Problem
When you open Outlook on your Mac, it opens for a brief moment and then closes. You may not see the application load up at all.
Solution
- Hold the alt key and click on the Outlook icon on the Dock.
- If it is not there, go to the /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011 folder and drag the Outlook file to the Dock.
- The Microsoft Database Utility window will appear. Click the Rebuild button.
- It will now rebuild your Outlook database. Once it has finished, click the Done button.
- Close the Microsoft Database Utility.
You should now be able to open Outlook. If this does not work, then try reinstalling Office 2011.
169 Responses to Outlook 2011 for Mac won’t open
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This was exactly what i needed. thanks.
I tried this two times and my outlook has not responded.
I did this about 5 times by going into my application folder and finding the Office 2011 folder and then finding the Microsoft Database Utility – couldn’t get Outlook to open for more that 15 seconds. I found this article and used the described method and voila it worked.
Have no idea why but it did but it did. I had also tried reinstalling MS Office 2011 and that didn’t work. This is the second time this has happened in the last 6 months – I’m not liking this at all!!!
I was deleting old emails when my crash occurred this time…
It worked. Thank you
Yea! this worked!!
This fixed my issues, thank you! Instead of hitting the Alt key (there is none on a Mac), hold down the Control button when launching the Office.
There is an alt key. It may be labelled as the option key.
MacBookPro: Outlook is on my dock but Alt or long press reveals pop up with Open and Options (open at Login, Show in Finder, Remove from Dock) So, open Applications, choose Microsoft Office 2011 folder and then select the Office folder and find Microsoft Database Utility.app
This is where you will find the rebuild option, and after four days of research, trial and error, This Worked.
The corruption happened after an overnight software update. No surprise there…Good Luck and Thank you
Thanks so much….I was going nuts….and need Outlook for my business. Microsoft were no help whatsoever.
Worked first time!
I’ll know what to do now if any more updates kill it again.
Agreed – very frustrating when suddenly outlook refuses to open. However, the above process took half an hour plus reboot but now all fixed – much appreciated
I have just suffered the same snag, did as recommended above, Outlook opened as advertised BUT all my previous email records are wiped!! I have tried selecting an identity prior to the MAU download but the email and calendar entries are all gone!!
What am I doing wrong?
This absolutely worked. Thanks for the tip.
Thank you this was exactly what I needed
Great piece of advice.
After hours of searching through technical-help sites–this worked great! However, now I have a different problem. I can’t send/receive new e-mails. In the bottom right hand corner of the Outlook screen, there is a small line of text that reads: Not connected to “MSOL – heather@myemail.org” This message is located to the right of the “Sync Pending” notification.
How do I fix the problem or get reconnected?
Worked like a charm! Thanks!
This was the exact thing I needed. Whewwwwwwwwwwww… Thank You very much
Exactly what i need, thanks a lot.
Unfortunately, this didn’t work for me. Outlook still won’t open. Anyone else has another trick?
It also didn’t work for me. Does anyone have an alternative?
Please describe exactly what happens when you open Outlook.
Mine is not working even after following your instructions. The application loads for awhile and then it stops loading and the white light at the bottom at the outlook icon is no longer there! thanks
omg! it now works. I rebuilt a backed up identity and it didnt work. This time i rebuilt the main identity and walla. Thanks bro, great work your doing here.
Hi, I moved my microsoft office from my old mac to my new one via an external hard drive (no longer have the installation package) and now nothing will open. I get an error message saying that whatever I open quit unexpectedly. HELP!
You can’t just copy and paste the Microsoft Office folder from one Mac to another. You will need to install it properly.
If you no longer have the disc, download the trial and input your serial number.
Carl, this is exactly what I needed and it fixed the problem. Not sure what caused it, but it started on my last MacBook Pro. I just bought a new unit and did not transfer files, I just loaded the program again from the CD.
Everything was good originally, but Outlook failed to open a few days later. Oh well, it’s good now.
Again, thanks for the help.
All the best,
James.
Thank you! This worked for me.
Thanks so much, u have saved my day at work …
it worked. thanks!
Hey Carl, thanks buddy; worked a treat. Guys, it takes some time (approx 20 mins in my case) – be patient!. Cheers Chris
thanks for the info,it really did the job
keep up the good work
worked ok for me…..thanks
This solution is great – you do not lose your history.
