Office-js: Outlook: Deeplinks to mail items returned by Outlook API no longer load
When attempting to navigate to a WebLink for a mail item returned by the Outlook API, the user receives a blank page with a spinner and 'loading' indefinitely.
Expected Behavior
The OWA read item view is displayed with the mail item
Current Behavior
The user is stuck on a blank loading screen indefinitely
Steps to Reproduce, or Live Example
- Call https://outlook.office365.com/api/v2.0/me/messages/{itemID}, where {itemID} is the Id if a valid mail item.
- Copy the value of 'WebLink' from the response
- Navigate to the url in a browser
Context
Your Environment
- Platform [PC desktop, Mac, iOS, Office Online]: Any
- Host [Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.]: Outlook
- Operating System: Any
- Browser (if using Office Online): Any
davidfishlock
All 32 comments
@davidfishlock Can you also provide an example of the API that's returning that link?
The URL in the repro steps is a REST URL, rather than an OWA URL, so it should return a JSON response when called with a token via an HTTP request (see Message API).
exextoc
on 10 Apr 2020
@exextoc Yes, we are calling the Outlook Rest API Version 2.0 as shown in the link you provide above.
The JSON response contains a property 'WebLink' containing a url to open the mail item in OWA. Folllowing that url now leads to a blank page with loading spinner, the item never loads.
WebLinks returned by the REST API are in the format:
https://outlook.live.com/owa/?ItemID={someItemID}&exvsurl=1&viewmodel=ReadMessageItem
These urls have been loading the mail item correctly until this week.
davidfishlock
on 11 Apr 2020
Thanks for the clarifications.
This repo is for Office.js questions (the web-based Office add-in platform), which does provide some access to REST (hence my confusion), but this is purely a REST question.
For REST questions, you could ask a question on Stack Overflow with the 'outlook-restapi' tag.
For this particular issue, if the URL looks correct (you mentioned it was working last week), the issue may be with OWA or with authentication (also consider whether the issue is scoped to certain users or organizations). In those cases, you could get a better response by opening a support ticket with Microsoft.
exextoc
on 11 Apr 2020
@exextoc So to be clear, you have no route to escalate this internally since this will likely be breaking a large number of Outlook add-ins? It seems very poor that the best route to raise this is via stack overflow.
This affects all users, and the issue is not authentication.
davidfishlock
on 11 Apr 2020
I tried to reproduce the issue initially with an organization account but unfortunately couldn't.
I'm able to reproduce the issue now but only on an outlook.com account (a "Microsoft account"). Is this consistent with what you're seeing?
exextoc
on 11 Apr 2020
@exextoc Yes, the reports I have are against live.com and hotmail accounts etc
davidfishlock
on 11 Apr 2020
@exextoc We'd really appreciate your help here. I've opened a support ticket with Outlook already, but so far it looks like getting an actionable will be very difficult.
Please let us know how we can make sure that this issue is seen by the OWA team as it's blocking for the release of our add-in.
jankratochvilcz
on 14 Apr 2020
We have forwarded the information about this issue to the appropriate team, and they are now investigating this issue.
exextoc
on 14 Apr 2020
@exextoc has there been any progress on this or acknowledgement of the issue? This is a showstopper for us.
Is there any way we can contact the relevant team directly?
davidfishlock
on 27 Apr 2020
@davidfishlock we have fixed this bug and it should be available now. Can you check to see if it works now?
exextoc
on 22 May 2020
@exextoc No, there doesn't appear to be any change in behaviour.
The API still returns a WebLink in this format:
https://outlook.live.com/owa/?ItemID=[TheEmailID]&exvsurl=1&viewmodel=ReadMessageItem
Navigating to this redirects to:
https://outlook.live.com/mail/0/deeplink?ItemID=[TheEmailID]
The mail item doesn't load, just a loading spinner as previously.
davidfishlock
on 22 May 2020
Just to clarify, did you logout and login into your account? I was able to validate that this works for my test outlook.com account.
exextoc
on 23 May 2020
I tested this against two accounts, one on live.com, the other on outlook.com domain.
Also tested in both Chrome and Firefox, and also in Incognito / Private browsing mode and the emails don't seem to be loading in any of these cases.
davidfishlock
on 23 May 2020
Let me double-check the status of the fix once again.
exextoc
on 23 May 2020
@exextoc I have attached a zip containing two .har files recorded while replicating the issue on a test account on the outlook.com domain.
