Microsoft Outlook Encountered A Problem And Needs To Close

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  • Published on
    May 28th, 2018
  • Updated on
    March 5, 2021
  • Read Time
    6 minutes

Microsoft Outlook is undeniably the most popular email client that can handle your incoming mail better than any other client. It’s one of the most preferred email clients among Windows users. It offers numerous features which make it something more than just an email client. It works as a personal information manager that includes features like emailcalendar, task management, contact management, note taking, journal creation, and web browser. On the other hand, there are few disadvantages too which may create serious problems sometimes. While using the Microsoft Outlook client, you’re likely to confront an Outlook error message if there’s any problem. Sometimes it may show an error message, “Microsoft Outlook Encountered A Problem And Needs To Close”.

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Microsoft Outlook Encountered A Problem And Needs To Close

The above error message doesn’t provide much information, thus makes it harder to fix the issue, especially for novice users. Even sometimes the expert users may find it difficult to resolve this Outlook error message. In this article, I’m going to discuss the possible causes behind this Outlook error message. Also, I’ll help you learn how to resolve it without the help of an expert.

Most Possible Reasons

It’s very important to learn the most possible reasons before you can try anything to resolve the problem. Because if you know the reason, it becomes easy to prevent the problem from occurring again. Generally, the Outlook error message, “Microsoft Outlook Encountered A Problem And Needs To Close”, occurs due to three possible reasons (given below):

  • A recent installation of the new Windows security updates;
  • The system files are either missing or corrupt;
  • Software malfunction or failure

There’s one more reason but it has the least possibility. Anyway, sometimes a corrupt PST file can also cause this Outlook error message.

Fix “Microsoft Outlook Encountered A Problem And Needs To Close”

I’m showing the possible solutions below. Although I don’t guarantee that they’ll surely work for you, there’s no harm in trying them.

#1 – Cumulative Update of Microsoft Outlook

Most of the times, just a minor change in the Outlook code is enough to resolve this problem. So you should perform a cumulative update here. Below steps are mainly required to apply this approach:

  • Go to the Control Panel and click the Windows Update.
  • Now you should click the Check for updates button. This will start checking for the updates. It may take some time. So you should wait until the process is completed.
  • Once the process is successfully completed, you should find the available updates by clicking the option of Optional Updates key.
  • Check if there’s an update for Microsoft Outlook is available. If it’s available, select it and click OK.
  • Finally, click Install Updates to update the Microsoft Outlook on your computer system.

Important note: Sometimes it may happen that you don’t see any update in the Windows Update option. So there’s an alternate way to check for the cumulative updates of Microsoft Outlook. You can simply visit the Microsoft website where you can find the available updates.

Once the update is successfully installed, open the Microsoft Outlook and check if the problem is resolved or not. If you’re still receiving the error message, “Microsoft Outlook Encountered A Problem And Needs To Close”, maybe you should remove the unwanted registry entries.

#2 – Clean Outlook Profile

You should clean the Outlook profile to check whether it works for you or not. Follow these simple steps:

  • First, make sure the Microsoft Outlook client is not open.
  • Now press Win + R to launch the run dialog box.
  • Simply type Outlook/cleanprofile in the edit box and hit enter.

Now restart Microsoft Outlook to check whether the problem still exists or not. Unluckily, if it does, you should now check if the Outlook add-ins are causing this problem.

#3 – Run Outlook in Safe Mode

In order to ensure that whether the problem is associated with the Outlook add-ins or not, you should run the Microsoft Outlook client in safe mode. If you don’t know how to do that, follow these simple steps:

  • First, make sure the Microsoft Outlook client is not open.
  • Now press Win + R to launch the run dialog box.
  • Simply type Outlook/safe in the edit box and hit enter.

This will launch the Microsoft Outlook in safe mode which disables all the 3rd party add-ins. You should now check whether the Microsoft Outlook client works properly or not. If it does, this means there are some faulty add-ins which you need to remove. First, you should disable the suspected add-ins. Follow these simple steps:

  • Open the File menu and click Options.
  • On the Outlook Options dialog box, click the Add-ins.
  • Click the drop-down arrow next to Manage option (at the bottom). Select COM Add-ins and click the Go… button.
  • You’ll see a list of the add-ins available in the Microsoft Outlook client.
  • Disable all the add-ins by removing the check mark next to them.
  • Now enable only one add-in at a time, and run the Microsoft Outlook client normally to see if it works properly. You need to do the same thing until you find the suspected add-in.

Important note: If the suspected add-in is found, you should check for its update. If there’s no update available, you should better remove it.

If the error message, “Microsoft Outlook Encountered A Problem And Needs To Close”, isn’t related to the add-ins, you should try to repair PST file. Maybe the PST file is corrupt, and that’s why you’re receiving this Outlook error message.

#4 – Repair PST File

Microsoft provides the Inbox Repair tool scanpst.exe utility as a built-in repair tool to repair PST file. It can scan corrupt PST file for errors and repair it without using any 3rd party tool. But sometimes in a case of severe corruption, it may fail or not work. In such a situation, Outlook professionals always recommend using a smart PST Recovery tool. It’s one of the smartest recovery tools available in the market to handle PST file corruption. It can repair PST file with almost no manual effort and restore maximum possible content from it. It doesn’t require any prior technical expertise to use this software. Even a novice computer user can use this PST Recovery tool with ease.

Before purchasing the software, you should download the demo version for free evaluation. By using the demo version, you can check the preview of your mailbox content which you can actually recover from the file. If it satisfies you, then only you should purchase the software.

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