Windows Servers

Disable Outlook add-ins

Turn off Outlook add-ins to troubleshoot crashes or an Outlook window that will not reopen.

A faulty add-in is a common cause of Outlook problems, such as:

  • Outlook does not close properly, keeps running in the background, and blocks a new Outlook window from opening.
  • Outlook crashes at random and has to be reopened.

Turning off the add-ins helps you find out whether one of them is the cause.

Turn off the add-ins

  1. Open Outlook and select the File tab.

  2. Select Options.

  3. In the Options window, select Add-ins in the left-hand panel.

  4. At the bottom of the page, with COM Add-ins selected in the Manage box, select Go.

  5. In the COM Add-ins window, clear every ticked add-in and select OK.

  6. Close Outlook and open it again.

Next steps

If the problem is gone and you do not need any of those add-ins, there is nothing more to do.

If you do need one of them, turn the add-ins back on one at a time, reopening Outlook after each, until the problem returns. The last one you switched on is the one causing it, so leave that one off.