Outlook 2019. I am having "sync" issues and can no longer send any e-mails.
Computer crashed - new HD installed by pros. They recovered all my data from the old drive and put on the new drive.
They also Installed Office 2019, but the issue is only with Outlook 2019. It installed fine. It worked perfectly (at first). But I wanted to get my old PST files merged with the newly installed PST files. The merge seemed to work but I later realized several problems.
One: Maybe because the old PST files were so large (some over 3gb) - Outlook won't stop trying to SYNC with whatever!!! Then TWO: Now I cannot send any new e-mails!!! I read on the internet that as long as the SYNC is incomplete this stops all mail sending.
So, how can I make the SYNC complete.... or stop it altogether?
And if this is not the cause of the non-sending e-mails - what is?
I don't know what the SYNC even is or if it is that important. This is a home used computer and I use it only for e-mails and browsing, etc. Not company or big network use. Don't even know what the MS exchange is and why it needs to SYNC in the first place.
Is there a quick easy fix? Should I consider removing Outlook altogether and re-installing it? I'm open to any and all suggestions....... please. E-mail is pretty much my whole life which is why I wanted to merge the old PST files with the new install. FYI, for what it is worth, I use 5 different e-mail accounts on this Outlook.
They also Installed Office 2019, but the issue is only with Outlook 2019. It installed fine. It worked perfectly (at first). But I wanted to get my old PST files merged with the newly installed PST files. The merge seemed to work but I later realized several problems.
One: Maybe because the old PST files were so large (some over 3gb) - Outlook won't stop trying to SYNC with whatever!!! Then TWO: Now I cannot send any new e-mails!!! I read on the internet that as long as the SYNC is incomplete this stops all mail sending.
So, how can I make the SYNC complete.... or stop it altogether?
And if this is not the cause of the non-sending e-mails - what is?
I don't know what the SYNC even is or if it is that important. This is a home used computer and I use it only for e-mails and browsing, etc. Not company or big network use. Don't even know what the MS exchange is and why it needs to SYNC in the first place.
Is there a quick easy fix? Should I consider removing Outlook altogether and re-installing it? I'm open to any and all suggestions....... please. E-mail is pretty much my whole life which is why I wanted to merge the old PST files with the new install. FYI, for what it is worth, I use 5 different e-mail accounts on this Outlook.
Just to explain...
MS Exchange is a mail server product from Microsoft. You can have it by your company, Office 365 if you have a mail account there ot from a provider which offers MS Exchange mailboxes.
IMAP is a synchronisation mechanism, can be used with MS Exchange too but works with most other Mail Servers (i.e gmail).
Such a mail box has a web interface where you can access your mails via Browser as well as you can sync all content into Outlook to use Outlook instead of the web interface.
MS Exchange is a mail server product from Microsoft. You can have it by your company, Office 365 if you have a mail account there ot from a provider which offers MS Exchange mailboxes.
IMAP is a synchronisation mechanism, can be used with MS Exchange too but works with most other Mail Servers (i.e gmail).
Such a mail box has a web interface where you can access your mails via Browser as well as you can sync all content into Outlook to use Outlook instead of the web interface.
Is there a quick easy fix?
Good question! It is better to ask the pros to help you with the data recovery as their jobs have not been done properly. Did the pros charge you for the data recovery?
I do not think you can fix it on your own as even for the pros, the fixes involves manual work of several hours to check the old data file and move/copy the emails inside the old data file into the new data file. There is no merge as the emails and folders are locked as read only in the old data file.
Anyway, there are two things to check if you want to proceed.
1. Do you have the passwords for the email accounts?
2. Do you know the locations and the format of the data files?
Good question! It is better to ask the pros to help you with the data recovery as their jobs have not been done properly. Did the pros charge you for the data recovery?
I do not think you can fix it on your own as even for the pros, the fixes involves manual work of several hours to check the old data file and move/copy the emails inside the old data file into the new data file. There is no merge as the emails and folders are locked as read only in the old data file.
Anyway, there are two things to check if you want to proceed.
1. Do you have the passwords for the email accounts?
2. Do you know the locations and the format of the data files?
ASKER
Jackie Man,
True the pros I hired did drop the ball a bit but it was not all their fault as I had trouble producing the passwords for the e-mail accounts. I took the computer home and after a lot of looking for, I finally found the passwords.
Then I did a search and saw that merging the PST files were described as very simple..... so I did that myself.
And like I said - the Outlook and all e-mail accounts worked fine before the PST merge. But the problem surfaced after the merge of those PST's. Being the weekend, I took it upon myself to try to work it out. Thus why I asked the question of you fine folks!
Bembi will likely be the winner of this question as it appears that her/his advice seems to be very good and right on!!! I think the SYNC is just taking longer than I ever expected. It is moving extremely slow but it is moving forward. I will likely have the results by morning as it is bedtime for me now.
Thanks for your input but as I said Bembi will likely win this one.
Thanks So Very Much for all who read and those who replied!!!!!!!!!!!!
True the pros I hired did drop the ball a bit but it was not all their fault as I had trouble producing the passwords for the e-mail accounts. I took the computer home and after a lot of looking for, I finally found the passwords.
