IOS 13 Unable to open mail attachments

Hello woffordscott and welcome to Apple Support Communities.

I see you're having an issue with opening attachments to email messages.

First, you'll want to make sure you're updated to iOS 13.1.1

Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

Using a .doc attachment as an example, opening in Pages is pretty simple. Just touch and hold the attachment and then choose the Share option. Under Share if you choose Save to Files and then immediately open the Pages app, you'll see the document you just saved at the top of the Recent screen view. Tapping that opens the file in Pages.

You can, of course, also just tap the attachment in Mail to see a preview of the document.

Cheers.

I am using a iPad and IOS 13.2.3 fixed my issue. I can now open mail attachments.

This has been causing me similar problems. I see very few options in sharing /opening email attachments in iOS mail.

I have just succeeded in a fault diagnosis, though I haven’t yet found a workable fix:

I use my phone (11 Pro) to access work emails. This requires Microsoft InTune and the installation of a company management profile. I think it’s something to do with this, because I removed my device in InTune, which also removed the profile. I then performed an on/off cycle (though this may not have been necessary, I thought it a wise precaution). After this, a full list of Open with / Copy to options became available.

The contents of the management profile installed look like this:

Once these were re-installed, the equivalent screen shows only these options (with no extras available when “Edit Actions” is selected).

In summary, this looks like it is connected with the loaded profile. How to address this I can’t be sure, but perhaps the first stop is Corporate IT support (good luck with that!).

iOS 13.2.2 fixed this issue, I am now able to open mail attachments in preview.

To clarify, not the upgrade to 13.2.2, but the removal of Alibaba app is what fixed it

Removed Alibaba. Solved problem! Thank you!

This worked for me today 15/11/2019

removing both ali apps changed the icon from a zip to a pdf that I could open

If you have the Alibaba app on your iPhone remove it. Reboot your phone and then open a mail attachment.

If you have Alibaba installed on your device uninstall it.

After I uninstalled it I could open attachments.

I am also having problems opening attachments since I updated to IOS 13. And I’m updated to13.1.3.

i can see the paper clip, it does nothing when I touch it. But, if I forward the email to myself, the attachment shows up at the bottom of the email.

SOLUTION!!! just updated Ipad air to 13.2.2. Pdf again not opening. I read from somewhere to try to uninstall Aliexpress app. Uninstalled Aliexpress and Alibaba. And it worked, it’s showing pdf files again. Wery strange.

I quit already using iPhone and because of this kind of happenings i quit soon use of ipad.

Same issue here with ppt attachements on Mail. Only way to solve is to install outlook mail and open attachment with outlook mail.. Interesting with excell attachement, same issue on version 13.1 and now its fixed and you can open excel attachement straight from the Mail app

I'm upgrade my iphone 7 to ios 13.3 and the mail app doen't work very well , I can't open .docx and .xlsx extensions with native applications.

The preview works fine but I can't see the Word and Excel App in the application list when I press the Share Button.

When I press "more" the mail crash.

A work around is to save the file to icloud and open it from there, a really pain in the *** !

Model: Iphone 7

Model number: MN982ZD/A

Had to install the outlook app now. Absolutely impossible to use the mail app for work. Have attachments everyday I have to look at.

13.2 solved the problems for me.