Category Archives: Office

Fix Outlook and Office 365 problems with Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant

Microsoft have released a tool to diagnose and fix issues with Outlook and Office 365.

It is updated regularly, and should be the first step when you experience issue in connecting to Office 365.

The tool is available here – https://diagnostics.outlook.com 

Outlook known issues in the June 2017 security updates

Some issues in the latest updates from Microsoft – https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Outlook-known-issues-in-the-June-2017-security-updates-3f6dbffd-8505-492d-b19f-b3b89369ed9b

The following issues have recommended workarounds until the issues are resolved.

ISSUE #1

This issue affects Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2010.

When you open an attachment in an email, contact, or task formatted as Rich Text you get the following error:

“The program used to create this object is Outlook. That program is either not installed on your computer or it is not responding. To edit this object, install Outlook or ensure that any dialog boxes in Outlook are closed”.

Program not installed

You may also see:

“This item contains attachments that are potentially unsafe. You may not be able to view these attachments after you close them”.

Potentially unsafe

ISSUE #2

This issue affects Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010, Outlook 2013, and Outlook 2016.

When opening an attachment that includes consecutive periods (…), or an exclamation point (!), the files are blocked and you receive an Opening Mail Attachment warning.

Attachment window

Or if an email message includes an attached email message, and the attached email message’s subject line ends with an unsafe file name extension as listed in the Blocked attachments in Outlook, the email attachment will be blocked for recipients.

ISSUE #3

This issue affects Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2016.

If you set ShowLevel1Attach to allow Outlook to display Level 1 attachments, you may see the error: “One or more objects in this file have been disabled due to your policy settings”.

WARNING: Typically, Level 1 attachments are blocked. If you have enabled this policy, users can see Level 1 attachments in Outlook. If you use any of the workarounds to open the files, please make sure they are safe to open. See: Information for administrators about e-mail security settings in Outlook 2007.

Outlook error

If you set ShowLevel1Attach to allow Outlook to display Level 1 attachments, and you send an email with an attachment you may see this message: “This item contains attachments that are potentially unsafe.  Recipients using Microsoft Outlook may not be able to open these attachments.”

Outlook unsafe attachment warning

ISSUE #4 (No workaround or fix)

This issue affects Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010, Outlook 2013, and Outlook 2016.

When you use a custom form that you have created for Outlook, you see the following two symptoms:

  • VBScript does not run.
  • You get a malicious code warning:

    Outlook Error

Issue #5

This issue affects all Outlook versions on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10.

When searching in Outlook, you get this error: “Something went wrong and your search couldn’t be completed.”, or “Search results may be incomplete because items are still being indexed“.

Outlook Error

And you’ll see this Event Log warning:

Outlook Event Log Warning

Issue #6

iCloud fails to load properly in Outlook 2007.

When accessing Calendar, Contacts, or Tasks in Outlook 2007, you get the following error:

The set of folders cannot be opened. MAPI was unable to load the information service C:\PROGRA~2\COMMON~1\Apple\Internet Services\APLZOD.dll. Be sure the service is correctly installed and configured.”

Outlook Error

Issue #7 (no fix or workaround)

This issue affects all Outlook versions on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10.

When you print a specific iframe or frame in a web page, the print output may be blank, or text is printed that resembles the following:

Outlook Print Error

NOTE: A frame is a part of a web page or browser window that displays content independent of its container. A frame can load content independently.

This problem has also been observed in both Internet Explorer 11, and in applications that host the IE Web Browser Control.

Viewing your Office 2016 Product Key from the Microsoft Office Account

Note: This article does not apply to Office 365 Professional Plus or Office 365 for Business installations, as the activation is tied to the Microsoft Account. This works with the online installations (Click and Run) for Office 2016 and 2013.

Why do we need to know this, if you already have the Product Key card? If you activated more than one installation on the same day, you will not easily be able to distinguish which installation pertains to the specific Product Key.

For example, when logged in to www.office.com/myaccount, we can see that this user activated the software on 2 PCs on the same day. Suppose one of these PCs needed to have Office 2016 re-installed? Which install should we choose?

office2016

If you have the Product Key card, you can compare that key to the key on one of these installations.

  1. From My Account, select Install from a disc.
    office2016a
  2. Expand I have a disc, and click View your product key
    office2016b
  3. You will now see the product key for this installation and compare this with the Product Key card to verify that you will be reinstalling the correct keyed version of Office 2016 on the PC.

Kudos to Richard and Ken from Junction City for the pointer to this information.

Outlook 2010 runs in Safe Mode after KB3114409

 

Microsoft released a bad patch on 9 December 2015, which caused Outlook 2010 to run only in Safe Mode. The fix for this is to uninstall the patch. Microsoft has already pulled this patch and is likely to release it again at a later time. I would suggest waiting at least a week before reinstalling this patch.

To fix this issue, perform the following steps to uninstall the bad patch.

  1. Close Outlook and All Microsoft Office Programs
  2. Open Control Panel
  3. Click on Programs. (Alternatively, you can search for View installed updates in the search bar at the top right corner of the Control Panel)

     

  4. Click on View Installed Updates

     

  5. Scroll down to the Microsoft Office 2010 section, and look for Update for Microsoft Outlook 2010 (KB3114409) 32-Bit Edition (or 64-Bit Edition).

