Outlook app not letting users attach images from clipboard on Android

Some MS Outlook users have taken to Google’s support forums and the Microsoft community forums to report a strange bug that’s preventing them from attaching images to emails via the clipboard. Under normal circumstances, you can simply copy an image and paste it into the body of the email in the Outlook app. But it appears that this functionality is now broken on Android, at least for some users.

A report about the issue first popped up a month ago on the Microsoft community. A few weeks later, the same OP shared their frustration on Google’s support forums. But the OP isn’t alone. Other affected users also chimed in, noting that they’ve noticed the same problem.

As explained by users, when they try pasting an image via the clipboard in Outlook, they get an error message saying “We do not have permission to complete the action.” Initial reports seem to be coming in from Pixel owners, however, this bug isn’t exclusive to Google Pixel phones. I was able to replicate the issue on a Pixel 8 and an Infinix GT 20 Pro. Both devices were running Outlook version 4.2434.1 at the time of testing.

Here are screenshots of the error from both phones for reference:

Some affected users are speculating that the issue could be due to Google Play’s new photo and video permissions’ policy. However, this is unlikely the culprit since clipboard operations are separate from media storage access, meaning they don’t fall under the restrictions set by this policy.

Microsoft hasn’t yet addressed the issue formally, and it’s possible that we might not even get any statement, given the fact that there are still only a handful of reports. It’s also possible that not many users have noticed the limitation yet, which explains why we aren’t seeing widespread reports.

Nevertheless, we’ll be on the lookout for any developments and will update the article if and when there’s something worth sharing. So consider bookmarking the page to get back later.