| Send Button Disabled in Outlook |
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| Monday, 24 April 2006 | ||
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Remember I mentioned the risks of beta testing? Well, I hit a snag this weekend in testing
that managed to make Outlook useless for sending email unless I used the /safe switch. I couldn't
find a solution on the Microsoft website, but one of their support people was able to give me a
good solution.
I don't know how often this problem appears, but when it does it's flat out annoying. You've just finished reviewing a message you want to send and then you head to the toolbar to click Send. The problem is the button is disabled and there is no way you can press it. At least you can save the message by clicking the disk icon. Usually, when this type of problem happens I try to start Microsoft Outlook in safe mode. I went to my Start | Run command line and typed outlook /safe. Outlook opened and my Send button was enabled so I sent my email. I also queried the web hoping to find some article that matched my problem. Typically, I can find a match in Microsoft's extensive knowledgebase that fits my problem. Not this time. I couldn't find anything close using my search terms. If I expanded my search to include the rest of the web, I was left with the impression I was the only one who had this problem. Well, at least that's the conclusion I came to using my search terms relating to the Send button. I then tried to figure out what was causing the problem. I suspected it was the Outlook add-in I was testing, but I know that's not always the case. I headed to the Help menu and used Detect and Repair I was hoping for a quick fix, but this wasn't it. I also didn't have any luck uninstalling my add-ins in a methodical fashion. I was hoping one of them would be the source. I didn't want to uninstall Microsoft Outlook and then reinstall it, but it was looking like that might be my last resort. Fortunately, I had a free support call left with Microsoft and decided to use it. Yes, I used the support trump card. Microsoft suggested I rename 4 Outlook .DAT files and restart the program. Their solutions worked.
When you restart Outlook, it creates these files again. It doesn't appear I lost any settings, but that could be because I had already removed my add-ins. The support rep I spoke to said I shouldn't lose anything, but I'm not sure that's the case from looking at other KB articles. In other words, you may have to redo some customization. What I found amusing is if I query the Microsoft KB with these file names, I now see something that matches my problem. The article is titled, Outlook stops responding when you open or create new messages. Sometimes, it's just a matter of knowing the correct keywords or terms to use. It also looks like this trick works in other scenarios based on my query. Additional Resources |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 07 July 2006 ) | ||
