Outlook will not open after changing to Office 365 Home

Question

Outlook will not open after changing to Office 365 Home

Keith Buxton 6

I get the following message on trying to open Outlook on my Windows 10 PC. I have recently retired and had to subscribe to Office 365 Home (previously used a work Office 365 account):

I have a Gmail email account (thank goodness!) that has all of my emails, contacts and calendar data.
I also have an iPhone and as part of the Office 365 Home package I have loaded the iOS Office and this syncs to my Outlook mobile iOS app successfully. However the Outlook app on my Windows 10 laptop does not allow me in - see message I get. I have now spent many hours / days trying to solve this including with Microsoft help - with no success. I can also see my emails in the cloud-based Office Outlook - it's just the local Outlook on my laptop that does not work. Any ideas?

JeffYang-MSFT 6,261 Reputation points Moderator

2021-08-16T07:26:32.493+00:00

Hi @Keith Buxton ,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

I can also see my emails in the cloud-based Office Outlook - it's just the local Outlook on my laptop that does not work. My Outlook is within the Office 365 Home suite of programs i.e. Outlook 365 and not the Outlook for Windows.

Looks like your issue is indeed more related to your local Outlook.
Are you using Office apps downloaded from Microsoft Store? Can your find your Office 365 program in your Control Panel>All Control Panel Items>Programs and Features?

In order to better understand and research about your issue, if possible, please try to provide a screenshot of your Outlook screen to us. (Notice: Please hide your personal information in the screenshot for security.)

Any update, please feel free to post back.
Keith Buxton 6 Reputation points

2021-08-16T21:54:19.977+00:00

As requested, here is a screenshot of my Apps & Features within Settings - you will see that it includes the Microsoft 365 program:

Here is a screenshot of the same Apps list but from the location where Office happens to be (please note that I could not find the Outlook app in this list)::

I found that in the above apps list in Settings, I could not locate any of the apps included in Microsoft 365 Home e.g. Excel, Word, Outlook etc.
So I simply looked for the location of Outlook (as an example) on my PC as available in the Start menu and here is the screenshot to show the location of all of these Office apps:

Finally I could not see how to supply you with a screenshot of my Outlook when I could not avoid disclosing my personal email, so I have not been able to do this.
Perhaps from the above screenshots you can see what I have installed and it could give you a clue as to whether or not I have done anything wrong in my setup?
To the best of my knowledge, prior to loading Microsoft 365 I removed all previously installed Office apps.

3 answers

Your answer

JeffYang-MSFT 6,261 Reputation points Moderator

2021-08-16T07:26:32.493+00:00

Hi @Keith Buxton ,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

I can also see my emails in the cloud-based Office Outlook - it's just the local Outlook on my laptop that does not work. My Outlook is within the Office 365 Home suite of programs i.e. Outlook 365 and not the Outlook for Windows.

Looks like your issue is indeed more related to your local Outlook.
Are you using Office apps downloaded from Microsoft Store? Can your find your Office 365 program in your Control Panel>All Control Panel Items>Programs and Features?

In order to better understand and research about your issue, if possible, please try to provide a screenshot of your Outlook screen to us. (Notice: Please hide your personal information in the screenshot for security.)

Any update, please feel free to post back.
Keith Buxton 6 Reputation points

2021-08-16T21:54:19.977+00:00

As requested, here is a screenshot of my Apps & Features within Settings - you will see that it includes the Microsoft 365 program:

Here is a screenshot of the same Apps list but from the location where Office happens to be (please note that I could not find the Outlook app in this list)::

I found that in the above apps list in Settings, I could not locate any of the apps included in Microsoft 365 Home e.g. Excel, Word, Outlook etc.
So I simply looked for the location of Outlook (as an example) on my PC as available in the Start menu and here is the screenshot to show the location of all of these Office apps:

Finally I could not see how to supply you with a screenshot of my Outlook when I could not avoid disclosing my personal email, so I have not been able to do this.
Perhaps from the above screenshots you can see what I have installed and it could give you a clue as to whether or not I have done anything wrong in my setup?
To the best of my knowledge, prior to loading Microsoft 365 I removed all previously installed Office apps.

Answer 1

JR K Yoshikawa 571 Volunteer Moderator

if you are using Gmail on Outlook for Windows,
looks like you are not setup Gmail account correctly.
Error Message shown as you have Exchange account on your Outlook.
you may need create new profile and setup gmail account as Gmail on Outlook.

Create new profile on Outlook
(Run > outlook.exe /manageprofiles)
check mark on "Let me setup My Account Manually " at account Setup on Outlook.
Select Gmail
run Outlook with new profile

Keith Buxton 6 Reputation points

2021-08-15T17:00:27.69+00:00

I tried your suggestion, however it did not work as the message returned was:

Also on doing a web search I was instructed that the command to Run is outlook.exe /profiles.
However I believe this doesn't work since my Outlook is within the Office 365 Home suite of programs i.e. Outlook 365 and not the Outlook for Windows that you seem to have assumed (I may be wrong as I am obviously not an IT professional).
I also just found a post similar to mine where the person had the same issue i.e. to be able to manage his/her profiles and they had the same response as you with the Microsoft agent / Moderator suggesting the same solution. The person with the issue responded that they also have Outlook 365 where it is not installed as a program on the computer. Here is a link to this post:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/outlook-365-and-manage-profiles/45afd038-69b7-42f8-8ab5-8076fb01ff04

I am sorely tempted now to try a complete factory re-boot of my Windows 10 laptop (of course first having saved all of my files etc.!).
This will hopefully remove any changes that my previous work employer's IT guys may have made to the laptop. What do you think?
JR K Yoshikawa 571 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2021-08-15T17:11:34.977+00:00

＞ Also on doing a web search I was instructed that the command to Run is outlook.exe /profiles

Command line Outlook.exe are same on all of desktop app C2R & Microsoft Store App.