But I have a question the first time Outlook hung and did not open was a couple of weeks ago. I tried Telstra, Apple, Mircosoft and also bought new soft ware, eventually I got Gizmo to help, but lost all my previous records. The issue happened again last night – I was closing down the system and a black text box appeared in various languages saying that I needed to restart the computer- I did and then could not get Outlook to work – the error does not appear to effect any other application including the rest of Office. Is this some sort of virus? I run a virus system but it does not trigger the antivirus application?
This is called a kernel panic.
To begin fixing this issue, see the official Apple article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3742
This worked to get Outlook to open, but now it won’t get messages; it sends OK. Any ideas?
Do you get any errors? What mail provider do you have and have you checked the incoming mail server settings in the Outlook Preferences?
Thanks for that – I was beginning to panic!
This morning I have just had the same problem. Opened up Outlook and nothing. No mail, no folders and no accounts. The accounts I use are hotmail and gmail. The mail has been received in my apple mail inbox (working on 10.7.3) no problem. I followed your instructions but I still have nothing in my Outlook. Any other suggestion? Not really an issue for me as I have been evaluating using outlook or apple mail but will probably stick with apple mail.
thanks.
It’s hard to say why all your accounts would disappear from Outlook in the first place but it would seem that the files used by your mail, accounts etc have become corrupted or missing.
Although you said you are likely to stay with Apple’s own Mail application, it may be worth trying to re-add your email accounts into Outlook to see if that is able to be done successfully.
Worked perfectly! Thanks
Worked for me , thanks. I had to follow directions exactly for it to work however (didn’t work unless i closed the utility prior to launching outlook).
This worked great!!! I was deleting old emails from years ago at work and outlook shut itself down and wouldn’t open again. It’s working great now! Thanks!
Great post. Thanks! Your solution got it resolved quickly for me.
Sadly, this doesn’t work for me.
The database utility keeps trying to close all open Office programs, however cannot achieve this. When I check manually I cannot find any open MS Office process. So I’m stuck.
When I reboot and start Outlook, it then opens and loads new mails, however when I click on any of them, Outlook freezes again.
Any advice?
Can you try reinstalling Microsoft Office and creating a new identity and let me know if it has the same problems?
Hi Carl,
This has worked for me previously however this time around I get a ‘step 4 of 4′, the rebuild window auto selects done, then closes itself.
Outlook then behaves as before, the opening dialog appears momentarily, then closes out again.
Any ideas?
Thanks!!
Does it say the database was rebuilt successfully?
Try this: Reset home permissions and reinstall Office 2011.
Thanks for the reply – got it all squared away!
Cheers,
S
Glad I could help.
Worked for me. Thanks.
THANK YOU!
Anne S.
PERFECT! THANK YOU!!!!
Hi Need a Help!
After installing outlook 2011 new update, unable to open outlook 2001. After clicking rebuild main identity, it stops after step 1 of 5 scanning and below message received:
Your identity is older than this version of outlook. Please rebuild by using the last version of outlook that used this identity.
Thanks in advance.
Rgds,
S.Kumar
Reinstall Microsoft Office 2011 and then try rebuilding the identity.
This doesn’t work for me. When I press Alt and click on the Outlook icon it tells me it cannot be opened because of a problem and says to check I have the latest updates for Microsoft Office 2011 or OS X. It doesn’t offer any solution or to check if there are available updates. Help!
Please check the following article for how to manually run Office 2011 updates:
http://www.fixkb.com/2012/04/manually-check-for-updates-for-microsoft-office-2011.html
Worked a treat! Many thanks.
I was installing some update and then cancelled it since it was asking me to close all applications and i was tied up. Now I get the Outlook to bounce but doesn’t launch. I tried the option(alt) and control key and open but it still just bounces and I do not get the Utility box to come up. I’ve tried removing all files in Library>Pref>com.microsoft.outlook….. no luck. I’m about to re-install with my Identity duplicated. Any suggestion before i do that?
I think reinstalling Microsoft Office would be the right thing to do.
Thanx ….this works like a Bomb
I tried this before and it worked – it is not working.. What can I can do?
this is not working for me , outlook still wont open???? Very frustrated. None of my word for apples will open?
