Outlook won't open after email set up

Question

I just got a new workstation and need to set up Outlook for my work email - simple. I go through the wizard, put in all of my info, and successfully connect and send the test messages. When I return to the main Outlook page, it looks like its trying to set up my mailboxes, and then crashes (window just closes). I click to reopen Outlook, and the splash page will appear, but then it closes or crashes before I can do anything.

I've found that if I am not connected to the internet, or if I go through Control Panel to remove the account entirely, then I am able to open Outlook. The other odd thing is that if I right click on Outlook and choose a specific task, such as "New E-mail message", that window will open fine. I tried sending a test message, but it was not received at the other end. Also, I have tried opening it in safe mode ("outlook.exe /safe"), but still in encounter the same problem. Running Repair also does not change anything.

I suspect there is some issue with connecting to my email server. One of our IT guys said he thinks the problem only happens with IMAP, so he suggested switching to POP. Unfortunately I am not able to even get Outlook connected using POP, but I suspect that is a completely separate issue I should take up with the person who runs our server.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing Outlook to crash like this?

Update:

Once I got the correct POP3 settings, I was able to set up my account that way without problems. I still think IMAP would be preferred though, so I'm still open to hearing potential solutions.

Answer 1

See if an add-on is causing the issue.

Start --> Run --> Outlook /safe:3

Please note that, while the above command will cause Outlook to load with no add-ins, the add-ins are still going to be displayed in the Add-in Manager window.

If starting with no add-ins doesn’t solve your Outlook problems, you can also try to load Outlook with one of the following switches:

/cleanviews – this switch restores default views (all custom views you created are lost!);

/firstrun – starts Outlook as if it were run for the first time;

/cleanprofile – loads Outlook with a new, clean user profile, while restoring default profile registry keys;

/nocustomize – loads Outlook without customized toolbars.

Reference: https://www.outlook-apps.com/load-outlook-no-add-ins/