Try Restart Windows then Start Outlook with Holding Ctrl Key on Key board (Hold Ctrl key and click on Outlook at Windows Start menu)
you may receive dialog prompt run Outlook as Office Safe Mode.
accept dialog.
then click on options button > check mark on select profile at start > Click Add > enter New profile Name then follow screen for add Email account as Gmail.

Answer 2

Cesare Vesdani 11

Try to install a professional edition or higher of Office 365. Outlook should then work.

Answer 3

I already have the subscription service Microsoft 365 (was called Office 365) @Cesare Vesdani .
Therefore as I am not a company, I have the Microsoft 365 Home and Student subscription service that as far as I can tell is the best available given that I am an individual and not a company.
When I type 'Outlook.com' into the address window it immediately opens Outlook (online version) and I get presented with both my Outlook email account and also the Gmail account that I have.
The Microsoft Outlook account seems to be not much use since it has incomplete emails in my inbox, no sent emails in the Sent folder and no Contacts or Calendar entries.
However the second account listed, which is the Gmail account (still within the online Outlook program) has all emails, sent emails, contacts and calendar events completely up to date.
So this Gmail account within Outlook 365 online [I believe this is called Outlook on the Web App (OWA)] seems to have all I desire i.e. it perfectly syncs with my Gmail account.
You may ask therefore why would I wish to pay for this when I can use Gmail with all of this same information provided?
The only difference is that it presents a 'standard' Outlook interface with email, contacts and calendar all in the one place, whereas the Gmail interface has the same data available but within separate Google Apps.
Also I get the mobile Outlook 365 App that seems to sync perfectly to the iOS Contacts and Calendar on my iPhone - with the same familiar Outlook user interface.
Then there is the OneDrive storage thrown in and the numerous Office Apps that I am very familiar with and these will be updated as they are improved from time to time.

So in conclusion, my only complaint now seems to be that the included Outlook app within the Office program installed when I subscribed to Microsoft 365 does not seem to sync correctly to my Gmail email account - even though by using the recovery mode (CNTRL key pressed when selecting Outlook app on the PC) I managed as suggested by @JR K Yoshikawa to get into Outlook and by adding a 3rd account (I called this simply 'GMAIL') I was able to get Outlook working again.
However it still does not work unless I select my Gmail original account (name@Stuff .com) and even then it does not sync correctly to give the latest contacts and calendar events.
So if I use my usual Google Chrome browser and type Outlook.com in the address (or use a bookmark tab to make it even more convenient), then I can get what I want i.e. a standard Outlook interface perfectly synced to my Gmail account (mail, contacts and calendar).
Is there anything I am missing or completely misunderstood (more than likely!)?

JR K Yoshikawa 571 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2021-08-17T00:30:49.43+00:00

When I type 'Outlook.com' into the address window it immediately opens Outlook (online version) and I get presented with both my Outlook email account and also the Gmail account that I have.

above is Outlook.com Web Mail not Outlook for Windows App.

Is your Outlook looks like Picture below?
If so, you need setup Outlook for Windows Desktop.
Keith Buxton 6 Reputation points

2021-08-18T14:52:09.087+00:00

Having tried all suggestions now and still having issues (after many days of trying) with syncing emails etc., I have decided to simply use the Microsoft Mail App provided with Windows 10 and to cancel my Office 365 Family subscription!
I find that Mail provides automatic syncing to Gmail with email, calendar and contacts and I wonder why I didn't realize that I actually do not need Outlook.
I suppose it is due to my use of Outlook when I was working, however now that I have retired I no longer need Outlook if I can use the Mail alternative (and it is already provided).
I have also removed the mobile Outlook app from my iPhone as the iOS Mail app similarly already syncs without any issues to Gmail.
I already have a subscription for Microsoft Office 2019, so I have simply deleted the Microsoft Office 365 Family apps and reinstated the Office 2019 as this is perfectly adequate for my requirements.
Thank you for your attempts to help me out.
Regards
Keith
JeffYang-MSFT 6,261 Reputation points Moderator

2021-08-20T01:59:20.007+00:00

Hi @Keith Buxton ,

Thanks for your reply.

Based on all the information you provided above, looks like your issue might be more related to your Office installation. Corruption within your Office installation may indeed cause issues like yours. By the way, compared with apps program, using Outlook for windows desktop client is more suggested, which could offer your more available functions and have more complete troubleshooting methods.

Anyway, since you do not would like to continue any further, we will close and temporarily archive this issue. If you have any other problems when using Outlook 2019, you could come back and post your issue in our forum, we will try our best to help you resolve them.

Thanks for your understanding and support. Have a nice day. :)

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Outlook will not open after changing to Office 365 Home

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