The Microsoft Outlook fix of last resort

A couple of weeks ago, the IT guy at my office added my company Exchange Server e-mail account to my notebook computer's copy of Microsoft Outlook 2007. The first time I tried to open Outlook after I left the office, the program crashed because it was unable to connect to the server.

I couldn't even open Outlook long enough to delete the new account. This wasn't a big problem for me for a bunch of reasons. For one, I didn't really need to access my company e-mail account from the version of Outlook on my notebook because I automatically forward messages from the most important senders (my boss, for example) to my Gmail account, which I use as my primary repository.

I also have the mail from my personal ISP account forwarded to my Gmail account.

And last but not least, I knew it would take only a couple of minutes to delete the troublesome account and get Outlook to reopen, though downloading all my old e-mail from the server would take quite a bit longer than that .

There's one big caveat to this technique: you need to be ready to say "adios" to your outlook.pst file, which is the file that holds your Outlook e-mail and settings.

I don't mind resetting my mail profile because I have Outlook set to keep messages on my ISP's server until I choose to delete them. So after I delete my Outlook account, a new one will be created automatically the next time I open the program. Once I re-enter my ISP's server settings, my old mail is downloaded again.

To change this setting, click Tools > Account Settings, choose your account, click Change > More Settings > Advanced, and check "Leave a copy of messages on the server." Then click OK > Next > Finish > Close.

Set Outlook to leave a copy of your incoming messages on the server via this setting.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Of course, this won't help much, if you're unable to open Outlook at all, which was the predicament I faced. You could make a copy of your outlook.pst file and restore it after you delete the problematic account, but restoring the outlook.pst file may simply cause the glitch to resurface.

The How-To Outlook site offers step-by-step instructions for backing up and restoring your Outlook data. Once you get Outlook going again, you can automate the Outlook backup-and-restore process by using Microsoft's free Outlook Personal Folders Backup utility.

The easiest part of the process is deleting the buggy profile. In XP, open the Control Panel's Mail applet by clicking Start > Control Panel (or Start > Settings > Control Panel) and choosing User Accounts > Mail (in Category View) or double-clicking Mail (in Classic View). In Vista, press the Windows key, type mail, scroll to Mail (not Windows Mail), and press Enter.

In the Mail Setup dialog box, click Show Profiles, choose the account (it may be the only one listed), and click Remove > Yes > OK.

Delete a troublesome Outlook profile to have the program re-create one from scratch the next time you open it.

(Credit: Microsoft)

When you restart Outlook, you'll be prompted to set up an account as if it were the first time the program ever loaded on your system. Sometimes square one is the best place to be.

[jef5623]

I wonder how MS products will make it to the 7th age of computing?

[gsekse]

Very easy, haven't you noticed? They will BUY the next level of technology they need. If you study the actions of IBM throughout it history, you will find an interesting similarity. MS has reached a monolithic size, now it will stagnate and slowly crumble. How long this will take is difficult to guess, the speed at which things change in computers and software is highly variable. Mind you, the loss of Bill Gates does NOTHING to overall outlook of MS, he was not creative or inventive, just a marketing guy who got lucky.

[SkydiveGuy]

This is something I do at work at least once a week.
Outlook = Epic Fail.

[justdaven]

The only thing I would add to this is that it is possible to recover the stuff in the .pst file, even if you have not backed it up, by making a copy of it before you delete it. You can then attach the file, and copy the contents over...

[jheinrichs79]

You are all just M$ trolls including the so called crappy "technical" writer Mr. O'Reilly. I don't even know the last time I used Outlook with a "PST" file except for archival. When you setup a machine with exchange it automatically sets up a "OST". The O stands for "Offline" file. This allows for you machine to quickly download email to your machine and work with exchange even if you are offline. The only issue I've ever seen are corrupt contacts in Outlook which are a pain in the but to troubleshoot and some other system setting like firewalls that get in the way.

Do you not have VPN or SSH connections to your network? If not I think you have to start asking some questions with upper managment to see what the heck your IT staff is doing. Maybe it's them that is stuck in the dark ages and not M$. I have my issues with M$ but don't blame them for your own technical stupidity.

My 2 cents

[jiambor]

Don't understand. If you have Exchange and Outlook, why use POP?

[mmichaels]

"The first time I tried to open Outlook after I left the office, the program crashed because it was unable to connect to the server."

This sounds like a 1 second configuration change would have saved you the time. Did your IT guy configure Outlook for "cached exchange" mode? If it wasn't, and you're not connected to the internet and VPN, Outlook won't open. However, configuring "cached exchange" mode, and connecting one time to your server (to synchronize all of the folders) is enough to prevent Outlook from "crashing" when you open it on the road. Maybe I'm missing something. I've set up over 50 notebooks with Outlook (cached exchange mode) and have never seen such a "crash".

[Ratt]

It sounds like you need help understanding your companies email system. If you are using Exchange then you would be connected directly to exchange and since you have a laptop the setting should be set to Use Cache Exchange Mode. That way you can open up Outlook where ever you are. You would only be able to see messages that were cached but Outlook would not of given you a problem.

