With more than 90 percent of Windows users opting to use Outlook as one of the primary email tools, one often encounters problems like crashing, stopping, not responding, that are not only recurring but at times, difficult to address. While using an effective email client has its own efficacies, it also helps a business to embrace a useful email tool to help schedule and sequence emails for their subscriber base. Of course, we don’t want you to struggle using Outlook email client affecting interactions across all fronts. Here’s a look at five such common outlook problems and fixes to make your life easy!
“Cannot send this item.”
There’s no denying the fact that the widespread use of email tech has made communication a bliss. Most home-based clients prefer working with email clients like Microsoft Outlook, which can meet with certain issues from time to time. One such commonly occurring error message is “Cannot send this item.”
This usually occurs when you have formatted an outgoing email message and is most likely due to incorrect format or a wrong destination email address. To fix this particular error, one should check the “To” address field and recheck the destination email address. At times, certain versions of Outlook can render the destination email to be unrecognized. Another cause can be due to HTML based messages. Change the format of the outbound message to plain text from HTML, and that should take care of it.
“Cannot open your default e-mail folders. The information store could not be opened.”
This error mostly occurs when one is trying to access an Outlook profile. Most likely, the underlying cause is Outlook running in compatibility mode. Hence, switching off the compatibility mode mostly takes care of the issue. Here are the steps to follow:
- Navigate to the path C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14Locate Outlook.exe and right-click on it. From the menu, click “Properties.”
- While on the “Properties” dialog box, click on the tab that reads “Compatibility.”
- Look under the “Compatibility mode,” to uncheck the box that reads, “Run this program in compatibility mode.”
- Click “Apply,” and then click “OK.”
- Restart Microsoft Outlook.
“Microsoft Exchange Server is unavailable.”
Such errors can be a tad tricky to handle and often requires you to check your SMTP connection using Telnet. When office outlook files get locked, it generally gives away this kind of error. So, make sure outlook files like OST and PST aren’t set to “Read Only.” Also, check the permission details for these two types of files.
The navigation pathway to access PST files is as follows:
C:Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook
For OST files
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12
Once you there, check whether these aren’t set to read only.
At times, software collisions can also led to such errors especially, when you have an Antivirus installed alongside interfering with Outlook connected to the Exchange Server. Many susrs report of similar error messages following a recent update. If you have updated your POutlook rently , make sure you don’t have a bunch of DAT files present in the system.
Follow the navigational path mentioned below:
Extend.dat
Go to C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
Frmcache.dat
Go To C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Forms
Views.dat
Go to C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
Outcmd.dat
Go to C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
“Not Implemented.”
The error message indicates a damaged Outlook client, and to repair the same, you need to know which version you are using. For Microsoft Outlook 2010 users running on Windows 7, here are the necessary steps to follow:
- Go to Control Panel.
- Go to Programs and head down to Programs and Features.
- Locate Microsoft Outlook from the list.
- Right-click on it and click “Change.”
- You will be able to see Microsoft Office 2010 splashing across your screen.
- Choose the Repair option and click on continue for the repair process to begin.
Outlook keeps asking for your password repeatedly
This one’s more annoying than causing any serious damage to your system. Such an error requires you to key in your password repeatedly and them coming back with the same screen again and again. Here’s an easy fix. Go to your Outlook profile and click on Edit and re-configure the profile with your password and save it.
Wrap Up
Apart from the above listed commonly occurring issues with Outlook, there are other issues as well, which are rare occurrences. This includes Mailbox Corruption, presence of multiple or oversized PST files, and duplicate items. No matter what, if the problem is way too serious for you to handle alone, you should check in with a technical expert. In any case, you might want to install a fresh copy of Microsoft Outlook, and that should take care of most of the issues on its own.
About Nick
Nick is a Software Engineer. He has interest in gadgets and technical stuffs. If you are facing any problem with your Windows, feel free to ask him.