Hyperlinks not working in Outlook emails
Solved Email & Outlook
BA
Barry Allen
May 17, 2018
2 replies
8,150 views
Reviewed by moderators

Clicking any link in an Outlook email does nothing, or sometimes shows a policy restriction message about my organization. Same links work fine pasted into a browser. Only my machine affected.

Accepted Answer
Verified by Eddie Thwan, Forum Moderator ยท Reviewed May 2018

Classic broken HTML file association, usually after uninstalling a browser.

1
Windows Settings, Apps, Default apps. Set a real browser as default, then also check .htm and .html point to it under file type defaults.
2
Still dead: run REG ADD HKCU\Software\Classes\.html /ve /d htmlfile /f and the same for .htm, then restart Outlook.

The organization policy wording is misleading. It is nearly always this association issue on a personal machine, not an actual policy.

Default apps reset did it. That policy message wasted two days of my life. Solved.