Please check if your outlook, word, excel etc. is inside the Microsoft Office 2011 folder inside Application folder. If the apps are outside just drag it onto the Microsoft Office 2011 folder and try opening it again. If that doesn’t work try re installing the software. Don’t forget to do a time machine backup before doing anything.
Hi I have tried this but the Outlook icon just bounces and then appears to close Microsoft Apps. I have also tried to start the Database Utility file and get an error in the process screen “Microsoft Database Utility[3297:903] Unable to load nib file: MainMenu”. I have a MacBook pro with OSX10.6.8 and as far as I know I haven’t made any changes to the system recently. My Outlook seems dead in the water> Help pls.
I have the same problem…I try to click on my Outlook icon but nothing the icon flashes as if it is going to open but nothing. I did what you mention but even the Database Utility screen won’t open. And my Excel gives me an error, but Word and Power Point do open. Any other ideas?
To all the people who are commenting saying that it hasn’t worked, please try reinstalling Office 2011 as I have emailed some commenters back and this have solved the issue.
I am using Outlook 2011 and was notified that there was an update so I downloaded and installed. When I tried opening the app it said that it could not change to that identify. I tried rebuilding it and I could not set either of the identities as the default so I reinstalled Office, and Outlook (after a 4 hour 1G download, again!) but it still won’t let me set any new identities that I create as the default so I still cannot open Outlook. BTW, I purchased Outlook as an upgrade after I had installed Office for Mac 2011 which is why I had to download the product for the re-install.
Any help would be appreciated.
Try to Uninstall Office 2011 first.
Carl,
The uninstall and reinstall worked, thank you very much! I am a little concerned because this all started with an update installation. Now my Macbook Pro just notified me of the same update. I don’t want to go through this again so do you have any advice? Why did the MS-supplied update cause me to have to uninstall and reinstall all of MS Office for a Outlook update (or any MS Office for that matter)?
Thanks again,
Ray
It’s hard to say really. Perhaps the update will work this time now that your identity has been rebuilt.
Worked perfectly – thanks.
Any idea what may have caused the problem?
There was a problem loading your “Identity”. This contains your emails and settings.
It works! Thank you.
Awesome, thanks for the tip. It worked as advertised!!!
mine too crashed when deleting old emails. thanks for this; it was very helpful. i’m up and running again !
Her is the message I get when trying to open Outlook : Ther is a problem with the Office Database. To use the datables you must rebuilt it using Database Utility.
When when I do that the las t line reads : Your database could not be rebuilt.
This happened to me lats week and again today.
Is there solution?
Brilliant tip – thank you!
this worked, and i was able to open outlook until when i tried to send a new email this massage popped up: “This is problem with the office database. To use the database, you must rebuild it using the Database utility”. I then clicked on rebuild” which repeated the same process, however the same error massage keeps popping up everytime and i cant type in new emails.
please help…
About a week ago Outlook 2011 quit working. I get: Microsoft Outlook will not work. Check with the developer to make sure it is compatible with your version of OSX. I tried the alt to rebuild and get he same comments. If I reinstall will lose my mail?
A reinstall will not lose your email and I would suggest doing so.
I reinstalled. It went very quick which surprised me. Same problem??? Should I have removed it before I reinstalled? If so, what do I need to do to protect the existing email??
Try the following:
Further…. once I reinstalled, I ran the microsoft update and same results
Ok, found that I had to do another update! Hoorray… it works now!! Thanks so Much!!!!
This was exactly what I needed – thank you!
Worked for us too! Many thanks
It worked! I am so pleased, and so easy, will save your site. VERY grateful
Exactly what I needed, thank you!!!!!
Thanks!!!!
yes worked! Saved me time and created path to productivity again! Thank you
Thanks for your help….all sorted
awesome! brill tip … thank you
Hi Carl,
I started by rebuilding my identity and that didn’t work, twice. Then uninstalled and reinstalled Microsoft… Still that didn’t work. When I woke up this morning everything was fine until I plugged in my internet data stick. I’m back to square 1.
Is there anything else I can try?
Thanks
Ntando S
Thanks for getting me out of trouble. It worked first time
Worked like a charm!! Thank you very much!
Worked for me, thanks !
It totally worked. NOTE: Before you do it, make a copy of your data folder. in your finder:
Go > Home > Documents > Microsoft User Data > Office 2011 Identities > right click and “duplicate”
Then rebuild once it creates the copy.
