"Outlook is closing" in Notification Tray - Can't reopen without killing the process

Question

I have received a few notes that outlook isn't closing properly and only after a reboot it is possible to re-open outlook. A day after, I noticed the same thing on my computer. So basically, what I found out is, that after closing Outlook, the process isn't shutting down properly, and in the notification tray appears the typical grey outlook symbol called "Outlook is closing". But it won't close until you kill the process.

Now I read a few threads in different forums, where people had the same issue in older Office versions, but none is really identical to mine. So I'm stuck right now... anyone any advice?

OS: Windows 10 Pro, 64-bit

Office: 365 (Outlook 2016)

Add-Ins: Zimbra Connector, Agile PLM but disabled(!)

Thanks for all help!

Solution 1

I had the same issue. Without disabling the add-ons, the following steps worked for me:

1) Hit Control-Alt-Delete
2) Click Task Manager
3) Go to 'Users' Tab
4) Under User name (usually an email address), expand/collapse all the programs. 
5) Search for Outlook.exe and 'end' the process by using Left click of the mouse.

This will kill the process altogether and you should be able to restart Outlook with a click.

Solution 2

This issue is mostly caused by add-ins. Try to run Outlook in safe mode first: outlook.exe /safe. If this mode allows it to exit properly, then disable your add-ins one by one to find the falty one. After that contact the add-in's developer.

Comments

[Steve Fan]

Some add-in or program that integrated into Outlook and uses Outlook data may be the cause.

[Olin Kirkland]

This happens all the damn time, it's four years later. I can't believe I actually paid for this software.

[coz]

Works as expected -> Outlook 16.0.14131

[Bram Vanroy]

In my case it was under Microsoft Outlook.