Is the Email Body in Outlook for Windows Missing Its Content? Here’s How to Fix It

Have you received an important email from someone you were waiting for, but when you opened it, the body of the email was blank? Occasionally, the sender sends an empty email by mistake, but there could also be an issue with Outlook.

A few reasons your email content disappears in Outlook include temporary glitches, add-ins interference, problems with Outlook data files, or other app settings. If you’re frustrated by this issue, we will examine different checks in this article to help you identify the root cause and provide solutions to fix it.

1. Look for Email-Specific Issues

To begin with, make sure the problem persists beyond the blank email you just received. For that, you should review other emails you’ve received after this one to see if the content appears there. In addition, you should wait for new emails to verify whether the issue persists across all incoming emails.

If the problem is limited only to one email, the sender may have accidentally sent you a blank email. So, reply to him and let him know you received the empty email, so he can resend it. However, if the issue persists across the entire platform and all incoming emails are blank, implement the following fixes.

2. Look for Sender-Specific Issues

There may also be a problem on the sender’s end to blame for blank emails. To rule out this possibility, check out new emails you are receiving from other senders to see if this issue also exists in them.

If the issue is with emails from a specific sender, simply letting him know will suffice. However, if the problem persists with multiple or all senders, the issue is on your end. As such, begin implementing the following fixes in this case.

3. Ensure the “Work Offline” Feature Isn’t Enabled in Outlook

Outlook lets users enable offline mode in the app, which disables Outlook’s connection with your mail server. As a result, users do not receive any new messages until the feature is turned off again.

Although less likely, you might have enabled this feature right when Outlook received the email, but before it could fully download the content, the server’s connection went down. Therefore, the last email you received before enabling this option appears blank.

To rule it out, disable Work Offline so Outlook can establish a connection with your mail server and fetch the email content. To do that, follow the below steps:

1. Launch Outlook.
2. Go to the Send / Receive tab.
3. Click on the Work Offline option.

4. Run Outlook in Safe Mode

Safe mode allows users to open apps and programs with limited but necessary features while preventing optional or unnecessary features from being launched. As a result, it becomes easier to pinpoint the underlying cause of the problem.

Just like other Microsoft Office applications, you can also run Outlook in safe mode. When you run it, it opens without loading add-ins or other customizations you have made. Thus, it assists in identifying and narrowing down underlying causes of a problem by disabling unnecessary features.

For this reason, you should also run Outlook in safe mode. Here’s how:

1. To open the Run dialog box, press Win + R.
2. Type “outlook.exe /safe” and click OK.
3. Click OK after selecting Default in the Profile Name dropdown.

If running Outlook in safe mode resolves the issue at hand, extensions’ interference is likely to blame. Thus, next, you should eliminate that possibility.

5. Check for Interference From Outlook Add-Ins

The Outlook add-ins can help you get things done faster without leaving the Outlook client. However, these add-ins can also interfere with the processing and cause unforeseen problems. So, if the content is missing in all your incoming emails, ensure this isn’t due to add-in interference. To rule out this possibility, follow these steps:

1. Launch the Outlook desktop client.
2. Go to the File tab and navigate to Options in the lower-left corner.
3. Click the Add-ins tab on the left sidebar of the Outlook Options window.
4. Choose COM Add-ins from the Manage dropdown and click on the Go button.
5. Uncheck any shady add-ins you believe may interfere and click OK.
6. Then restart Outlook.

If disabling add-ins resolves the issue, you should remove them permanently. To do that, go back to the same add-ins window, check the boxes for only the shady add-ins, and click Remove.

6. Change Outlook’s Font Color

You may have changed the font color to white, which made your content appear faded. It means your email content is still there, but the white font obscures it on the white background. To eliminate this possibility, you need to change the font color. Here’s how:

1. Open Outlook.
2. Go to the File tab in the top-left corner and click Options at the bottom-left.
3. Go to the Mail tab in the Outlook Options window.
4. In the right pane, click Stationery and Fonts.
5. In the Personal Stationery tab, click Font under Composing and reading plain text messages.
6. Change the Font color to Automatic or anything other than plain white.

Repair Outlook data files if the font is already set to Automatic or changing it doesn’t make any difference.

7. Repair Outlook Data Files

Damaged Outlook data files could lead to strange issues on the front end. Thus, it’s imperative to run a repair to rule out this possibility. Here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Open Outlook.
2. In the top-left corner, click the File tab.
3. Select Account Settings from the Account Settings dropdown.
4. Select the Data Files tab.
5. Then double-click on the address under Location and copy it.
6. Close Outlook.
7. Navigate to C: > Program Files > Microsoft Office > root > [Office XX – your Office version].
8. Locate and open the SCANPST executable file.
9. In the scan bar, paste the address you copied earlier from Outlook.
10. Let the repair tool scan for any inconsistencies by clicking on Start.
11. Once the scan completes, hit Repair to fix them.

8. Update Outlook

Using an outdated Outlook client can also lead to several unusual problems. If you haven’t updated your Outlook client for a while, this may explain why you’re experiencing annoying issues such as the one at hand.

To eliminate this possibility, follow the below steps to update Outlook:

1. Launch the Outlook desktop client.
2. Go to the File tab in the top-left corner and click Office Account on the left.
3. On the right-pane, click the Update Options dropdown and hit Update Now.

Did the above fixes help you solve your problem? If so, take a look at our guide on using Sticky Notes with Outlook if you want to streamline your email communication — if you can spare the time.

Do you know of another email client offered by Microsoft for Windows other than Outlook? The application is called Microsoft Mail, and it’s giving Microsoft Outlook a run for its money. To find out which one is right for you, read our article explaining the difference between Microsoft Mail and Outlook.

Never Lose Emails Again In Outlook

Hopefully, after implementing the fixes covered above, your emails will start to show the missing content again. If the problem persists, consider switching to Outlook’s web client. It’s just as reliable and user-friendly as Outlook’s desktop client.