en-US office user

Display Level 1 attachments

Verified with Microsoft 365/Office 5568.1000 — updated on September 4, 2026

Microsoft 365/Office 5568.1000

Supported on: At least Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7

Path in the GPO console

User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Outlook 2016\Security\Security Form Settings\Attachment Security

Description

This policy setting controls whether Outlook blocks potentially dangerous attachments designated Level 1. Outlook uses two levels of security to restrict users' access to files attached to e-mail messages or other items. Files with specific extensions can be categorized as Level 1 (users cannot view the file) or Level 2 (users can open the file after saving it to disk). Users can freely open files of types that are not categorized as Level 1 or Level 2. If you enable this policy setting, Outlook users can gain access to Level 1 file type attachments by first saving the attachments to disk and then opening them, as with Level 2 attachments. If you disable this policy setting, Level 1 attachments do not display under any circumstances. If you do not configure this policy setting, Outlook completely blocks access to Level 1 files, and requires users to save Level 2 files to disk before opening them.

Registry

HKCU software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\security

Value name: showlevel1attach

Enabled: showlevel1attach = 1

Disabled: showlevel1attach = 0

Export Builder

BETA

Configure the state, scope and options, then generate .reg, PowerShell, Intune and SCCM outputs — or add the setting to a multi-setting collection.

These exports write the registry — this is not a managed GPO.

.reg file

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Exported from gporais.com
; Policy: Display Level 1 attachments
; State: Enabled
; Supported on: At least Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\security]
"showlevel1attach"=dword:00000001
More formats (PowerShell, Intune, SCCM)

PowerShell

# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Display Level 1 attachments
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7
# Warning: In SYSTEM context (the Intune default), HKCU targets the SYSTEM profile. Run this script using the logged-on credentials.

$path = 'HKCU:\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\security'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'showlevel1attach' -Value 1 -Type DWord

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