How to solve “Microsoft Outlook Stopped Working”?

As an Outlook User You Might Have Come across When Microsoft Outlook does not work & an Error Outlook stopped working message comes up. It may appear due to several reasons discussed in this post.

In addition, in this post, we have discussed a few methods to fix the error Outlook Not Working or responding message by troubleshooting a few settings in Microsoft Outlook and how to use an Outlook repair tool.

Why ‘Microsoft Outlook has stopped working’ Error Occur?

Microsoft Outlook 2016, 2013, 2010 & earlier and later versions may cause Outlook Stopped Working, responding, or crash due to any of the following reasons,

• Faulty add-ins
• Lost or damaged DLL files
• Incorrect Outlook configurations
• Corrupt or damaged Outlook data file (OST or PST)
• Corrupt or damaged Outlook profile
• Damaged Outlook installation
• Outdated Windows

Steps to Fix ‘Microsoft Outlook 2016 Stopped Working’

Follow these steps in the given sequence to troubleshoot and fix the issues:

Step 1: Check Event Viewer

The Event Viewer, a good diagnostic tool in Windows provides access to users to view the event logs on a local or a remote machine. Through the event logs, users can sort out reasons for the errors more easily. Thus, it is highly recommended to check the Event Viewer as soon as we receive “Microsoft Outlook 2016 stopped working” error message

• In the “Start Menu”, type “event” in the search field
• Then from the list that appears, select “Event Viewer” or “View event logs”
• In “Event Viewer” window, expand “Windows Logs” and select “Application”
• Then in the “Source” column of the centre pane, locate “outlook”, “Windows Error Reporting” or “Application Error” Check the recent event logs from the three sources. You may receive some related error. For instance, like the MSVCR90.dll file.
• If you are able to identify the reasons of the errors from the event logs, proceed to take the following actions to fix the error.

Step 2: Remove Faulty Add-ins in the Safe Mode

A faulty or unsupported Add-in can lead to several problems and cause data corruption. Thus, if you are facing this error where Microsoft stops working as you start it, it could be due to an add-in that Outlook is not able to load. To fix this, follow these steps,

• Firstly, start Outlook in the safe mode.
• Search “outlook.exe /safe” in the “Start Menu”. Next, press “Enter”
• Then, go to File > Add-ins> Go
• In the new dialog box, remove or disable all the third-party add-ins and leave only the Microsoft add-ins.
• Then restart Outlook normally and observe Outlook if it still stops working or crashes

Step 3: Create a New Outlook Profile

Sometimes the error may occur due to damaged Outlook profile. In such a case, when you open Outlook, it may stop working while loading your Outlook profile and throw an error. To resolve this, you can follow these steps and create a new Outlook profile.

• To start with, head to “Control Panel” > “mail” applet
• In the new dialogue box, click “Show profile”
• In the latter dialog, click the “Add” button and give a specific name to it.
• Next, add the email account.
• Now, change the newly created profile as the default email profile.
• Finally, restart outlook.

Step 4: Repair MS Office installation

If MS Office installation is damaged or files are missing due to some malware or virus intrusion, system crash or disk error, it can cause Outlook to stop working. You can try to repair the MS Office installation by following these steps, 

1. In the beginning, open the “Control Panel,”, and click the “Uninstall program.”
2. In the subsequent window, click on Microsoft Office and click “Change.”
3. In the new popup window, select “Quick Repair” and click the “Repair” button.
4. After the repair process ends, restart Outlook.

Step 5: Repair Corrupt PST File via ScanPST.EXE

PST may get damaged if the size of PST file size grows larger, which makes it unstable and cause corruption due to data integrity issues. You can fix such a corrupt or damaged PST file and errors by using the Outlook Inbox Repair tool called ScanPST (Inbox Repair tool). The steps are as follow,

1. Open Windows Explorer and search “Scanpst” in the installation directory of MS Office and Outlook.
2. Double click on “SCANPST.EXE” to run this tool.
3. Then click “Browse” button and select the damaged or corrupt PST file
4. Click on “Start” to scan PST for corruption errors
5. After scanning, click on the “Repair” button to initiate the repair process.
6. Finally, restart Outlook and check if it’s working or not

When SCANPST.EXE Fails - Use Stellar Repair for Outlook

If the build-in repair tool doesn’t work, you can use an Outlook repair tool such as Stellar Repair for Outlook to scan corrupt PST files and repair it to regain all contents such as e-mails, attachments, contacts, calendars, tasks, notes, and journals, etc. The repaired email items are saved in a new usable PST file that you can directly import into your MS Outlook.

Other features of Stellar repair for Outlook:

• Repairs damaged Outlook PST: Powerful algorithms enable the software to offer deep scan and scan for recoverable data within the files with 100% precision
• Recovers Accidentally Deleted Emails: With this utility, you can get a trace of emails that have been accidentally removed/deleted from the “inbox” folder in Outlook.
• Capable of Repairing Large PSTs: Outlook PST recovery software repairs damaged PST files irrespective of its size and level of damage. It has the capability to work with large size PST file and this feature makes it stand above its competitors.
• Recover data from encrypted PSTs: Quite a few users encrypt their Outlook PSTs in order to protect their important emails. This Outlook PST repair tool can overcome this problem easily by recovering data even from password-protected files.

In case you use Exchange or IMAP account in Outlook, you can try to recreate the OST file to fix any OST file corruption or damage.

Conclusion

The “Microsoft Outlook has stopped working” error is frustrating, but it’s usually fixable. Start with basic troubleshooting: disable add-ins, create a new profile, or repair Office installation. If the issue is due to a corrupt PST file, try SCANPST.EXE. But for more serious corruption—especially with encrypted or large PSTs – Stellar Repair for Outlook is the most reliable solution.

By using a combination of these fixes, you can get Outlook running smoothly again and avoid losing your important emails and data.