“I was working on Outlook and I suddenly realized that every time I select a folder, it is freezing up. First, I thought it is just a random temporary problem, but it kept on happening and every time it was severer than before. Later, my Outlook just restarted, all by itself! What is wrong with my Outlook? Is it some sort of Virus or what?” - Anonymous User
While going through many Outlook related issues over the internet, I came across this one, and it caught my attention. Many users have claimed to experience a situation where they face crashing issues when they select a folder to take any action. There is not a specific reason why this error happens, but it may be a result of several technical or non-technical glitches in Outlook.
Commen Reasons for the Outlook crash
- Virus Attacks
- Sudden/Improper Shutdowns
- Spyware Attacks
- Corruption of the PST file
- Corruption in the first message of that particular folder
- Corruption in the View setting of the folder
Although, there is no sure-shot way to tackle this issue until the main reason of the crash is known. But we can apply different methods one by one and check if it solves the issue. Let’s start the journey!
When a problem is unknown, using Safe Mode always works. It is the easiest and fastest way to know what is wrong with your Outlook. To start in safe mode, you need to click on the Start button type “outlook.exe /safe” and press Enter.
After running Outlook in the safe mode, if everything works well, this indicates that there is a corruption in the first message of that folder or in the view of the folder. If it doesn’t work well, then it indicates that there is a corrupt PST which you will need to repair.
When we started the blog, we mentioned that an antivirus scanner may interfere with Outlook. This interference or contradiction between Outlook and the antivirus software you have in your system might be the reason that Outlook is crashing. Why might it be happening? It is because when an antivirus program suspects something unusual going on in your system, it tries to block or stop it from happening. So, it might happen that the antivirus you are using currently is interfering with Outlook and the messages it is receiving which may lead to the crashing of the Outlook. Hence, it is suggested that you should try disabling your antivirus program. Once you disable the antivirus, it is suggested that you not only restart your Outlook, but your system also.
We have already discussed that Antivirus scanner may lead to corruption of messages. So, if you don’t want corrupt messages anymore, disable the antivirus.
If the above methods did not fix the issue, then the Outlook view itself might be corrupted. One of the hints pointing towards a corrupt view is the crash occurs whenever you try to click or move a particular folder or a set of folders and subfolders.
To fix the corrupt view in Outlook, you will need to reset the current view settings. Make sure you have identified the folder(s) for which view needs to be reset. Click on that folder in Outlook. Next, follow the steps below based on the version of your Outlook application.
- Outlook XP, Outlook 2002 and older versions View > Current View > Customize Current View > Reset Current View
- Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 View > Arrange By > Custom > Reset Current View
- Outlook 2010 to Outlook 2013 View > Reset View
- Outlook 2016 onwards View > Current View > Reset View
The above method works best when one or two folders are corrupt and do not have any subfolders. However, this method becomes tedious for multiple folders and subfolders that require a reset view. In such cases, you can choose to reset all Outlook folders at once by using the command line.
- Close your Outlook application.
- Press Win + R key ( or Go to Start > Run)
- Paste below command in the run dialog box: outlook.exe/cleanviews
- Press Enter or click OK.
This will reset all the folder views at once.
It is to be noted that the above method will lead to loss of all configured view settings for all the Outlook folders and subfolders.
While running Outlook in Safe Mode if you realized that a corrupt PST is behind all this crash, then fix it as soon as possible. You can either repair a corrupt PST with the help of an inbuilt utility comes with Outlook, known as ‘scanpst.exe’ or with a third-party tool.
To save your precious time and effort, it is always advisable to go for an automated method to do so. One of the best available options for third-party PST repair tool is “Kernel for Outlook PST Repair.”
Kernel for Outlook PST Repair is an advanced Outlook PST repair tool, designed by keeping in mind all the issues related to PSTs. Be it a corrupt, damaged or broken PST, this tool can fix it in a few simple steps. Besides this, it provides a lot more exciting features which make the user experience even better.
