Outlook 2016 crashes at start

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Oldmaven

Senior Member
Outlook version
Email Account
POP3
I just recovered from a system crash a day or two back. I think Outlook worked OK the day after that (I'm not sure), but now it crashes within seconds of starting.

I am running the Office 2016 version, in Win 10 Pro x64, with the account set up as IMAP. I had thought, based on experience when I was using pop3, that running scanost might help, but the only copies on my system are from 2007, so I presume they came from my earlier Outlook 2003.

How do I get my Outlook back?
 
Scanost is not longer included - they recommend deleting (or renaming) the ost and letting outlook recreate it. It's generally a lot faster.

Do you get any error messages?
Are the other office apps affected?
 
I could not rename my OSTs but did delete them.
Then I restarted Outlook and it flickered on with all my emails showing, then flickered off again.
Then I restarted it and everything was gone: mail, contacts, and appointments. See attached.
I guess I'l try to recover the files from my Recycle Bin before they're overwritten.

If I switched the account back to Pop3, could I retrieve my old PST and run from that? It's only about 5 weeks out of date.
 

Attachments

  • Outlook blank.jpg
    Outlook blank.jpg
    125.3 KB · Views: 601
I could not rename my OSTs but did delete them. (The main one was huuuuge, which may have caused my problem--time to archive a lot, if I can restore it).

Then I restarted Outlook and it flickered on with all my emails showing, then flickered off again.
Then I restarted it and everything was gone: mail, contacts, and appointments. See attached.
I guess I'l try to recover the files from my Recycle Bin before they're overwritten.

If I switched the account back to Pop3, could I retrieve my old PST and run from that? It's only about 5 weeks out of date.

I recall no other error messages, or any problems with Word. Excel has problems, but they started weeks ago.
 
There were two OST files with recent dates. I did succeed in renaming the big one to an OSQ (it's 1,759,000 KB), but the short one is deleted.
 
If I switched the account back to Pop3, could I retrieve my old PST and run from that? It's only about 5 weeks out of date.
Yes, as long as you have your old pst, you'll have all of the older data. It would download mail still up on the server - which would be anything you did not delete using IMAP.
 
Tried setting up a POP3 account, first using my most recent large PST (which was from October and was on my data drive), then using "new data file." Both showed immediate failure for receiving mail and hung up forever on send test message.
Screenshots available if they'll help.
 
Silly mistake. I keep forgetting that when Microsoft says "user name" it's actually looking for your full e-mail address.


All appeared well, so I restarted the program. There's no sign of the POP3 account, just my original IMAP. Do I have to go through it all over again, and delete the IMAP before I close the program?
 
You can have both in your profile, at least for a little bit (you might get connection errors because pop3 puts a lock on the mailbox)- so add the pop3, and shouldn't need to restart outlook since it's pop3.

if you use autoaccount setup, it adds it as microsoft exchange and you will need to restart.
 
You can have both in your profile, at least for a little bit (you might get connection errors because pop3 puts a lock on the mailbox)- so add the pop3, and shouldn't need to restart outlook since it's pop3.

if you use autoaccount setup, it adds it as microsoft exchange and you will need to restart.
 
I show account settings for both the POP3 and iMAP versions, with POP3 version the default. I did send/receive all folders and there was a looooong wait while it downloaded (I'm embarrassed to say I have mail going back years). But when it was over, inbox said "We didn't find anything to show here." Mail sent from this account does not arrive anywhere, and mail sent to it never arrives.

Calendar shows preprogrammed holidays but none of my appointments, past or present.

People shows first "Contacts - xxx@mydomain.com, wi4th "We didn't find anything to show here." But it also shows "Contacts 1 - Personal Folders and all my old subfolders beneath that (though some are now empty).

Switching back to the IMAP as default, I get exactly the same results, except without the long wait. The same contacts are present in this version, too.

------------------
The program sends/receives another mailbox OK, so I assume it's not the software that caused the problem but my bloated OST file. IfI (1) open the IMAP account in another mail client and spend a few hours pruning and (2) then switch my old OST file back to it's original name, would that get things going again?
 
But when it was over, inbox said "We didn't find anything to show here." Mail sent from this account does not arrive anywhere, and mail sent to it never arrives.
Is this in the pop or imap inbox? Did you try resetting the view?

Pruning the account certainly won't hurt - it's hard to say how much it will help - it might make a big difference, it might not.

Missing appointments: Are you sure you have the correct pst? Is a filter set on the view?
 
i get the same results from either mailbox.

How do I "reset the view"? The "reset view" option is grayed out, for both the IMAP and POP3.

I realize all I can prune without outlook running is old mails that for some reason are still on the server. Lots more were downloaded and are now in my PST

I'm attaching a pdf listing all the PSTs on my system. Judging by the date, the one in use is Outlook08.pst, which is actually from 2015 or 2016. No surprise this shows no currrent appointments--but I see none for those older years, either. No filter is set. I assume I can delete the older PSTs but will wait until I get things running again before I do that. Do any of the other PSTs on my list seem worth trying?


I also attempted to retry my original OST on the IMAP side. I renamed it from an OSQ to an OST, and Windows added a (2) to that as there already was an OST with the normal name. I then renamed the "normal" OST and tried to rename the other by deleting the "02"; Windows thereupon renamed it "03." I see no way to point Outlook at this data file--is there a way?
 

Attachments

  • PST list Apr 8.pdf
    148.1 KB · Views: 494
How do I "reset the view"? The "reset view" option is grayed out, for both the IMAP and POP3.
that means the view is not customized. what view is assigned to each inbox? (look under change view) Try selecting a different view.

the pst you are using is not all that big. What is in the archive pst? Older calendar items could be in that if you have it set to archive old items.

i think you are safe deleting the older outlook*.pst files from 2014 (they look like an automated backup system created them) - this will free up a lot of space. I would keep the archive psts for now. Open them in outlook and see if they have the missing appt. If not, they can be deleted. The psts that are 256kb, 513 and 761 kb are empty. It's probably safe to delete the really old pst files too - but you can open them to see what's in them. The canon ones are awfully small to be for outlook - i'd leave them.


I also attempted to retry my original OST on the IMAP side. I renamed it from an OSQ to an OST, and Windows added a (2) to that as there already was an OST with the normal name. I then renamed the "normal" OST and tried to rename the other by deleting the "02"; Windows thereupon renamed it "03." I see no way to point Outlook at this data file--is there a way?
The only way is to rename - you'd rename or delete the ost outlook is using then rename the backup to the name of the original ost. i don't know why it would be adding the 3 - try changing the extension then fixing the name, then changing it back to ost.
 
The problem was apparently that I had another .OST of the same name in a subfolder.

This problem is now solved
 
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