Solved Outlook 2013 will not open...produces error

msalton1

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I was trying to set up email for a friend on Outlook 2013 as part of 365 (win8). It would not open, but rather produced an error that mentioned Exchange server (sorry, had to run out on a business call and neglected to get a screenshot of the exact error). When canceling out, it produced a dialog with the friend's name and email address (which is a cox.net server using an alias, i.e., janesmith@bellsouth.net). There was an option to 'check name'. When clicked on, it mentioned something like "suchandsuch.ost was not an ost file" or (after googling...) it could have been "not an outlook data file". Again, apologies for the vagueness of the error.

I found it odd that outlook wouldn't open at all, but errored out. Then it occurred to me...given that this was a new computer, maybe my friend may have had a version of Outlook on their previous system and transferred the old .ost file over to the new system. Could this cause this type of behavior in Outlook 2013? My friend's time is limited and she may not be available for a few weeks, so returning to her house is not an option before then, and I'd really like to have an idea of what the problem could be.

Could this be an incompatible file issue? A damaged file issue? And if so, could I just track down the file and move it out of the directory to allow Outlook to run?

Does my vague description fit another problem that could cause this issue?

Again, apologies for the limited info.

Thanks, Salt
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win7, Win8
I was able to gain access to the computer, and it turned out to be a corrupted profile. I removed the corrupted profile via the control panel applet and added a new profile with the same (imap) config. She hadn't changed anything from default, so no settings, etc. lost. Problem solved.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win7, Win8
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