Outlook Troubleshooting Best Practices
It is inevitable that at some point in time, you will be faced with an unexpected error message that you are not familiar with and/or which could at best be described as “cryptic” and you need assistance finding an answer to the problem.
Using Search Engines
There is a very high probablity that you will not be the first person encountering the problem and one of the quickest ways to self-help is making the Google search engine your best friend. This may sound obvious but the easiest way to get results is to enter your question as the “search phrase” such as “How do I ……” or “Where is …….. in Outlook 20??”.
If you are trying to find information related to a specific error message, start by entering the EXACT error message as the search phrase and then refine your results accordingly. There is a wealth of information immediately available at your fingertips which can result in a much faster resolution than waiting on someone to either point you to those articles or charge you for implementing a solution that they found as a result.
Getting help
If you can’t find an answer and need to ask someone else, it is critical that as much information as possible is provided otherwise it can quickly and easily become a pointless exercise. Tech support people don’t know what versions of software you are using, what is appearing on your screen, what steps you have followed, what new software has been added and/or any other changes that may have taken place. While not everyone is technically inclined, there are some fundamental things that need to be done in order to get the right assistance you’re after.
For example, the following comments serve no purpose and just waste everyone’s time
- “I’m not technical – have no idea what is going on”
reality – you are the person who is using the computer - “I have no idea what programs are installed or what versions they are”
reality – it’s a simple approach on how to find out as described below - “I have followed all the steps/instructions found in a bunch of other articles I found and things still don’t work”
reality – no one knows what you read, whether it has anything to do with the actual problem or what steps you have followed - “I got an error message but have no idea anymore what it said”
reality – if you can’t provide the most basic information of what is happening then how would you expect someone else to provide any solutions. Messages are presented for a reason and have a purpose. While the message may appear meaningless to you, may provide a great deal of insight to the person you’re communicating with - “Everything was working yesterday and today nothing works and absolutely nothing changed on my system”
reality – something changed, you may not know what but things don’t just go from a working to non-working scenario for no reason - “Have the exact same problem as numerous other people but none of the solutions work for me”
reality – there are two parts to every problem (1) the symptom – what you are encountering and (2) the cause. As an anology, there can be 10 different people experiencing the same thing “a headache” but the “cause” of that headache can be different for each person stemming from a minor problem to being an indicator of something far more serious if it’s on-going. If you’re skeptical – just look at all the various kinds of possible headaches listed by the Mayo Clinic https://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/headache/basics/causes/sym-20050800 – do you believe that there is a single solution to every kind of headache?
Have the right information at hand
- If you are encountering an error message, be sure to keep track of the message in its ENTIRETY and EXACTLY as displayed. Do NOT paraphrase. The same error message can occur for different reasons and knowing both what the message displayed AND at the exact point it occurred can save everyone a great deal of time
- Know which version of the program you are using i.e. Outlook ‘2007, Outlook ‘2010, Outlook ‘2013 etc. This information is simple enough to find in any program. If the menu bar has <HELP> there will usually be a sub-menu item called <ABOUT> showing program information. If there is no <HELP> on the menu bar, then first place to look would be under the <FILE> menu which should have a sub-menu item related to program information.
- Know which Windows operating system is being used. While generally of secondary importance with Outlook related issues, that information can play a factor.Which Windows operating system am I running? https://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows/which-operating-systemBe aware that Windows RT on a Microsoft Surface tablet is not the same as Windows 8/8.1 running on a Surface Pro tablet. Programs developed for RT are not the same as those for the full Windows OS whether or not they may share near identical names
- Know the <bit-level> (32 bit or 64 bit) of both the operating system and the programs involved. Most current systems today are 64bit and run 64 bit Windows. However, any 32 bit application program can run on a 64 bit system and it shouldn’t automatically be assumed that using the 64bit version of a given program is immediately the best choice. For example, the 32 bit version of Microsoft Office is still considered the recommended option.Is my PC running the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows? https://windows.microsoft.com/en-CA/windows7/find-out-32-or-64-bit
- Be specific when using words like “I just upgraded to Office ‘2013” – does that mean that you upgraded your existing Office version on the same machine or you got a new computer and in essence are installing Office 2013 from scratch which is not considered an “upgrade” from a technical standpoint? A new installation of Office is just that, a new installation which must be configured as such. Using a different version of Office on another computer makes no difference – on this particular computer – it’s a NEW install.
- Know what 3rd party products either Outlook addins or stand-alone you are using with Outlook particularly those involving anti-virus, anti-spam and sync’ing.
The above are the kinds of questions that you are going to get asked so it’s going to save a lot of time by providing it before you start. If you are having difficulty gathering the information, then state as much so the person has a better idea of how they best start the trouble-shooting process.
When using products from different vendors
A common complaint seen on various forums comes from people who upgraded to a new version of Microsoft Office but kept older versions of products that were integrating with the previous version.
If something stops working because you updated your version of Outlook and something stops working as expected – you need to contact the vendor of that product to see if their product supports what you’re using and/or if you need to upgrade <THEIR> software. Just because a 3rd party product worked with Outlook ‘2010 as a for instance, doesn’t automatically mean it will work with Outlook ‘2013. it’s up to the vendor to update their software so looking for an Outlook solution is pointless if the vendor’s software doesn’t work with it.
If your problem can be summed up as “well everything was working properly with all my other programs BEFORE I updated Outlook” then it’s almost a 99% chance that the issue has nothing to do with Outlook but with the other programs in use. The first point of contact would be the vendor’s support site or commmunity forum.
Other vendor’s support tech says it’s an Outlook problem
If you are using a 3rd party program (whether addin or stand-alone) that is not working properly with Outlook for some reason and you are told nothing more than “contact Microsoft – it’s an Outlook problem” then what that tech is essentially saying is the following:
“Have absolutely no idea as to what the possible problem could be but since it cannot possibly be anything to do with our software – go contact the <other guy> and get them to figure it out”
If there is in fact an Outlook related problem with their product, then they should be aware of it and be able to provide an explanation. it may be a case that an Outlook update broke something either in Outlook or caused the 3rd party program to encounter problems. Regardless of cause, the 3rd party vendor is the one that needs to deal with Microsoft about any potential problems, they own the source code to their program and only they know what their program is supposed to be doing or responding to in any given situation. By the same token, you cannot make the assumption that it’s automatically a Microsoft problem “just because they are a big rich company and should be responsible for everything that happens in the technology universe”.
Category: Troubleshooting
