Outlook Emails Arrive as Code

Question

I have always received email listing From, Subject, Received and Size.

Since Feb 20, all emails arrive with "None" in the date Received column and also the message Size is shown. No From or Subject information is listed. When viewing one of these emails it's all code. Very hard to tell who it's from and impossible to read.

Since I sort my emails by date, all these recent emails fall to the bottom of my saved emails since there is no specific date information available. As I stated, the date Received column shows as "None".

I have changed no settings.

I'm running Windows 11 (current version) and, in this case, I'm using the classic version of Outlook. (which I want to continue to use)

So, I'm looking for other people who have experienced this problem and hopefully find a solution.

Answer 1

Hi Charles H,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A.

Thanks for the detailed description.

In Classic Outlook, From/Subject/Received come from the message headers. If Outlook can’t read/parse those headers (or the local view/profile/data file is damaged), you may see “None” for Received and the email may open as raw code.

First Step (quick isolation): Check in webmail

Sign in to your mailbox using a browser (Outlook.com, Gmail.com, or your ISP’s webmail) and open one of the affected messages:

• If it also looks like code in webmail: the message is arriving malformed (sender/server side), not an Outlook-only display issue.
• If it looks normal in webmail: the mailbox is fine, and this points to a Classic Outlook local issue.

Next steps (Classic Outlook for Windows)

Start Outlook in Safe Mode (disables add-ins):

• Close Outlook > Win + R > type Outlook.exe /safe > Enter.
• If it’s normal in Safe Mode, disable add-ins: File > Options > Add-ins > COM Add-ins > Go (re-enable one at a time).

Reset the view (fixes missing columns / “None” sorting):

• In Inbox: View tab > Reset View.
• If the issue is across multiple folders, close Outlook > Win + R > type outlook.exe /cleanviews.

Note: This command resets all custom Outlook views to default. No mailbox data is deleted, but any personalized view settings will be lost.

Repair the Outlook data file (PST/OST):

You can follow official guidance here: Repair Outlook Data Files (.pst and .ost)

Repair Office (Online Repair):

• Settings > Apps > Installed apps > Microsoft 365/Office > Modify > Online Repair.

Note: Online Repair re-downloads/reinstalls components and may take a while depending on your PC/internet.

Create a new Outlook profile (often resolves header/display issues):

• Control Panel > Mail > Show Profiles > Add.

If you reply with (1) your account type (Outlook.com/Gmail/ISP) and whether it’s IMAP or POP, and (2) whether the message looks normal in webmail, we can narrow this down quickly.

Please let me know if this proves useful to you, or if you would like further assistance.

I'm looking forward to your reply.

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