Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of dbdp
dbdp

asked on

I would like to prevent two or more instances of outlook being open at same time

How do I prevent multiple instances of outlook (same profile) being open at same time - sometimes impatient users click icon several times nothing I say will prevent that so what can I do?

Thank you

David
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of sirbounty
sirbounty
Flag of United States of America image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Hi dbdp,

> multiple instances of outlook (same profile) being open at same time
If you're talking about the Outlook client, then I'm 99.9% certain that it's impossible to have multiple instances open.  It is however possible to have multiple instances of Outlook appear in the task list.  That's because it's possible to create additional instances of Outlook from code.  But it's not possible to have multiple copies of the Outlook interface running and double-clicking the Outlook icon will only bring the single instance of Outlook to the foreground, it will not start additional copies of Outlook.

Cheers!
Avatar of dbdp
dbdp

ASKER

Trust me - the .01% wins it!!
Are we talking Outlook or Outlook Express?
I think what happens is when the user clicks on "outlook" multiple time before it has launched  it will not open at all and if you look in task manager it shows multiple "outlook.exe"  since it has tried to launch several times unsuccessfully and since it has multiple "outlook.exe" trying to launch nothing will not open.  you have to go into the taskmanager and kill all the outlook.exe then hit it again

once outlook is open if you click on the "outlook" icon again it just brings up the instance already launched.
Avatar of dbdp

ASKER

I am talking about outlook - and I actually see TWO instances of outlook inbox (the same inbox) in the taskbar (and are both fully functional - separately) - incidentally this only happens on 1 particular pc.



That doesn't mean they are separate instances.  It's still only one instance of the Outlook application, but Outlook allows multipe windows.  It's entirely possible to have mutliple windows each showing the same folder (e.g. the inbox).  Each open Outlook window will create a separate icon on the task bar.  While it is possible to write a script that would check to see what Outlook windows are already open before opening another, it isn't practical.
Avatar of dbdp

ASKER

OK - why does it only happen on 1 pc?  On other PC's "opening" outlook whilst already open simply maximizes the already open outlook
Have you actually seen this behavior demonstrated?  Users are, unfortunately, very unreliable when it comes to reporting exactly what's happening.  Does the employee who uses this computer have their mouse buttons reversed, so that what seems to be a double-click is in fact a right-click?  That may seem like an odd question, but a right-click is what you'd use to open a new Outlook window.  Right-click on any folder in Outlook and you'll see that "Open in New Window" is the second choice on the resulting menu.  It's very close to the mouse pointer.  Outlook will also restore all windows that were open when it closed.  For example, I keep my inbox and calendar open in separate windows.  Each time I launch Outlook both windows are restored.  Is it possible that the user has opened both windows and they are simply being restored when Outlooks starts?  
Avatar of dbdp

ASKER

Yes I have - I have even replicated it - If you double-click on outlook twice in succession it opens two outlooks
Open Task Manager.  Does Outlook appear multiple times in the list of running tasks?
Avatar of dbdp

ASKER

Yes
Try this.  

1.  Log out of this computer.
2.  Log back in.
3.  Start Task Manager.
4.  Watch Task Manager for a minute or two to give the login process plenty of time to finish running.  Note the number of instances of Outlook that are running.
5.  Launch Outlook with a single double-click.  
6.  Note the number of instances of Outlook that are running.
7.  Close Outlook.
8.  Check Task Manager to see if any instances of Outlook are still running.  If there are any, then kill them.
9.  Launch Outlook by double-clicking twice in succession.
10.  Note the number of instances of Outlook running.

Let me know the number of instances running at steps 4 through 10.

hi
new in here \o

having the same problem reported here with a user and the .vbs works like a charm
just have a question about it
it opens by default the mail view. what do i need to change in the .vbs so it opens by default the folder list ?

thx in advanced
You might have enabled the "Hide When Minimized". This will open multiple instances of the same login. If you remove that it will toggle between minimize and maximize and will not open multiple instances.