Outlook - blank box/panel on right-hand side of application, above to-do bar.

Question

Hi all,

Bit of a weird one: a blank panel/box has started to appear above the to-do in Outlook. The box has appeared in various different colours, however is always in the same location, and appears to be some sort of panel or module which for some reason isn't rendering correctly.

Outlook is 32-bit, 2202 (14931.20858 C2R) - The first thing I would do if I could is update it, or try 64-bit, however we are limited by an application which requires 32-bit for compatibility, and due to being on Citrix, I am not able to simply run an update on it for testing (nor do I have the rights to do so)

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When the to-do bar is fully disabled, this panel then takes up the entirety of the right-side of Outlook. If the view is changed to "reading view" then the box disappears, and it also does not appear in calendar.

If Outlook is launched in safe mode the box also does not show, which makes me think it must be some kind of configuration or add-in, however I have disabled all add-ins, reset all display options and turned off as many options & features within Outlook as possible, restarted many times and still the box shows up.

It doesn't appear for all individuals and so far is only affecting a few out of several hundred, but it seems to have come from nowhere with no difference in apps/extensions/configuration between users who both do and do not get it.

Below you can see the box (Blue this time, but has been green and also black) on the right-hand side, above the tasks panel:

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](https://filestore.community.support.microsoft.com/api/images/1b766c96-dcd1-4af9-babe-7ffdaac3f06b?upload=true)

Any ideas beyond just updating? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi @Connor Osadczuk ,

Glad to hear this issue has been resolved!

Thanks for the sharing.

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However, due to a recent update in forum policy, the question author now is not able to accept their own answers.

So I have written a brief summary of the solution this issue. Please feel free to accept it as the answer, which would benefit others who also has similar issues in forum.

Issue:

A blank panel/box has started to appear above the to-do in Outlook. The box has appeared in various different colours, however is always in the same location, and appears to be some sort of panel or module which for some reason isn't rendering correctly.

Solution:

Resolve the issue through a registry change:

In registry:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Preferences

"PinMail" was set to a value of 2a (42) and looks like it was attempting to pin a window or extension that didn't exist anymore. Changed the value to 32 instead and it solved the problem.

Answer 2

Just in case anyone sees this, I've managed to resolve the issue through a registry change:

In registry:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Preferences

"PinMail" was set to a value of 2a (42) and looks like it was attempting to pin a window or extension that didn't exist anymore. Changed the value to 32 instead and it solved the problem.