OL98: Outlook Stops Responding on Start Up

• Microsoft Outlook 98

SYMPTOMS

When you start Microsoft Outlook 98, Outlook stops responding and you receive a continuous hourglass.

CAUSE

This can happen when you are using the Preview Pane feature and the first item in your Inbox is a corrupt e-mail message.

RESOLUTION

Start Outlook without the Preview Pane by using the /nopreview switch.

MORE INFORMATION

You can use the Preview Pane feature to display the contents of messages without having to open them. When you open Outlook, the Preview Pane will display the first item in your Inbox. If this item is corrupt, it may not display so Outlook stops responding without completing the open process. To bypass the corrupt item, start Outlook with the /nopreview switch and remove the corrupt item without opening it.

To turn off the Preview Pane so you can remove the item, follow these steps:

1. Click Start on the Windows Taskbar and click Run.



2. In the Open window, type the path to your Outlook.exe file. If there are spaces in the path name, enclose it in quotation marks.



3. Following the last character in the path name, type a space followed by /nopreview, and click OK. For example:

   "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Outlook.exe" /nopreview




4. When Outlook opens without the Preview Pane, delete the first item in the Inbox or move it to another folder without opening it.

REFERENCES

For more information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q185172 OL98: First Run Hangs When Creating Sample Appointment

Q181619 OL98: Outlook Starts Slowly with Dial-Up Adapter DNS Enabled

Q182112 OL98: Additional Command-Line Switches

Additional query words: 98

Keywords          : GnlCrpt MsgRead 
Version           : WINDOWS:
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb 

Last Reviewed: July 27, 1999