Troubleshooting Exchange Connection Issue to Outlook

Connectivity problem between Microsoft Exchange and MS Outlook is a common issue by which most of the Exchange Admin frustrated all the time. But with fewer diagnostic and repair, any error can be fixed which causes to stop connectivity between Exchange and Outlook. 

So today I am sharing multiple methods to fix the Outlook connectivity problem. However, repair of your profile may also fix connection issue, but you can also try few other procedures as well to resolve it. Follow the procedures below:

Uncheck Offline Mode

This is the very thing you need to do whenever you face this issue. Verify that whether Offline Mode is unchecked or not. If you’re using Outlook 2010, Click Send/Receive tab and locate Work Offline button, just click it.

You can notice in the bottom of Outlook window Trying To connect..... , if it connects, the issue has been resolved. Else, try the next solution.

Restart Outlook

This is another very basis step to fix Exchange Outlook connectivity issue. Restart Outlook and check again, and in case if goes fail then restart computer & try again. Still if it goes wrong then move to the below solution.

Repair Install

Run Microsoft Office repair installation and check again. This quick tip may resolve the problem that standard repair can’t fix. Just navigate through the below step-

Open Control Panel -> Program -> Programs and Features. Locate Microsoft Office installation and select it. Click Change and Repair. Once repair process is completed, restart your computer. Open Outlook and try again to connect with your Exchange server. Still no luck!!? 

Now recreate Outlook profile.

Recreate Outlook Profile

If all the above solution didn’t work for you, you can recreate Outlook profile. Check here the quick reference: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/829918

However, I do not recommend you to create a profile again as you still have few alternatives to resolve the error. Just repair Outlook profile.

Repair Outlook 2016, 2013, 2010 Profile

Open your Outlook profile, and click Account Settings under File tab.

Once Account Settings dialogue box prompts, just select your current account under Email tab and click Repair. Simply follow all the steps in the repair wizard.

Once repair process is finished, close your Outlook and restart it.

Repair Outlook 2007 Profile 

Open Accounts Settings from Tools menu.

Select your account on repair tab once dialogue box prompts, and click Repair. Just go with repair wizard steps and click finished. Restart Outlook to verify that if it works. 

For Microsoft Outlook 2003 

You can repair Outlook 2003 profile if your account uses IMAP or POP for connecting to Exchange Server. You can use ScanPST.exe to repair your Outlook 2003 profile or data files.

But in case ScanPST fails to repair PST file no matter which Outlook version you’re using (Outlook 2016 to 2010), I’ll prefer you go for Stellar phoenix Outlook PST repair software to fix PST file issues. This utility is specially designed to troubleshoot PST file errors.

You can download this software by visiting the official url-http://www.stellaroutlooktools.com/scan/pst-repair.php

Repair Outlook for Mac 2011 Profile 

Outlook for Mac 2011 doesn’t provide inbuilt profile repair tool. To repair the connection made in Outlook for Mac 2011, you can only remove and re-add your account. 

Follow the steps-

First you need to remove your existing account-

·        Open Outlook for Mac 2011, and click Accounts from Tools menu.

·        Now select the account from the navigation pane which you want to remove and click the minus icon (-) from the corner on Accounts dialogue box.

·        Now confirm the prompt if you want to delete the account, and click Delete.

Now add an Exchange account-

Open Outlook for Mac 2011, and click Accounts from Tools menu.

·        If it’s a very first account which you are creating on Open Outlook for Mac 2011, click Add an account and choose Exchange account. Or if you already have an account with different email, click (+) plus icon from the corner on Accounts dialogue box to add the account. Now click Exchange.

·        Now type user ID in E mail Address Box on the ‘Enter your Exchange account information’ page. E.g. Walter@contoso.onmicrosoft.com

·        Make sure that User name and password is selected in the Method box. Now type your User ID and password.

·       Also verify that Configure automatically is selected, and then click Add account. Once you clicked Add account, Outlook for Mac 2011 automatically makes online search to discover your email server settings.

·        Once it prompts, select the check box Always use my response for this server and click Allow.

Now you can see newly created account in navigation pane of the Accounts dialogue box.

However, you can also opt for third party OLM repair tool in case the Outlook for Mac 2011 gets damaged or corrupt. The prominent OLM repair software can be downloaded over here: www.stellaroutlooktools.com/scan/olm-repair.php

So these are all possible troubleshooting steps which you can use to fix Exchange connection problem with Outlook; whether you’re using Outlook 2013/2010/2007/2003 or Outlook for Mac 2011.

Thanks,