Outlook¶

Common Issues & Fixes¶

Outlook Not Connecting / Stuck Offline¶

1. Check the status bar at the bottom of Outlook — if it shows Working Offline, go to Send / Receive → Work Offline to toggle it off.
2. If toggling doesn't help, restart Outlook and check network connectivity.
3. If the issue persists, remove and re-add the account: File → Account Settings → Account Settings → select account → Remove, then re-add.

Profile Corruption — Recreate the Outlook Profile¶

Use this when Outlook crashes on launch, shows repeated password prompts, or fails to load the mailbox.

1. Close Outlook completely.
2. Open Control Panel → Mail → Show Profiles.
3. Click Add to create a new profile and follow the setup wizard.
4. Set the new profile as the default, then launch Outlook.

Repair the OST File (Offline Data File)¶

If Outlook loads but the mailbox content is corrupt or missing items:

1. Close Outlook.
2. Open Control Panel → Mail → Data Files and note the path of the .ost file.
3. Rename the .ost file (e.g., add .old to the end) — do not delete it yet.
4. Relaunch Outlook. It will recreate the OST and re-sync from the server.

Search Not Working¶

Run the Outlook search repair:

1. File → Options → Search → Indexing Options.
2. Click Advanced → Rebuild.
3. Allow the index to rebuild (may take 10–30 minutes depending on mailbox size).

If search still fails, check that Microsoft Office is included in Windows Search indexing locations.

Persistent Password Prompts¶

Usually caused by cached credentials being out of date:

1. Open Windows Credential Manager (search in Start menu).
2. Under Windows Credentials, remove any entries referencing MicrosoftOffice, outlook, or mso.
3. Restart Outlook and re-enter credentials when prompted.

Calendar Not Syncing¶

• Check the calendar is not set to a local calendar — it should be under the Exchange/M365 account.
• Ensure the account has not exceeded delegate/sharing permission limits.
• For shared calendars, remove and re-add: Home → Open Calendar → Open Shared Calendar.

Useful Commands¶

# Launch Outlook in Safe Mode (disables add-ins)
outlook.exe /safe

# Reset the Outlook navigation pane
outlook.exe /resetnavpane

# Reset search folders
outlook.exe /cleanfinders

# Force Outlook to recreate the OST file on next launch
outlook.exe /resetfolders

Keyboard Shortcuts¶