Then I did a search and saw that merging the PST files were described as very simple..... so I did that myself.
And like I said - the Outlook and all e-mail accounts worked fine before the PST merge. But the problem surfaced after the merge of those PST's. Being the weekend, I took it upon myself to try to work it out. Thus why I asked the question of you fine folks!
Bembi will likely be the winner of this question as it appears that her/his advice seems to be very good and right on!!! I think the SYNC is just taking longer than I ever expected. It is moving extremely slow but it is moving forward. I will likely have the results by morning as it is bedtime for me now.
Thanks for your input but as I said Bembi will likely win this one.
Thanks So Very Much for all who read and those who replied!!!!!!!!!!!!
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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Would help to know what kind of Email system you're connecting to.
IMAP? POP? Exchange? IMAP is, in my experience, VERY problematic. A bad message can cause utter chaos in getting and sending your mail. One of my clients has been using Outlook with IMAP based email and they ROUTINELY have problems you're describing. If the mail system you're using supports IMAP it PROBABLY also supports POP (TECHNICALLY, POP3 and also, just for clarity, IMAP is also IMAP4). What's the difference?
IMAP tries to synchronize your messages (and message status). So if you read a message on your phone, it appears as read on your computer in Outlook and on webmail (assuming you phone and your computer BOTH connect via IMAP.
POP, on the other hand, doesn't care about synchronization. When a message is on the server, the POP connection downloads it. It doesn't tell the server it's been read, it just gets it. Assuming POP is setup to leave mail on the server for a period of time to allow more than one device to "get" the message (a not uncommon setup) when you connect from your phone instead of your computer, your phone will also see the message but as far as your phone is concerned, it's never been read, even if you have already read it on your computer.
Now, I suspect you're using POP because you're talking about a PST file. IMAP and Exchange based email servers will cause Outlook to create an OST (which is similar to a PST, but not directly readable like a PST). POP connections will typically store email in a PST.
If you're having problems sending, make sure a message you tried to send isn't stuck in the outbox due to a size restriction. Today, most mail systems allow sending of messages of 25 MB or more but it's possible your mail system has a lower restriction... and also possible you tried sending your mom a video of the kid's baseball game this weekend and that video is just too large.
If there's nothing stuck in the outbox, I'd just create a new profile or connection to your email account. You can open the old PST file (merging them manually SHOULD be fine, but you don't have to; I often just label them something like "Email from 2018 to May 21 2021" for example.
If the connection is Exchange, I would be VERY surprised since I RARELY see issues like this with Exchange connections (Outlook was designed to work seamlessly with Exchange (which includes Office 365)... it's fairly kludgy with everything else).
IMAP? POP? Exchange? IMAP is, in my experience, VERY problematic. A bad message can cause utter chaos in getting and sending your mail. One of my clients has been using Outlook with IMAP based email and they ROUTINELY have problems you're describing. If the mail system you're using supports IMAP it PROBABLY also supports POP (TECHNICALLY, POP3 and also, just for clarity, IMAP is also IMAP4). What's the difference?
IMAP tries to synchronize your messages (and message status). So if you read a message on your phone, it appears as read on your computer in Outlook and on webmail (assuming you phone and your computer BOTH connect via IMAP.
POP, on the other hand, doesn't care about synchronization. When a message is on the server, the POP connection downloads it. It doesn't tell the server it's been read, it just gets it. Assuming POP is setup to leave mail on the server for a period of time to allow more than one device to "get" the message (a not uncommon setup) when you connect from your phone instead of your computer, your phone will also see the message but as far as your phone is concerned, it's never been read, even if you have already read it on your computer.
Now, I suspect you're using POP because you're talking about a PST file. IMAP and Exchange based email servers will cause Outlook to create an OST (which is similar to a PST, but not directly readable like a PST). POP connections will typically store email in a PST.
If you're having problems sending, make sure a message you tried to send isn't stuck in the outbox due to a size restriction. Today, most mail systems allow sending of messages of 25 MB or more but it's possible your mail system has a lower restriction... and also possible you tried sending your mom a video of the kid's baseball game this weekend and that video is just too large.
If there's nothing stuck in the outbox, I'd just create a new profile or connection to your email account. You can open the old PST file (merging them manually SHOULD be fine, but you don't have to; I often just label them something like "Email from 2018 to May 21 2021" for example.
If the connection is Exchange, I would be VERY surprised since I RARELY see issues like this with Exchange connections (Outlook was designed to work seamlessly with Exchange (which includes Office 365)... it's fairly kludgy with everything else).
Hi Scott,
Nicely detailed question. Well done.
I'd suggest you try the following, in the order I've listed below to try and resolve the problem you are experiencing.
1. Run Outlook in Safe mode to eliminate there are problems with any add-ins.
Outlook will open in Safe mode. Does the error you're getting still persist?
If it does, then that should rule out an Add-in causing the problem and you can skip down to 2. Run ScanPst to verify PST data file integrity
< OR >
If the error does not persist in Outlook Safe mode, then close and re-open Outlook normally.