[vidanuevatx]

Another option is to repair the .PST file. Close Outlook; find the file scanpst.exe and run it. It will prompt for the file to scan. For fuller instructions, do a web search on
scanpst.exe path
and then follow the instructions you see on one of the sites.

[mattieboh]

Wow - I certainly hope your company is cool with having all their email correspondence with you scanned by Google! I'm surprised you don't have an electronic policy at your job.

[rencheple]

As a self proclaimed "M$ Troll", I would suggest that your IT person dropped the ball here more than anything - I've been in their shoes and made the same mistake. If they'd simply connected you to the exchange server while you were within the LAN, they could have saved you quite a bit of hassle. Running in cached mode, it would have prepopulated your OST file. Additionally, if they had set up the "Outlook Anywhere" component (formerly called RPC over HTTP), then you could connect to your exchange server regardless of a VPN or LAN link.

Further, there a many good, free tools out there (Sourceforge is an excellent resource here) that allow you to repair, convert and otherwise manipulate both PST and OST files. It's pretty uncommon these days that the email is ever really "gone".

[gsna_dkm]

You wrote, "For one, I didn't really need to access my company e-mail account from the version of Outlook on my notebook because I automatically forward messages from the most important senders (my boss, for example) to my Gmail account, which I use as my primary repository."

Is the forwarding of company mail to an external mail server in line with your corporate information security standards and email operating standards?

[malagrowther]

Not sure you have to junk your pst folders, or at least data inside them. I seem to remember long ago before gmail that I copied pst folders into - Incredimail if messages, into epim if notes and addresses....

[sanenazok]

Bad Idea - business e-mail repository in Gmail

I would check with your compliance officer regarding your little Gmail fracas. Doesn't your company have a retention policy? How's that going to be enforced against your Gmail account? You're exposing your company to a lot of problems (and expenses) so that you don't have to worry about setting up your e-mail correctly. Bad all around.

[GenX2.0]

Wow. So many things to pick apart. The biggest to focus on, is you forwarding your email to your gmail account. That is just plain stupid. Ask any security expert, and they will all say that you do not want you information on Google CONTROLLED servers. Plus, if you think gmail is the best, compared to Outlook, Thunderbird, etc..., then you have bigger problems than outlook. I use Outlook 2007 perfectly for Exchange, RSS, and other IMAP/POP3 folders as does my whole company. It is nice to put some helpful hints for when Outlook fails, WHICH IT DOES, but please do not preface it with awful ideas that is just plain bad computing.....

[Coldjin]

ROTFLMAO, Dennis i don't know who is running your IT shop but I'm pretty sure they have no idea what they're doing. Your problem has nothing to do with Outook 07, It would have happened in 03, XP and '00. Maybe your IT guys are Lotus mail gurus and not Outlook or something. Anyway if you need someone to look after your IT department then give me a shout.

[knotbeer]

Wow... I'm reading through these comments and I'm amazed at all the closed-minded "technical" guys we have in the I.T. community. No wonder my superiors here hate I.T. guys in general...

Look, jiambor... Certain places need certain unique configurations. Our network for instance has 3 exchange servers all in geographically remote locations. Our ISP supplies a POP server that is filtered by MX Logic.. We have to have POP set up on clients to simplify our workload.

And jheinrichs79.... We don't use "offline" or "cached exchange mode." Also, after some time a new user is prompted by Outlook to create a PST file, which most of our 200+ employees do by just clicking "Yes" to get rid of the popup and they don't even realize they did it. There is nothing we can do to prevent this. We have our VPN set up but Aventail has yet to release an update to our hardware for Vista to work, which most employees here are using at home now. But hey, thanks for your two cents!

[Vegaman_Dan]

This isn't a terribly difficult thing to do and didn't require deleting your profile or old mail account at all. You may wish to contact your IT group for assistance in configuring your email to work with Exchange. What you are doing now is blindly treating symptoms with a shotgun instead of dealing with the cause. As a result, your column is a bit misinformed.

If you can't open Outlook because it is hanging trying to connect to the Exchange server, turn off/disable the network connection. It will open up in offline mode and you can fully back up all your data there if you wish, then rebuild the profile.

[henrygax]

First... Outlook.pst has nothing to do with Outlook cached files and setings. it is Outlook.OST. that is the first mistake you made..

You do not have t logon on outlook to change the profile settings in Vista. It is this type of mis-informaiton that gives a GREAT OS a bad name. I would expect more from a journalist.

If you are running Vista x32 you will find the Mail Icon in the control panel like it always has been. If you are running Vista X64 (and XP x64) the mail icon is in sub folder in control panel called "View 32-bit control panel Items" Here you fill find the traditional Mail Icon and it will allow you to can change all of your profile settings.

As for sending Email to Gmail... WOW.. I hope for your sake someone in your companies legal Departmnet does not read your posts. Not even going to mention Googls privacy record, you have opned opned all kinds of legal problems for you company and yourself...

Learn Outlook. It is a GREAT program and a lot easier to use that a web based Email program!

[Eman1971]

WOW! I had NO idea so many people were clueless. Poor corp policy and big time confusion with OST, PST etc.. Ever heard of OWA? Yes Exchange has crappy DB but as messaging system MUCH user friendly then Notes by FAR!!!