Cannot Reply Reply All Forward Etc - Options are Greyed Out?? (Outlook for Mac)

Question

Hello...

Thank you for taking the time to read this and offering assistance!

For some reason out of nowhere I am not able to reply, reply all, forward (or perform other functions) in Outlook. Research online suggested that either (1) my "trial subscription" expired or (2) I am no longer logged in. I never had and do not have a trial subscription and, per launch of PowerPoint, Word, Excel, I *am* logged in.

Can someone indicate how to fix this issue?? I will mention I am currently running OS Big Sur 11.6.8 and Outlook Ver. 16.59. I understand that this is not the "latest version" because I have had problems with OS 12.X and Outlook Ver 16.60 and beyond as discussed in my other post where the "New" version of Outlook has no import option for OLM files and search function does not work with OS 12.X. To summarize the underlying issue(s requiring me to use 16.59): (1) Outlook search has not worked with OS 12.X installed; (2) there is no OLM import function in the "New Outlook" version; and (3) switching to the "New Outlook" will not permit the read or use of older emails that exist in the "On My Computer" folder.

If the suggestion/remedy is to "update to the latest Outlook version" that could cause a problem for me (and others similarly situated) based upon the issues currently existing as stated above.

So, QUESTION: does the latest Outlook Ver. 16.66 resolve any of the issues associated with importing an OLM file and the ability to properly and fully search all emails previously imported located in the "On My Computer" folder and not only if currently residing on the server??

Thank you very much for your help!!

Answer 1

Hello Kerry...

Just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge and thank you for taking the time to read through and provide a response. As your response is also long (and it is late as I write this) please allow me to read more thoroughly in the next day or so and I will respond with any clarification or answers to questions you have asked, and an update once I have time to follow your suggestions.

Thank you!

Answer 2

Dear ScudderB,

Good day! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you!

Based on your description, I have probably sorted out your question:

1. In your Outlook for Mac, you can't send messages normally because your reply, forward, and reply all buttons are grayed out, and it seems that they are invalid.
2. How did you know about the two conclusions you mentioned from your own research? Maybe you're seeing some error message or error code? If so, please share the screenshots with me so that I can do more research.
3. About the outlook search problem, this is a hot issue, because the problem appears in the server backend, Microsoft has carried out a repair, the current problem has been fixed, about the repaired situation, please refer to the official documentation to give the instructions: New Outlook for Mac stops responding when using the search feature
4. About the "no OLM import function in the "New Outlook" version you mentioned" As I know, the Exporting/Importing of .olm and .pst files feature is not currently supported and is in active development. For references: The new Outlook for Mac.
   

If you need to import the .olm file to Outlook for mac, it's suggested that you could try to switch back to the Legacy Outlook to use this function.

In light of the questions I listed above, my suggestions are as follows for you to try and then give me feedback on the results so that you can help me narrow down the problem:

Please try logging into OWA (outlook web app) with your account to check if you have the above problem.

Please try to rebuild a test profile on your outlook client to check if these problems will still occur, please kindly refer to it: Create a new profile

Also please try to reset your account to check the result: you need to quickly remove your account from Mac Outlook and then add it again. Follow the steps below to reset your account. First, open "Outlook" and go to the "Tools" option> now, select the account from the tool options> select the account you want to remove from the account settings> click the delete button and confirm that you have chosen to delete the account > delete the account, launch Outlook again and add the same account details to reset it.

I know that the above questions are very confusing to you, and we apologize for the inconvenience caused to you, but I still ask you to give feedback on the methods and questions I have provided to you, which will be very helpful for us to do further research, thank you for your support in advance!

Thanks in advance for your understanding! Your patience and cooperation will be highly appreciated. Hope you all the best!

Sincerely,

Kerry Chen | Microsoft Community Moderator