Despite active development in the Outlook application on PCs, users still face an issue every once in a while where their Outlook client refuses to connect to the remote servers and is stuck in a not responding loop. This issue is very common and occurs every now and then and doesn’t depend on the email address being used. In this article, we will go through all the causes and go through the solutions used to fix the issue.
What causes Outlook Not To Respond?
Outlook is the flagship email application by Microsoft and despite getting the spotlight by Microsoft itself, it is notorious for various different issues including the not responding issue. We checked various user reports and after replicating the same conditions on our test PCs, we came up with a list of causes which were causing the issue. Here are some of them: Before we move on with the solutions, make sure that you have backed up your account contents over the cloud and are logged in as an administrator on your computer.
Solution 1: Checking Outlook Usage by other Applications/Task
The very first thing which you should check is if Outlook is being used in the background either by another third-party application or it is performing a task. If this is the case, when you launch Outlook, it will already be busy and will go into a not responsive state. This is because of one distinct instance, you have launched another instance which directly conflicts with the first one. Hence you should let the current task finish before you try to launch Outlook again for another one. For example, you should wait for the application to finish sending those bulk emails. You can easily check whether it is busy with another process by checking the taskbar at the bottom-right of the screen. An Outlook icon will be present. You can also open task manager and see if there are third-party applications running which are using outlook for their own operations.
Solution 2: Using Outlook in Safe Mode
There is an option in Office Suite where you can start the applications in a safe mode. In safe mode, Outlook disables all external add-ins and preferences and loads up with only the essential drivers. Hence if there were any problematic modules/add-ins, they would be disabled and the application would run perfectly. First, you should check starting Outlook in Safe mode. If the applications work perfectly, you can move on to the next solutions and try troubleshooting where the problem lies.
Solution 3: Repairing Outlook (Through Office Suite)
In the majority of the cases, the reason why users face Outlook being unresponsive is because the installation files of Microsoft Office are either corrupt or have missing modules. If the installation itself isn’t complete or in a working state, you won’t be able to use individual office applications properly such as Outlook. We will try to repair the application through the application manager and see if this works for us.
Solution 4: Repairing Outlook Files
If you are importing Outlook Files, it is possible that the files you are using are corrupt or incomplete. Files can get into this state every once in a while and get issues in their contents mostly when they are moved or during transmission. In this solution, we will try to repair the Outlook files and see if there are any error present. If there are, the automatic repair tool will fix them and inform you accordingly.
Solution 5: Updating Outlook and Windows
Microsoft pushes updates to both Windows and Outlook to solve various bugs and issues and to also introduce new features. If by any chance you are avoiding the updating process, it is recommended that you do not delay it and get everything updated as soon as possible. We recommend that you backup your data before proceeding. Also, make sure that you have closed all the programs running in the background before proceeding. Windows Updates sometimes ask for a restart to apply the changes. After Windows has been updated, we will update Outlook to the latest version. Follow the steps below. Note: In newer versions of Windows, Microsoft Office (including Outlook) is updated through Windows update itself so you just have to update your Windows to the latest build.
Solution 6: Updating Outlook Version
As you all might already know, Microsoft automatically stops support of older versions of the Office applications after its support period ends. It came to our reports that the not responding issue mostly occurs on older versions of Office. This is because the older versions don’t get many updates and are mostly obsolete with the majority of the users using newer versions of the application. If you have an older version of Office (including Outlook), we recommend updating it to at least 2013. Office 2013 is to date (when writing this article) the most used copy of the Office suite. Make sure that you have your product key at hand as you will be asked to enter it after you download the newer version in your computer. Also, make sure that you have backed up your files to an accessible location before proceeding.
Solution 7: Deleting Email Accounts
The Email accounts which you add in the Outlook application automatically get added in the computer’s list of email accounts. All the storage is then synchronous including all the attachments and the media files. If any of the email accounts is causing issues or have incomplete/corrupt files, you will face the not responding error. In this solution, we will navigate to the email settings and delete all the email accounts associated with Outlook. Make sure that you have the credentials as you will be asked to enter them later on.
Solution 8: Disabling Antivirus Software
There have been numerous reports that Antivirus software like Semantic or Norton causes permissions or access issues. These Antivirus software try to protect your personal files and folders by making sure they are not changed by other software or users even if the parent applications (such as Outlook) are making changes to them. In some cases, they give a false positive and block access to the document even if can be saved by you naturally. There are several features which Antivirus software implements such as File Protection in Semantic. McAfee even released official documentation about this and claimed to fix it in one of their updates. You should try updating your Antivirus software and if that doesn’t work, you can check our article on How to Turn Your Antivirus Off.
Solution 9: Disabling Add-ins
One of the leading factors due which Outlook gets into a ‘not responding’ state is where third-party add-ins are loaded onto the software while they are not even supported. You can disable all the add-ins one by one and troubleshoot which one might be causing the problem. You can remove it permanently afterward.
Solution 10: Reinstalling Outlook
If all the above methods don’t work, you can go ahead and completely reinstall the Outlook application. The Outlook application is bundled with other Office applications so make sure that you are free of using these applications during the reinstallation process. Also, make sure that you have your Office credentials at hand before proceeding as you will be asked to input them again when you are installing a new package.
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