THANK YOU!!!!!! GOD-SEND, EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED.
Brilliant…..At last a solution ……and it was so easy. Thanks
Perfect solution! thanks sooooo much!
Awesome! Thanks so much.
thanks. It worked perfect for me and you saved my life. I spent hour migrating and re-organizing my mailboxes in Outlook and was really disappointed that it stopped working all by a sudden.
Thanks
Thanks -fix worked great!
Hurrà ,
tutto funziona …… grazie per il vostro impegno ..
Grazie ancora
Thanks, this solved my problem
Perfect – fixed it on the first try – thank you.
Dude, you saved my life!
Help! I just had a power outage, and when the electricity came back on, Outlook wouldn’t open. I followed the instructions for rebuilding the Database Utility, but I got the message “Your database could not be rebuilt. [-18000]”
What next???
You’re looking at the program being corrupt, the best thing to do will be a re-install of Office.
Hope this helps.
Hi Leslie,
This is my suggestion, but I have not tried it myself, so take it with cautions:
You may LOSE your email data if you do not have backup on email server or other place. Try googling regarding outlook data backup. In case you are using Exchange server or IMAP server, it may not a problem, because you still have emails on the server. POP3 server normally delete the messages from server after you download to your computer.
Ok, here comes my suggestion: Since it is an identity database, you can remove any database you see there, and open Outlook again. That will trigger Outlook to have a fresh startup. Again, that’s my guess.
Vang.
I was freaking out, found this, and it worked! Thank you. Still don’t understand why it happened.
Hello – I still need help with Outlook! I reinstalled Office today but when I tried to rebuild my main identity, I still got the error message “Your database could not be rebuilt [-18000]”
Can anyone suggest a next step?
Hi Leslie,
When you uninstalled Office, did you rename the Microsoft User Data folder located in the Documents folder before reinstalling office?
If you have not already done so can you try this and report back.
Thank you
Hi, Nick -
Thanks so much for your reply. Not to be ignorant, but I am not sure how to rename the Microsoft User Data folder. Do I make an alias for it? Do I duplicate it and put the original folder on the desktop and the newly named on in the Documents folder?
I have taken some steps that have enabled me to open and use Outlook, but I don’t have any of my numerous (hundreds) of folders. Here’s what I did yesterday: I copied the Main Identity folder (and the many other identities I had created when trying to rebuild) and dragged them to the desktop. I was then able to open Outlook and set up my account. Outlook then downloaded the e-mails sitting on the server. So I do have use of Outlook and the e-mails in my unsorted inbox, but I really need to restore the folders.
Will renaming the Microsoft User Data folder bring in all my On My Computer folders?
Thanks very much for your help.
This worked like a charm on the 1st try. Took about 15 minutes to rebuild the database, then started perfectly, and no issues since. Thank you for the post.
Thank you!!!
Worked perfect and one the first try.
Awesome! Thanks
Thank you. That worked perfectly.
Thank you! This was exactly what I needed!
hi
did as described, database built successfully but outlook will still not open, any ideas
greatly appreciated
Dave
Try opening Outlook from the Dock whilst holding the Shift key.
I tried to open my Outlook today and it will not open. It does what some others say: it tries to open, but nothing.
I have done both the rebuild and re-installation of the 2011 Office software and still nothing. Can someone help?
as a frame of reference, below is what i get when i try to rebuild:
Step 1 of 5: Scanning…
Step 2 of 5: Verifying…
Step 3 of 5: Copying records to new database…
Step 4 of 5: Recovering data…
Your database could not be rebuilt. [-18000]
thanks!!
Hi Mark,
You need to have a lot of space available in order to rebuild the database and it could be the problem in your situation.
Can you try freeing some up?
Worked like a charm
This worked perfectly, first try! It even saved my “interrupted messages” in the drafts folder so I didn’t lose anything. And there is an alt key on the Mac, but it’s also labeled as the option key. THANK YOU!
