Shutting Down Outlook
This is one of those things that I thought only happened to me. For years, I've been running multiple Outlook profiles: one for my personal e-mail, and one for my Microsoft e-mail. It's quite common for me to exit Outlook and fire it up again so I can check a different e-mail account. As a matter of fact, I do this many times each day. Unfortunately, a quick re-start of Outlook doesn't always work, because the OUTLOOK.EXE process usually hangs around for awhile before it terminates. I'm not afraid to admit that I'm quite used to popping up Task Manager to see if the process is closed, and if I get too impatient, I close it myself. Come on...admit it...you've done it too (dad...if you're reading this, I'll explain what Task Manager is later). :-)
Like I said, I thought it was a problem that was unique to me. However, I received an e-mail today that not only confirmed that I wasn't alone, but it actually contained a suggestion for eliminating this problem altogether! If this information is to be believed, closing Outlook by clicking on the X doesn't always shutdown the OUTLOOK.EXE and WINWORD.EXE processes right away; but, if you use File/Exit, both processes shut down immediately. Of course, I've been trying to test this tonight, but Outlook is closing immediately in all cases...kind of like the car that doesn't squeak when you drive it to the dealership.
While searching the internet for similar cases, and I've found a few other solutions:
- KnockOut - a tool that sits in your system tray and lets you know if the Outlook or Word processes are currently running
- Shutdown Addin - a tool that helps Outlook shut down more quickly, and if it doesn't after a period of time, the addin forcefully terminates the process
- A list of software that may cause problems
If you can confirm that File/Exit does the trick, please post feedback!
Comments
Anonymous
May 11, 2005
Cannot get OL hanged right now :), but it's quite easy to prove that "File->Exit" and "Close Window" have 2 different code paths: just open any folder in new window: you now have 2 OL instances... closing any of them won't terminate outlook.exe, but File->Exit will... I think it's reasonable to say that "hidden" outlook instances will behave the same way: outlook.exe just exits.Anonymous
May 11, 2005
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May 11, 2005
Interesting. I had always assumed the delayed close was entirely due to MAPI. I found it annoying as well.
But this seems to do the trick. Thanks, Mike.Anonymous
May 11, 2005
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May 11, 2005
IMHO, using KnockOut is not a good option - when running on my machine it is consuming about 10MB of memory!Instead, it's much, much better just pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc and killing apropriate process(es).Anonymous
May 12, 2005
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May 12, 2005
no, man you're not alone, we all do.
and yeah, in the past there was a MAPISP.EXE process, but that has gone in recent outlook versions... still outlook stays there for a while....Anonymous
May 12, 2005
To paraphrase that old saying about democracy vs. other governments...
Outlook is the worst email client, except for all the others.Anonymous
May 12, 2005
What is really sad is that this has happened for the last few outlook versions and no one at Microsoft has ever bothered to address it. The fact that an MS employee is complaining about it just makes it worse. Why not get some one to fix it?Anonymous
May 13, 2005
Hi Michael,
Great tip, worked fine when i tested that.
Good day,
Athif
Windows Server Update Services Wiki
http://www.wsuswiki.com/Athifs
I Blog on http://msmvps.com/athifAnonymous
May 31, 2005
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July 19, 2005
Not sure how many folks are having this problem but I've been having it on several machines all running...Anonymous
February 02, 2006
I have the same problem with a VB. NET Projet
reading the appointments.Item in OUTLOOK (2003)
I search and find nothing....Anonymous
February 04, 2006
My problem is that Outlook is closing too quickly - it shuts down in the twinkling of an eye (on clicking the "x" or File + Exit). It frequently needs to clean itself up when I switch it back on ....Anonymous
February 15, 2006
The problems seems to occur when the project is
a WEB FORM, and there is no problem with a WIN FORM.
