Safe mode in Outlook

Safe mode in Outlook:

         It's a fact of life that applications crash, and Microsoft office Outlook is no exception. it's up to you to set things right.

Outlook introduced the Safe Mode feature. Much like Windows' Safe Mode, the Outlook counterpart allows Outlook to boot when it might otherwise fail.

Safe Mode enables Outlook to detect and either repair or bypass the source of the problem, such as a corrupted registry or a misbehaving add-in. When Outlook boots in Safe Mode, it displays a dialog box explaining the problem and asks if you want to continue to load the program in Safe Mode or attempt a normal restart.

Automated safe mode

During startup, Office checks for problems such as an add-in or extension that won't start, or a corrupted resource, file, registry, or template. A message is displayed the next time the program is started, identifying the problem and asking if you want to disable the part of the program that has a problem.

A list of disabled items is accessible through the Disabled Items dialog box (About Microsoft <program>, Help menu). You can use this dialog box to enable the listed items. Enabling some items may require you to reload or reinstall an add-in program or reopen a file. Enabling an item does not necessarily fix the root problem; an item that you enable may be placed back on the disabled list the next time you start the program.

User-initiated safe mode

You can open any Office or Office family program in Office Safe Mode by pressing CTRL while you start the program or by using the /safe option when you start the program from the command line.

The following restrictions apply when you open a program in user-initiated Office Safe Mode. (Some items listed below do not apply to all Office or Office family programs.)

    * No templates (template: A file or files that contain the structure and tools for 

      shaping such elements as the style and page layout of finished files. For example, 

      Word templates can shape a single document, and FrontPage templates can shape 

      an entire Web site.) can be saved.
    * In Microsoft FrontPage, the last used Web site is not opened.
    * The Office Assistant is not automatically displayed.
    * Toolbar or command bar customizations are not loaded and customizations cannot 

       be saved.
    * The AutoCorrect list is not loaded and changes are not saved.
    * Recovered documents are not automatically opened.
   * Smart tags (action tags: Data recognized and labeled as a particular type. For  

     example, a person's name or the name of a recent Microsoft Outlook e-mail  

     message recipient is a type of data that can be recognized and labeled with 

     an action tag.) are not loaded and new tags cannot be saved.
    * All command line options are ignored except "/a" and "/n".
    * Files cannot be saved to the Alternate Startup Directory.
    * Preferences cannot be saved.
    * Additional features and programs will not automatically load.
    * Documents with restricted permission cannot be created or opened.

How to use manually start Outlook in Safe mode:

Hold CTRL

 
When you hold he CTRL button on your keyboard when clicking the Outlook shortcut on your Desktop, Quick Launch toolbar or Start Menu, Outlook will detect this and asks you if you want to start Outlook in Safe Mode or you can all so type outlook.exe /safe in "Run" command box.

Windows Vista and Windows 7

 
If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, then there is a Search box in the Start Menu. Here type; outlook.exe /safe

Create a shortcut

 
You can also create a new shortcut to outlook.exe and add the /safe switch;

First, determine the location of outlook.exe on your system. In general you’ll find it under;

32-bit version of Windows: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office <version number>
64-bit version of Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office 

<version number>

If you can’t find it, do a search for outlook.exe.

Once you’ve found outlook.exe we create a shortcut to it with the /safe switch to prevent Outlook from opening an extra window each time you click the shortcut or use your keyboard shortcut.

   1. Right click on an empty space on your Desktop and choose New-> Shortcut
   2. Type the path to outlook.exe between quotes or browse to its location via 

       the Browse… button
   3. Type an space behind that and /safe
   4. The entire line should now look like this (example is for Outlook 2007 on a 

       32-bit Windows);
       "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\OUTLOOK.EXE" /safe
   5. Click Next
   6. Name your shortcut for instance: Outlook Safe Mode
   7. Click Finish

These steps work for all versions of Outlook on all windows operating system versions like Windows Xp, Windows Vista, Windows 7 etc