Just found your site – very helpful! But I still can’t launch Outlook or rebuild my identity (same message as Mark’s from 11/26). I’m running Office for Mac 2011 on OS X Lion 10.7.4, have 630GB free out of 750GB so space shouldn’t be an issue. This is what I’ve tried:
1) Tried Rebuilding Identity per your instructions, couldn’t be rebuilt
2) Ran Disk Utility to Verify Permissions, then Repair Permissions
3) Tried Rebuilding again to no avail
4) Uninstalled Office using your Office 2011 Utility Tool, followed all instructions and removed icons
5) Re-installed Office (Standard 2011 with Svc Pack 1), installed updates
6) Outlook wouldn’t launch, tried Rebuilding, again unsuccessful
7) Followed MS’s instructions on the issue to Create a New Identity and copy/replace the “Database Headers” to the Main Identity (default)…it had 5 new items. Then tried Rebuilding again…still get the same message!
Do you have any more insight or suggestions for me?
Thank you so much!!
This worked great for me. Sometimes you can get more information by running Outlook from the command line in
my case it produced this error message
Error: Error while switching to user, error = -20995
Apparently this is an indication that the database is corrupt
bash-3.2$ cd /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Microsoft Outlook.app/Contents/MacOS
bash-3.2$ ./Microsoft\ Outlook
Error: Error while switching to user, error = -20995
did the trick! thanks for the tip!
Worked for me — thanks!
Worked for me! … so far. Thanks. Note that the Alt Key = the Option key. Happy 2013 (and happy Office 2013 upgrade).
Further, that maneuver also fixed a problem I was having quitting from Outlook: When I manually quit, I would get an alert saying something like “Outlook is having problems and has to quit. Your unsaved work may be lost.”
I had just recently upgraded from an extremely corrupted version of Entourage 2004 –> Office 14.2.1 –> 14.2.3 –> 14.2.4, and then yesterday, 14.2.5. I am surprised at how well everything got imported–1,000s of contacts, 100s of nested folders, calendar events from 1997 til the year 2034.
It worked like a charm for us!!! Thank you!
This WORKS perfectly !!!
Thank you so much !!!!
The rebuild worked. Thanks so much. My Outlook went south when I was deleting old emails. Actually, deleting 6 months worth of inbox was fine, but when I tried to delete sent files, it kept quitting, and then eventually, wouldn’t load altogether. Any suggestions there?
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Worked first time. Don’t know where I would be without you computer guru’s.
Excellent, Thank you so much !!!
THANK YOU!!!!! Saved my day in a big way.
Amen to that.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Thank you so much Carl, I wish I’d seen your site a couple of frustrating hours ago. It worked first time.
Thanks a lot! It worked for me!
I love you man!
genius. after 45 mins on the phone to Apple you solved my problem in less than 5. thanks
Thank!
All sorted and very quickly, thanks for posting in such an easy to follow format !
)
Whew. This worked great. Just make sure you manually close all other Office applications. I had clicked the Close all apps button the first time I ran the Utility, but they didn’t actually close and the fix didn’t work. I tried it a second time but made sure to manually close all open Office apps and it worked as described.
Thanks
Thanks so much for this post. This was an easy and quick fix for my problem. I wish i had looked for an answer before reinstalling office 2011 for mac.
worked perfectly, thanks
Yes! Thanks!!
Exactly what i need, thanks a lot. its preety good site for the MAC admins
At first it didnt work with me but i reinstall outlook and it was still not working then i tried it again and it worked thanks……
Yep, that worked for me too. Thanks for the post.
it worked!! thank you!!
Rebuilding the main identity appears to have solved the problem that developed on my iMac where Outlook would not open properly. Thanks for the advice!
This blog post saved my day!
Thank you ever so much!
Thanks dude, it worked for me…
Worked Great. Thanks for taking the time to document the fix.
Worked like a champ! Thanks for the tip!
Thank you for posting this. Perfect fix!
Thank you. This was exactly what I needed and when I needed it. I’m a bit of a slave to my Outlook calendar.
Thanks – this worked perfectly. thanks for posting it
it worked well! Many thanks
Many thanks, it really helpful!
Super! Thank you so much! This worked perfectly! You saved my working day and my smile
Thx for posting this!
Thank you so much for your help!
I am one of a few peeps that has a mac, and uses outlook on it, at a large corporation that only supports windows. After a day of asking around to the “mac experts” around the office, i googled “mac will not open at start up”. This post was 3rd in the response ranking. Needless to say, 1 and 2 didn’t work at all.
So much for being 1st and 2nd.
Fixed! Thank you.
Worked Great
Fixed THANKS!!!!!
You’re a life saver. Thank you for posting this. My Outlook is back up and running.