Does it help some body ?Anonymous
February 16, 2006
instead of OL shuting down it wont start up at all i re-install, un-stall, then re-installing it but it always gets stuck on the welcome message. i even went to mirosoft to see if there was an up-date there wasnt. if you find the answer plz email me at skulllguy@yahoo.com
(3 L's) thanksAnonymous
March 26, 2006
I havnt notice outlook doing this, but i have noticed winword doing this often, even if i just launch word and cross it off (not even though outlook). Same deal with all of the Office suite and as of late... iexplorer.exe ahs been doing the same thing.. File->Exit works, but Alt+F4 or crossing it off just hides the UI and leaves the process to consume/use RAMAnonymous
March 27, 2006
We experience the same problem on system shutdown. The shutdown occours before outlook has closed the Archive files and next boot Outlook takes 5 minutes to check the Archive filesAnonymous
May 15, 2007
I wonder if this failure to shutdown is somehow related to the Windows prefetch utility. There is some mixed opinion about prefetch and I currently have my registry set for prefetch to save only the essentials. However, apparently Microsoft considers any application they developed an essential. -dougAnonymous
June 02, 2007
Seems like it's still an issue with Outlook 2007Anonymous
June 25, 2007
I can verify it still happens in Outlook 2007 and clicking the X or file/exit doesn't make a difference.Anonymous
August 22, 2007
Running Outlook 2007 on Vista Business, Alt+F4 will keep the process running, while FileExit will not. Thanks.Anonymous
August 27, 2007
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August 29, 2007
I have the same experience as Alan Barker above. Using Outlook 2003 I experience the persistent background OUTLOOK process. If I shut off my machine right away, I will get a message like "Outlook was not closed properly, checking Archive.pst for problems" So I right click > close my archive file and keep it closed until I need it.Anonymous
September 15, 2007
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October 11, 2007
Using taskmanager, applications -> End task to shut down Outlook 2007 on Vista without using X or File -> Exit first, is the only thing working for me. And it shuts down cleanly.Anonymous
February 07, 2008
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February 20, 2008
incredible but It works !!!!!, now outlook.exe takes 3 to 5 seconds to close,Anonymous
March 05, 2008
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March 16, 2008
outlook.exe still running 6'20" and counting after hitting File>Exit.Anonymous
April 02, 2008
Seems to work well for me, too. Running OL 2k7 on Vista and was noticing too that it would remain in the task manager. More important, some change settings (like deleting some autocorrect features) would keep coming back. That's when I realized that restarts were forcing an abort, losing those changes. I tested and confirmed that using File>Exit does really terminate outlook (and then, like you, I later found that then even just Alt-F4 would magically work. Very curious.) Anyway, thanks so much.Anonymous
April 23, 2008
Experiencing Outlook.exe hang problem for 2003. No real idea why it was happening until an upgrade to SP2 revealed the problem. The Quick Launch shortcut contains the /recycle switch and it was not releasing the .exe file. Once removed, this solved the issue. This even fixed the problem with an Outlook installation using no SP as well. Hope this helps.Anonymous
May 09, 2008
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May 12, 2008
I tried the File, Exit and that worked. Next, I tried editing the Quick Launch shortcut and found that also worked. The latter technique offers an advantage for me since I most commonly start Outlook with the Quick Launch button and use the 'X" to close it. As such, I needn't change my routine. Thank you for bringing the /recycle issue to light. That seems to have fixed my problem!Anonymous
June 04, 2008
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June 25, 2008
Editing the Quick Launch properties link to remove the /recycle worked for me too. Thanks heaps.Anonymous
August 05, 2008
Editing the QuickLaunch to remove the /recycle worked for me..only if I use the File/Exit routine. This may be a small thing...but hugely irritating.Anonymous
August 06, 2008
I take it back. Today after following the File/Exit routine it still did not release Outlook and WinWord. Had to go into Task Manager, shutdown WinWord. Then File/Exit released Outlook. Any ideas?Anonymous
August 20, 2008
Outlook 2003, Win XP SP3. Knock-out worked for me. The Outlook Add-in did not. File Exit did not. Removing the /recycle option did not. It seems to have started when I switch to Microsoft Exchange server from previously using a POP3 mailbox. Causes a problem as the MS Outlook backup add-in cannot do its business whilst Outlook is running.Anonymous
August 27, 2008
I fixed my problem. May help you. Go to tools/Options/Other/Advanced Options/Com Add-ins. If iTunes Outlook Addin is checked uncheck it. Worked like a charm for me.Anonymous
September 14, 2008
Getting rid of the iTunes addin worked for me too - File, Exit didn't help.Anonymous
November 06, 2008
Using one or more of these suggestions, I can usually get OL to terminate when I close the application window. One exception is when OL is launched in response to clicking a "mailto" URL. Once the email is sent, the process does not close.Anonymous
December 04, 2008
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February 02, 2009
in my case it was itunes. I just did a complete reload of a PC but didn't discover the outlook exiting problem until after itunes was installed. to fix it, I went to: tools / options / other / advanced options / COM Add-Ins and deselected "iTunes Outlook Addin". problem gone!Anonymous
February 05, 2009
Unchecking the iTunes addin did the trick here too in Outlook 2003! This problem started a little over a week ago on my machine. In my "system restore points" I see an update of "Software Distribution Service 3.0" around that time. Could that have caused the problem??? Thanks all for the suggestions!Anonymous
February 11, 2009
Getting rid of the iTunes addin worked for me tooAnonymous
July 07, 2009
Removing the iTunes add-in (which I was not even aware of) solved the problem for me - I guess Apple make it just to pi** off MS users :)Anonymous
November 15, 2009
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November 20, 2009
Getting rid of the iTunes addin worked for me as well. Thank youAnonymous
February 11, 2010
Just thought I would post the solution that resolved my problem with Outlook 2007 SP2 running on Windows 7 shutting down. I removed the Live Search Maps add-in for Microsoft Office Outlook and the problem was resolved using either X or Exit now the Outlook.exe process shuts down in about 3 seconds. You can remove this add-in using the Programs and Features section of the control panel. See: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/961081 “The Live Search Maps add-in for Microsoft Office Outlook can cause significant problems for users of Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007. These problems can cause Outlook to crash or to perform other undefined behavior. Additionally, the Live Search Maps Add-in creates items that have incorrect values. These incorrect values create problems with messaging applications.”Anonymous
March 15, 2010
Unchecking itunes com add-in took care of the problem. ThanksAnonymous
April 26, 2010
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