1 Classic Outlook not responding, stuck at "Processing," stopped working, or freezes
Marguerite Gourgaud edited this page 2025-10-06 15:51:34 +00:00
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A corrupted new profile or Outlook profile can lead to delays, crashing, repair Outlook data file or the Outlook not responding error. If creating a new profile solves your issue, you can return to the Show Profiles dialog and delete your old profile. Your profile stores a variety of settings that control how Outlook looks and feels. You can create a new profile and then add your email accounts to the new profile.

Should you decide to remove a profile, back up the data files first. All offline cached content will be deleted when you choose Remove. For more information, see Introduction to repair Outlook data file Outlook Data Files (.pst and .ost). A corrupted profile, a damaged PST file, faulty add-ins, or improper Outlook startup settings often cause this issue.

Be aware that if you are connecting to an Exchange Server mailbox, your mailbox or your email messages are already being scanned by antivirus software on the server. For more information, see You may experience application pauses if you have a large Outlook data file. Optionally, if you have a Microsoft Exchange online archive, you can move items to that archive or create retention policies to automatically dispose of older items.

If Outlook is NOT able to start in safe mode, then try the next proposed solution below, entitled Create a new Outlook profile. Despite the various avenues mentioned, the problem is identified only on RDS 2016 repair Outlook data file (5 servers) with Office 2016. Curiously, there are no issues with PCs running Windows 10 or 11 and Outlook 2016, all within the AD. I initially had a script to remove the entire Outlook folder if date created was before the date of implementation. Ive modified this to remove the above autodiscover records on user login as a temp workaround.

The only thing is to know how to overcome them when they arise. Whether it's defective add-ins, frozen Outlook, faulty data files, and many others, you can manage all these problems yourself. Knowing the cause of the problem will help you sort out all the issues related to Outlook opening. Should you decide to remove a profile, back up the data files first. All offline cached content will be deleted when you choose repair Outlook data file Remove. For more information, see Introduction to Outlook Data Files (.pst and .ost).

After updating Office, you may experience a brief flashing window every hour, which triggers the OfficeBackgroundHandlerRegistration task to start running. In this case, sign in to the Microsoft 365 portal by using your administrator credentials, and then select service health to determine whether other customers are experiencing the same issue. If other customers are experiencing the issue, the issue should end when the service-interrupting event is resolved. If youd like to share any feedback about this article, please let us know.

I am not quite sure when this started, otherwise I would have rolled back updates and/or removed recently installed apps. I recently uninstalled and reinstalled Office but it only made the issue worse. In System Configuration, if you select a check box, the related service or startup program runs when you restart the computer. If the check box is cleared, the service or startup program doesn't run when you restart the computer.

If creating a new profile solves your issue, you can return to the Show Profiles dialog and delete your old profile. If you try to delete or move a large number of messages at once, Outlook can appear to freeze, but really, it's working behind the scenes. If Outlook is performing some operation on hundreds or thousands of messages at once, it might appear to be stuck. Give Outlook a few minutes to finish the process and it should start to work again. If Outlook isn't stuck at a screen that says "Processing," or this didn't resolve your issue, continue to the steps below. Use the classic Outlook startup troubleshooter to diagnose and fix several common classic Outlook for Windows issues for you.

Your profile stores a variety of settings that control repair Outlook data file how Outlook looks and feels. You can create a new profile and then add your email accounts to the new profile. If repairing your Microsoft 365 programs didn't resolve your issue, move on to the next step. If installing the latest updates didn't resolve your issue, move on to the next step. For example, the first time you try to Dismiss All on a list of reminders, Outlook asks you if you're sure you want to do that. If you don't choose an option on that dialog box, Outlook won't let you do anything else.

To create a user profile, you must first create a user account. When the new account is created, a profile is also created. In System Configuration, if you select a check box, the related service or startup program runs when you repair Outlook data file restart the computer.

It will help you switch between windows and see if any pop-ups need attention. If the above solutions are not working up to the mark, it simply indicates the corruption in your Outlook PST files. If you want to resolve the inaccessibility from your PST file, opt for the Cigati Outlook PST Repair Tool. It will assist users in fixing the corruption effortlessly. As you can see in the picture below, the new outlook is not on the list of apps for startup, but I have it installed and pinned on the taskbar.