When you launch Microsoft Outlook on your Windows PC, it may be stuck at the Loading Profile or Processing stage. This can be due to a number of reasons. If you’re able to fix the issue, this post may be able to help you.
I was working on my laptop and needed to open a PDF file. Edge being the default PDF file opener, it suddenly sprang to life, and – BAM! – the next thing I saw was the IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL Stop Error screen and my PC restarted.
I found that Outlook would not go beyond the Loading Profile splash screen on restart. After a while, I opened it in Safe Mode but found that one of my email accounts had no email in it and was displaying an empty folder.
Restart PC and relaunch Outlook
There are a few things you can try if Outlook is not working correctly. Sometimes restarting the computer and relaunching Outlook may fix the problem.
Related Article: Microsoft Outlook notifications not working on Windows 11/10
Start Outlook in Safe Mode
Launch Outlook in Safe Mode and see if the email account will sync. If it does, then it may just work! To launch Outlook in Safe Mode, simply hold the CTRL key and double-click on the Outlook icon. Or you can run the outlook /safe command.
Delete Outlook profile folders
Create a system restore point and then run regedit to open the registry editor. Navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles
The key stores Outlook profile folders by default. Outlook’s default profile is “Outlook.” To remove it, right-click on Outlook and select “Delete.”
Reset the Outlook navigation pane
To reset the Outlook navigation pane, which is at the left or bottom, run the following command:
outlook /resetnavpane
Once done see if it has helped.
If you have other suggestions or a freeware tool that can help, please post them in the comments.
Hello, My name is Shari & I am a writer for the ‘Outlook AppIns’ blog. I’m a CSIT graduate & I’ve been working in the IT industry for 3 years.