Now back in Outlook normal mode, click on File > Options > Add-ins > Manage COM Add-ins and click the Go... button as shown below.
Disable all Add-ins and click OK as shown below.
Now close and re-open Outlook in normal mode once again. If the error now no longer occurs when Outlook is running in normal mode, then one of the add-ins was the problem. Re-enable each add-in one at a time and keep closing and re-opening Outlook until the error returns. When it does, you've found the problem. Remove the problematic add-in and reinstall it if needed.
2. Run ScanPst to verify PST data file integrity. To do that;
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\SCANPST.EXE" and then press your Enter key as shown below.
Note: The above command example assumes you are running the 32bit version of Office. If you have the 64bit version of Office installed, use the following command instead.
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\SCANPST.EXE"
If the error is still persisting, perform an online repair on Microsoft Office as described in Step 3. below.
3. Perform an Online Outlook Repair (You will not lose any settings or data)
Note: I personally rarely bother with a "Quick Repair" first as the Online Repair does a much more thorough repair, albeit takes a little longer, but you can try that first if you wish. Neither option should cause any loss of data or settings in any of your Office apps, including Outlook.
Wait until the repair process completes, then open Outlook in normal mode and see if the error has been corrected. If it continues to persist after following all of the steps I've given you, let me know and we'll go down a different troubleshooting path.
Hope this has been helpful.
Regards, Andrew
Nicely detailed question. Well done.
I'd suggest you try the following, in the order I've listed below to try and resolve the problem you are experiencing.
1. Run Outlook in Safe mode to eliminate there are problems with any add-ins.
- First, make sure that Microsoft Outlook is completely closed, press your Windows Key + R
- In the run box that pops up, type Outlook /Safe and press your Enter key, or click the OK button.
Outlook will open in Safe mode. Does the error you're getting still persist?
If it does, then that should rule out an Add-in causing the problem and you can skip down to 2. Run ScanPst to verify PST data file integrity
< OR >
If the error does not persist in Outlook Safe mode, then close and re-open Outlook normally.
Now back in Outlook normal mode, click on File > Options > Add-ins > Manage COM Add-ins and click the Go... button as shown below.
Disable all Add-ins and click OK as shown below.
Now close and re-open Outlook in normal mode once again. If the error now no longer occurs when Outlook is running in normal mode, then one of the add-ins was the problem. Re-enable each add-in one at a time and keep closing and re-opening Outlook until the error returns. When it does, you've found the problem. Remove the problematic add-in and reinstall it if needed.
2. Run ScanPst to verify PST data file integrity. To do that;
- First, make sure that Microsoft Outlook is completely closed.
- Next, open an Administrative command prompt by pressing your Windows Key, typing CMD, right-clicking the result and then clicking Run as administrator or just click "Run as administrator" on the right-hand side as shown below.
- Acknowledge the UAC prompt you should get by clicking the Yes button and the command window will open.
- In the resulting command window, type the following into the command window:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\SCANPST.EXE" and then press your Enter key as shown below.
Note: The above command example assumes you are running the 32bit version of Office. If you have the 64bit version of Office installed, use the following command instead.
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\SCANPST.EXE"
- The following window will open. Click on the Browse button and navigate to the location of your PST file and select it.
- The Scanpst repair tool window will now reappear. Click the Start button to begin the Scanpst repair process as shown below.
- You will see the progress of Scanpst performing the repair process. Wait until it completes.
- Now click the Repair button as shown below.
- Once the repair process has finished, the following box will open stating Repair Complete.
- Click the OK button to close the box.
- Now close and re-open Outlook once again and see if the error is still persisting.
If the error is still persisting, perform an online repair on Microsoft Office as described in Step 3. below.
3. Perform an Online Outlook Repair (You will not lose any settings or data)
- Press your Windows Key, type Add or remove programs and press your Enter key.
- Locate your Microsoft Office installation (example below is Office 365), click it once and then click the Modify button
- Acknowledge the UAC prompt and then select Online Repair and click the Repair button
Note: I personally rarely bother with a "Quick Repair" first as the Online Repair does a much more thorough repair, albeit takes a little longer, but you can try that first if you wish. Neither option should cause any loss of data or settings in any of your Office apps, including Outlook.
Wait until the repair process completes, then open Outlook in normal mode and see if the error has been corrected. If it continues to persist after following all of the steps I've given you, let me know and we'll go down a different troubleshooting path.
Hope this has been helpful.
Regards, Andrew
ASKER
Thank you Bembi for your help with this issue. You were right on.
Also I would like to give a wink to all other pros who contributed.
Thanks!!!!!!!!!
Also I would like to give a wink to all other pros who contributed.
Thanks!!!!!!!!!
This file with yourname.ost.
If you use a IMAP connection (i.e public provider like gmail), than it is similar, you just have to wait until your IMAP folders are synced. In this case a yourname.pst is created.
POP3 is different, but I would exclude this as POP3 doesn't have a server copy.
In that case you have to import your old pst file, but should not take long.
For Exchange and IMAP, you just have to wait until the sync is finished.
I would not recommend to stop it as it may produce other issues.
So be patient.