When you depend on Outlook for managing your emails, calendar, contacts, and tasks, errors like “Cannot Start Microsoft Outlook” can disrupt your workflow. This guide will provide effective tips for getting Outlook back up and running on your Windows PC.
1. Run Outlook in Safe Mode
Third-party add-ins can sometimes interfere with the Outlook app and prevent it from opening on your PC. To check for this possibility, you canopen Outlook in Safe Mode. This will allow the app to run without any add-ins or custom settings, helping you determine whether the issue is caused by an add-in or something else.
To open Outlook in safe mode:
If Outlook opens and works as expected in Safe Mode, it’s likely that one of your add-ins is responsible for the “Cannot start Microsoft Outlook” error. To identify the one causing the issue, you’ll need to disable all your add-ins and then enable them one at a time. Here’s how to do it:
Restart the Outlook app and then enable your add-ins one by one until the issue occurs again. Once you identify the problematic add-in, the best option is to remove it.
2. Reset the Outlook Navigation Pane
The Outlook navigation pane serves as the central hub for switching between various tabs, such as Mail, Calendar, People, and Tasks. Issues with the navigation pane can sometimes prevent the Outlook app from starting correctly.
You can try resetting the navigation pane to remove all customizations and see if that helps. PressWin + Rto open the Run dialog box. TypeOutlook.exe /resetnavpanein the box and hitEnter.
3. Create a New Outlook Profile
Your Outlook profile contains all the settings related to your email account, including server configurations, signatures, rules, and various other preferences. If your current profile is corrupt or inaccessible, Outlook may not open and show errors. In most cases, you may fix such issues by creating and switching to a new Outlook profile.
To create a new Outlook profile:
4. Run the Office Repair Tool
The Microsoft Office repair tool on Windows can help you fix various Outlook errors. Here’s how to run it.
5. Repair Outlook Data Files
Another reason why you might encounter the “Cannot start Microsoft Outlook” error is due to damaged data files. Thankfully, Microsoft includes an Inbox Repair Tool that can help you fix these files. Here’s how to run it.
Once the scan is complete, try to open the Outlook app again.
6. Disable Compatibility Mode for Outlook
Compatibility mode on Windows is a useful feature that helps yourun older programs and software on your Windows PC. However, since Outlook is fully optimized for Windows, running it in compatibility mode can trigger strange errors.
To disable compatibility mode for Outlook, right-click on its shortcut and selectProperties. Switch to theCompatibilitytab and uncheck theRun this program in compatibility modeoption. Then, clickApply,followed byOK. After this, Outlook should open on your Windows computer.
Applying one of these solutions should fix the “Cannot start Microsoft Outlook” error and get the email client working as expected. That said, if you’re tired of dealing with such issues with the Outlook app, there are plenty offree email apps for Windowsworth exploring.