     

     

     

  6. Click Uninstall

     

     

  7. Click the Uninstall button

     

  8. The patch will be uninstalled

     

  9. When the patch is uninstalled, click OK and close the Control Panel

 

 

How to change the criteria that Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2013 use to archive different item types

When archiving in Outlook, it is often useful to archive by the date of receipt for items. It is not a widely known fact that Outlook archives email messages by the last modified date. This is generally not an issue, unless you were performing some inbox cleaning out and moved an item from 2012 to another folder. At that point, the last modified date becomes the date of when you moved the email. So when you attempt to archive your mailbox, this item does not get archived.

The following KB article explains how you can change this default behaviour in Outlook – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2553550

According to the KB article, by default, Microsoft Outlook 2010 and Microsoft Outlook 2013 archive different items based on the item type, as follows:

  • Email message: The received date or the last modified date and time, whichever is later.
  • Calendar item: The last modified date and time or the actual date that an appointment, event, or meeting is scheduled for, whichever is later.
  • Task: The completion date or the last modified date and time, whichever is later. Tasks that are not marked as completed are not archived. Tasks that are assigned to other users are archived only if the status is completed.
  • Note: The last modified date and time.
    Journal entry: The date when the journal entry is created or the last modified date and time, whichever is later.
  • Contact: Not archived.

To change this behaviour, you can create or modify the following registry setting.

Outlook 2010 – HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Preferences

Outlook 2013 – HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Preferences

Edit or Create a new DWORD value, ArchiveIgnoreLastModifiedTime, with a value of  1

IMPORTANT: You must restart Outlook after this change has been made.

You can now install Office 365 on Remote Desktop Services Servers (Terminal Servers) using Shared Computer Activation

When attempting to run Office 2013 Professional Plus, installed from your Office 365 subscription (P2, M, E3+), the following error message occurs.

Finally, there is some good news! Microsoft have announced that as of 1 September 2014, all Office SKUs – Office ProPlus, Project Pro, Visio Pro, can now be used on a shared device or virtual machine. This enables users on Remote Desktop Computers – ie Terminal Servers, to run an activated copy of Office without the requirements of purchasing an additional Volume License or Open License.

Kudos to Microsoft for finally making this feature available! For more information on this feature, see the official Microsoft blog post here – http://blogs.technet.com/b/uspartner_ts2team/archive/2014/09/03/office-365-shared-computer-activation.aspx

I will post a blog shortly to run through the installation process with screenshots.

Increase the maximum PST file size for Outlook

I have been working through a bunch of Microsoft Exchange migrations recently. One of the issues that we have seen has to do with the size of the exported PST file. By default, the maximum size of PST files has been limited to 20GB for Outlook 2003 and 2007, and 50GB for Outlook 2010 and 2013.

This limit can be increased or decreased via two registry settings.

  • WarnLargeFileSize – This value sets warning threshold in MB for the maximum size of a PST file. The maximum is 4090445042 (That is about 4PB!)
  • MaxLargeFileSize – This value determines the maximum size in MB that can be written to a PST file. This should be set to about 5% higher than the warning size above. This maximum is 4294967295.

Here are some common values that could be used:

  •  30GB maximum (29GB warning) = 30720 (29696)
  • 75GB (73GB) = 76800 (74752)
  • 100GB (95GB) = 102400 (97280)
  • 150GB (145GB) = 153600 (148480)
  • 200GB (190GB) = 204800 (194560)
  • 500GB (480GB) = 512000 (460800)
  • Are you sure you want such a large PST file after this?

The registry settings are found or created here, depending on the Outlook version.

  • Outlook 2003 HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\PST
  • Outlook 2007 HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\PST
  • Outlook 2010 HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\PST
  • Outlook 2013 HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\PST

Archive Outlook items by received or sent date, not by last modified date

While looking through some maintenance tasks, I came across a knowledge base article that solved a long standing issue. In Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2013, it is possible to archive items by their date received or sent instead of by the last modified date.

Microsoft KB2553550 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2553550) details the steps.

Outlook 2010

To create the ArchiveIgnoreLastModifiedTime registry value, follow these steps:

  1. Start Regedit.
  2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Preferences
  3. On the Edit menu, point to New, click DWORD Value, type ArchiveIgnoreLastModifiedTime, and then press ENTER.
  4. Right-click ArchiveIgnoreLastModifiedTime, and then click Modify.
  5. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
  6. Exit Registry Editor.

Outlook 2013

To create the ArchiveIgnoreLastModifiedTime registry value, follow these steps:

  1. Start Regedit.
  2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Preferences
  3. On the Edit menu, point to New, click DWORD Value, type ArchiveIgnoreLastModifiedTime, and then press ENTER.
  4. Right-click ArchiveIgnoreLastModifiedTime, and then click Modify.
  5. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
  6. Exit Registry Editor.

You must restart Outlook after you add the ArchiveIgnoreLastModifiedTime registry key.

Locating a Folder in Outlook 2013

Chances are you have suffered from a case of “sticky mouse syndrome” where the mouse apparently sticks and drags a folder while you are working in Outlook. If you have a lot of folders, it will become impossible to find this folder. The most frustrating thing is that you remember an email in that folder and search for the folder. You open the email, and see the name of the folder which holds the email, but you do not know where this folder is located in relation to the entire mailbox. How do you locate this mailbox, so that you can move it back to the right location?

  1. In Outlook 2013, search for an email in the folder you are looking for. In this example, I am looking for an email from George, because I remember that I filed his email in to the correspondence folder that I have lost.

     

  2. I open this email and confirm that it is indeed in the correspondence folder.

     

  3. Going back to the message, press CRTL-SHIFT-F to open the Advanced Find window. The containing folder will be listed

     

  4. Click the Browse button, and you will now see the exact location of this folder. It was moved under the Inbox!