Outlook Not Responding! Help!!!!!
Updated On - April 16, 2024
MS Outlook is a platform or application that helps manage emails, contacts, and other items. It is part of the Microsoft Office suite and serves as a central hub for communication in organizations.
It allows users to send and receive emails, schedule appointments, set reminders, and coordinate meetings. It has features like a calendar, task manager, and contact list, and it focuses on streamlining your work and enhancing productivity.
However, like every other software, Outlook too can be affected adversely by bugs and performance issues .In some instances, Outlook doesn’t respond to the commands given by users, so users cannot perform any task on Outlook, including sending or receiving mail.
So, before moving to the solutions to fix this issue, let’s have a look at the causes.
Causes of the “Outlook Not Responding” Error
There are several causes due to which this error occurs, some of them are given below:
- Not having recent updates to MS Outlook installed.
- Loading external images and emails in Outlook.
- Third-party add-ins to obstruct the working of Outlook
- Large mailbox or corrupt Outlook data files
- Antivirus installed on your computer clashes with Outlook
- Corrupt or damaged Outlook profile.
‘Outlook Not Responding’ would mean a complete stand-down on the work.
When you try to click on the Window, Outlook and the whole screen becomes luminous with the message that reads, “Microsoft Outlook not responding” exhibited on the title bar. When this happens to your Outlook, there is always a likelihood for you to be in the middle of either a conversation with your potential client or expecting an update for your important security problems. When Outlook hangs, the best thing to do is to wait until it responds.
Having seen the causes and effects of the ‘Outlook Not Responding’ error, we need to ponder on the ways to deal with the error.
Quit Outlook and all related processes using the Task Manager. For this, select the Outlook.exe and end the process. A message pops ups and then Outlook gets shut down.
Sometimes, faulty add-ins can cause complications with the normal working of Outlook. Identify such add-ins and remove them.
Some antivirus software products scan every outgoing and incoming email to detect the problems. This might cause the problems with the normal operation of Outlook at times. Additionally, your antivirus might flag some of the add-ins as “untrustworthy.” How do you undo antivirus? The answer is that you should go to Control Panel, and then turn off the antivirus.
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Large PST files are always problematic. So, cleaning and organizing Outlook is very important. To organize Outlook, remove unwanted emails from Outlook Inbox as well as other folders, archive the old emails, and empty your ‘Deleted Items’ folder so that the size of PST may reduce.
Your firewall might cause your Outlook not to respond. It can also block messages. To do away with the Firewall, you can firstly disable it temporarily and if that works, turn it off permanently. Then restart your personal computer and check if Outlook is working smoothly. Well, it is time to create an exception for it:
- On the Start menu, click on the Settings icon.
- Go to the Settings menu, then go to Find, and type Firewall. Then select Firewall from the list. The Windows Firewall window opens.
- Here, you can click the Allow an App or Feature through Windows Firewall option.
- The Allowed Apps window opens and then click Change Settings.
- Check the box next to Outlook. Click OK.
- Exit the Firewall and restart your computer. Firewall no more blocks the Outlook app.
To fix Outlook not responding error, the user can also disable hardware acceleration in Outlook. To do so, follow the steps given below: –
- Open Outlook and select File tab.
- From the left pane, click on the Options tab.
- After clicking on the options, go through the Advanced tab.
- Below the Display option, tick the box Display hardware graphics acceleration.
- Press Ok.
Outlook works best when it’s updated. We recommend you keep your Windows and Office updated, which helps you fix errors, add new features, and improve performance.
- With the help of Install Office updates, users can install latest Windows and Office updates.
Such updates help you to fix Outlook-related issues quickly.
Users can create a new profile in Outlook to fix Outlook not responding error. To do so, use the below steps:
- In Windows 10, select the Start button. Go to the Control Panel and click on the Enter button. Select User Accounts > Mail > Show Profiles.
- InWindows 8, open the application menu and click on the Control Panel > Mail > Show Profiles
. - In the Mail Window, select Add to add a new profile
- Now, enter the Profile Name and click OK
- Sign up for an email address or generate a password for the primary email account, which you can use in Outlook applications, and then follow the steps to create the account.
- Once the account is created, select Prompt in the Show Profiles dialogue for a profile to be used.
- Start Outlook, click manage profile and use the newly created Outlook profile.
If a user creates a new profile that solves your problem, you can return to the Show Profiles dialog and remove your outdated profile.
Conclusion
We have discussed some straightforward methods to resolve Outlook not responding error. Users can try any one of them as per their convenience to fix their problem quickly.
However, these manual methods come with several limitations, such as they are difficult to perform, time-consuming, high chances of data loss, etc. To avoid these limitations, we recommend you use an advanced Recoveryfix for Outlook PST Repair tool. The software allows users to recover the PST file in every situation, no matter what the error is. It recovers all the mailbox items such as emails, calendar, contacts, and attachments
