Sorry, we're having trouble opening this item. This could be temporary, but if you see it again you might want to restart Outlook. The attempt to logon to Microsoft Exchange has failed.

AbzSabz 1 Reputation point
2021-09-06T01:28:43.87+00:00

We recently changed our domain to a new domain and prior to doing so we exported and saved our pst file. However, when we search for an email in Outlook 2016, we can see the the email heading but cannot open the email to view its content. Instead we get this message:

Sorry, we're having trouble opening this item. This could be temporary, but if you see it again you might want to restart Outlook. The attempt to logon to Microsoft Exchange has failed.

We have tried the reset nav pane and cleanviews but, to no avail.

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For business
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  1. Jade Liang-MSFT 9,986 Reputation points Microsoft Employee
    2021-09-06T08:21:56.637+00:00

    Hi @AbzSabz ,

    Did this issue occur on all users in your organization? In order to further confirm if your issue is related to your client or mailbox, please log in to your web mail to check if the issue could be reproduced there.

    If the issue occurred on Outlook only, in the point of messages, did it occurred on any specific messages or all messages? And where are they stored (in your mailbox or in the local .pst file)? Could you open it normally from your folder directly instead of after searching it?

    • If the messages are stored in your mailbox, I understand that you are working with exchange account, is it right? If so and if you are working with cached exchange mode, please try to uncheck this option and work in online mode to check if the issue has any difference(File>Account settings>Account settings>uncheck use cached exchange mode).
    • If it could work normally in online mode, the issue may be related to your local data file(.ost), it's recommended to rename the local data file and restart your Outlook with cached exchange mode to check(File location: C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook).
    • If the issue still exists or you even couldn't work in online mode, considering corrupted outlook profile may also cause it, please try to receate a new Outlook profile and readd your account to check(Control panel>Mail>show profiles>add>type the profile name>readd your account)

    If your issue has any update, please feel free to post back.


    If the response is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.
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  2. FENG CHEN 21 Reputation points
    2021-12-10T23:27:16.84+00:00

    @AbzSabz , I am working on a migration project and met same issue for one user. her mailbox is exported to pst by New-MailboxExportRequest without any error; but when I tried to reimport the pst, there are lots of errors like "A corrupted item was encountered: Item (IPM.Note) Subject: ... " in New-MailboxImportRequest and it failed.

    I attached the pst file to her outlook directly, and I can see all the subjects, but some mails won't open with same error "Sorry, we're having trouble opening this item".

    The fix is https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/repair-outlook-data-files-pst-and-ost-25663bc3-11ec-4412-86c4-60458afc5253

    run SCANPST.exe to fix those pst files.

    Note:
    the document suggested scanpst.exe is on "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16" but I found it on "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16" .

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