have had pretty much the same problem as many with not being able to open ANY attachments! For a background to think about. About 2 months ago Both my computers, One running Vista and one running XP both stopped being able to open attachemnts in Internet Explorer 7 OR in Mozilla, BUT IF I use the Safari browser I can open them fine. In Internet Exporer or Mozilla when I try to download an attachment I get a blank page that says “Unable to display page”. IF I forward the message to my comcast mail account or Hotmail I CAN open them fine from there. I HOPE this helps a little so YAHOO can resolve this issue soon!!! It is VERY agrevating to have to forward everything to another mail program to open attachments! Hurry guys!!!
Still no fix?? I have not been able to download attachments for about 2 weeks now. When can we expect a fix? Please advise. Thank you.
I’ve spent at least 8 hours of the last 24 trying to download a crucially-important attachement. The “in-box” overview shows that the particular message has an attachment (i.e. there’s a paper-clip icon to the left) but when I actually open the message to read it there’s no attachment shown, and no way to download it. The sender (a domain registrar) has re-sent the e-mail and attachment multiple times, and yahoo technicians have tried to blame it on my ISP, which is ridiculous. They never once admitted they’ve had an ongoing problem with this for more than a month now. I suspect they’re having bandwidth problems, and are (perhaps randomly?) denying attachments from being transferred to keep their rickety system limping along rather than just halting completely. It took over two hours for me to receive a “bcc” of a plain e-mail (no attachement) that I sent *to myself*! I’m really angry that this problem has evidently been going on so long, and that they haven’t acknowledged it, or admitted to doing it intentionally to conserve bandwidth, if that’s what they are doing. It’ll take some trouble, but I’m going to start the involved process of changing all my “contact info” with vendors, friends, colleagues, etc. to gmail. This is just completely unacceptable.
I still have issue getting to attachments on my yahoo mail. This is getting bad and I need access to them. The only way may be to move away from Yahoo altogether.
I have not been able to download attachments for what seems like ever- at least two months. I have had to forward all mail with attachments to gmail, where, as usual, everything works fine. I’m really sick and tired of all the problems I have with yahoo.
Hi, just want to let you know that on one of my computers, yahoo mail seem to have no problem scanning and then downloading the attachment. However, on the other computer, yahoo mail cannot scan and then download the same email with the same attachment. The msg I get is “scanning attachment for viruses”. I use CA antivirus on both computers.
Pls fix this ASAP as I do not have both computers w/ me at all times, and it is annoying not be able to access attachment when I need to.
How can I clean virus in my inbox Attachements,please help me with this problem.Thank’s
HELP dec 20 2008 I can not upload any attatchemts such as pictures. Was working fine then yesterday bang , nothing. Everytime I try it says There was a problem!
No file specified. Please try again I dont get it I know the file is there . So my son tried to upload a file on his computer useing my yahoo address , same thing. I got an automated response from yahoo to check a troubleshhot website but as usual my problem was not listed. Any help u can give me would be so appreciated . Thank you
I still have issues downloading attachments – so the issue is not resolved completely.
I SIGN INTO MY YAHOO ACCOUNT BUT IT SAYS CANNOT DISPLAY PAGE…..IT SAYS HI SUSANN BUT THEN NOTHING. EVERYONE ELSE AT WORK CAN SIGN INTO YAHOO BUT ME. CAN YOU HELP?
I too discovered yesterday that I am unable to open any email attachments. I have tried completely uninstalling McAfee, Stopzilla, allowing pop-ups on Firefox…nothing works. I cannot open photo (JPEG) and music files. When I click on the file, it scans it and brings me to the “This file contains no viruses” box, when I click on download, it tries in a millisecond to download and fails. Yet, my husband can sign onto my Yahoo account at work and download my attachments just fine. I am out of ideas on what to try…..could use any advice anyone can offer. I’ve performed a Defrag on my system, cleared history, cookies and performed a disk cleanup. I’ve rebooted 100′s of times.
I was able to fix the problem downloading attachments (it might have been a McAfee compatibility issue?) by going into Internet Explorer 7 menu Tools>Internet Options>Security Tab and clicking on Trusted Sites. Then click the Sites button, uncheck “Require Server Verification https…blah blah blah) and type mail.yahoo.com into the website field.
See if that works…
If that doesn’t work and you need to open your attachments, just forward your messages to another account and open through that.
Good luck.