- api-request.har - shows the request to the Outlook REST API and the response containing the deeplink url
- owa-deeplink.har - shows a trace of the user navigating to the url returned by the REST API. The browser goes through several redirects before landing on a page with a spinner.
The account used for this test is not containing anything other than test data, so here are the credentials that can be used to access this account if you are unable to reproduce this:
Username: [email protected]
Password: aZFwPgTaXu
You can log in as this user and navigate to this url to see this issue occur: https://outlook.live.com/owa/?ItemID=AQMkADAwATM3ZmYAZS0yZThjLWM3ZDAtMDACLTAwCgBGAAADo%2FuQljniOEeTKGhwsPFAXwcAYyotTmhy3kmcVKZP3bt85wAAAgEMAAAAYyotTmhy3kmcVKZP3bt85wAAAAubw%2FQAAAA%3D&exvsurl=1&viewmodel=ReadMessageItem
davidfishlock
on 26 May 2020
@exextoc is there any update you can share with us? I can still reproduce the issue :-/
jankratochvilcz
on 1 Jun 2020
We have forwarded that this issue still reproes to the appropriate team, and they are now investigating this issue.
exextoc
on 5 Jun 2020
Hi,
I have the same problem.
From the graphics explorer, when I click on the web link, I have "the loading screen empty indefinitely"
but when I copy the text link and paste it into a browser, it works.
Is URL rewriting responsible for this?
1 - From Graph explorer:
2 - The copied Url:
When we submit url 2 it is rewritten in format 1.
If it helps.
Regards.
Jean Pierre
cstfr
on 12 Jul 2020
hello all, the fix is now live, can you please confirm its fixed?
JuaneloJuanelo
on 14 Jul 2020
@JuaneloJuanelo the issue seems to be fixed when using a desktop browser. Using a mobile browser, the email doesn't load and the user ends up on the OWA homepage / inbox.
Attaching a .har file showing the loading of a deeplink on Android Chrome browser. The same link is now loading correctly on Windows 10 Chrome.
davidfishlock
on 14 Jul 2020
We still have the issue in Mobile browsers, so we need to keep this open.
JuaneloJuanelo
on 24 Jul 2020
@JuaneloJuanelo THanks for letting me know! Please remove the "resolution" tag so the bot won't close it as a stale issue. I was simply doing a manual cleanup prior to FHL.
lindalu-MSFT
on 24 Jul 2020
Removed resolution label and added under investigation. This will not be closed now! It will remain open "by design."
lindalu-MSFT
on 24 Jul 2020
Similar issue is happening on my side:
a webLink from the graph API (v1) is: https://outlook.live.com/owa/?itemid=AQMkADAwATNiZmYAZC0xYzFmLTAyMgBjLTAwAi0wMAoARgAAA7L%2FHGXIY1NFqCPQbmmdvaoHAHJ2OdtwdRVDo29SWY%2BMHg4AAAIBDQAAAHJ2OdtwdRVDo29SWY%2BMHg4AAADbEQ%2BSAAAA&exvsurl=1&path=/calendar/item
is redirecting to
and not showing the exact calendar appointment like before...
while when navigating through the calendar, the appointment url is:
platform: web, browser: Chrome
deyanskiq
on 28 Jul 2020
+1 @deyanskiq, facing the same issue.
psantwani
on 31 Jul 2020
Still having the same issue here
ChangingTerry
on 25 Nov 2020
Same here.
Paul-Gerarts
on 2 Dec 2020
@exextoc @JuaneloJuanelo Could you please comment on when could we expect the fix in production?
jankratochvilcz
on 2 Dec 2020
Hi @deyanskiq @psantwani @ChangingTerry @Paul-Gerarts @jankratochvilcz we have made a fix for this that should be available. Could you check if this issue has been fixed?
Please make sure that the URL is unescaped ("&" needs to be "&", etc).
We are not able to reproduce this on our end anymore. We are closing this, please reopen if you still don't see it fixed.
exextoc
on 5 Jan 2021
@exextoc thanks, I can confirm that the links returned by the Outlook and graph APIs appear to be working for us now.
davidfishlock
on 5 Jan 2021
@exextoc yes, thank you! Everything works as it should again
Paul-Gerarts
on 6 Jan 2021
@exextoc Yes all working thanks
ChangingTerry
on 7 Jan 2021
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@exextoc thanks, I can confirm that the links returned by the Outlook and graph APIs appear to be working for us now.