RSSCategory: Outlook Support

How to get Microsoft Outlook 2013 to open faster

| August 24, 2015 | 0 Comments

Hi Folks, here are some simple tips for how to get Microsoft Outlook 2013 to open faster. If you do these tips and Outlook still opens slow, then you have bigger problems and will want to call me to figure out what is going on.

Here is the video….

 

How to disable Microsoft Clutter and Remove from Microsoft Outlook

| August 24, 2015 | 0 Comments

How to disable Microsoft Clutter and Remove from Microsoft Outlook

If you just noticed Microsoft Clutter now in your Outlook folder list, you may or may not want to use Clutter. What is it? Do you need it? Will it just complicate your folders even more?

For me, it seemed like a feature I didn’t need at all. I keep my inbox very clean and organized. I do not want a system to figure out for me what I need to read or not…in fact, if you leave it enabled, important emails will go directly to this folder and you will maybe not see it on your phone or tablets. 

UPDATE: Feb 20, 2016. Clutter has been released to more users than before, and this is what I tell my clients…disable it but you will still see it in Outlook. Can’t get it to GO AWAY. Boo.

office365 podcast2

If you want to read more about it and use it, the website page is here via Microsoft

To remove this feature, watch my video. It will be helpful.

Office365 Podcast

 

 

The snip could not be sent Check that an e-mail program is installed and then try again

| August 20, 2015 | 0 Comments

The snip could not be sentThe snip could not be sent Check that an e-mail program is installed and then try again.

This error can happen with snip programs, or Adobe when trying to email because you have 2 versions of Outlook installed on your computer and the program is talking to the wrong one.

Simply uninstall the version you are not using. If you have Office 365 installed, then remove Office 2010 or Office 2007. You might need to reboot after you uninstall.

If you need my help, schedule an appt below. Thanks!

office365 podcast2

3 Reasons iCloud Can Lose Your Business Sales

| August 18, 2015 | 0 Comments
  1. It’s free

  2. It breaks

  3. It is unreliable

iCloud should not be used for business contact and calendar synching PERIOD.

As an Outlook Expert, I always say this in my blogs…I get calls about broken 3rd party apps all the time and iCloud is the biggest problem child. Even though I have helped many people successfully configure it and fix it…I may be calling it on this last call.

Story….

I had a client last week and I felt so bad for this fella, his iCloud broke and he missed a very important meeting that caused him to lose a big sale. Basically his iPhone and Outlook iCloud synch broke. iPhone offers iCloud for synching, but if it breaks, it can cause a lot of chaos in Outlook.

Then I realized, that I shouldn’t feel so bad that his company doesn’t pay for a good synchronizing calendar program for him. Our first appointment was for 45 minutes of me fixing his iCloud. Then we scheduled another appointment for me to rework his Outlook to have iCloud be default so when he accepted appointments in his Outlook, it went on the iCloud. But my test for his rework failed and within a half hour of testing, I realized that how he managed his email and phone (via POP) that his calendar system would not work as a default in Outlook via iCloud. I know this may sound confusing, but trust me….what I do for work is like surgery sometimes.

I have to be delicate and backup everything, then do testing, talk to the client, insure the decisions will work for them and their life. And the answer was no. So we went full circle on this, I had to get his Outlook back to how it was before I helped him because he just couldn’t learn change. And yes, I billed him for 1.25 hours of time to go full circle. I really wish businesses would understand that their employees now have multiple devices and should not be responsible for managing 3rd party apps for their calendaring.

What happens when iCloud breaks

  • Calendaring will not synch (probably)
  • Could cause new calendars to appear in Outlook (work, home, etc…I have seen up to 10 before!)
  • Contacts will bring in multiple contact folders that don’t make sense (again, I have seen up to 10!)
  • When you do a first synch with iCloud, your Outlook contacts can get hijacked and ruined because of how iCloud changes the data. Your notes in all the contacts may be lost.
  • iCloud doesn’t really tell you to back up your contacts in Outlook before synching (big mistake!!!)
  • If you accept appointments in Outlook and the synch is broke for iPhone, then you are not seeing matching data

I think I could go on here, but the point of my blogs is to prevent, detect and warn people of what can happen when using 3rd party apps.

iCloud = bad for business. Move to Microsoft Exchange. I can help you migrate your information and help you and your company set up all of your devices so it works perfectly. Just how Outlook wants it.

Schedule an appointment today to talk about moving your company to Exchange and use my online scheduler below for a no cost consultation.

And btw…if you take your iPhone to the Apple store, those “geniuses” do not know Outlook at all. It’s a competing product line, so save yourself time.

 

6 Common issues Gmail has with Microsoft Outlook

| August 17, 2015 | 13 Comments

As an Outlook Expert, I get calls all the time from people who are suffering from various issues- slow Outlook, Outlook not working right, emails won’t send or receive, emails are missing, folders are missing, etc.

And many times, they are using Gmail as their server.  These clients are either using the free Gmail account or are paying for Google Apps, but not using the whole program (installing the Google Apps synch tool).

When it comes down to it, Outlook is a great program for email management, but it has limitations. Gmail really doesn’t have limitations.

 

In my opinion, Gmail was never intended for Outlook use, meant to be a browser based platform (and, in the past few years, an Android based email platform). Gmail and its big sister Google Apps were not made for Outlook, so this is exactly why people have problems if they use Outlook. Although Google does offer apps for syncing (for a fee), many of my clients still just use the IMAP settings and this is the cause of their problems.

Before you go farther into this blog, I have found it becoming very popular on the internet and on LinkedIn. I am starting to receive requests from people who want to ask me questions and want free answers. I do not give free answers over email, only book appointments. I’m a nice person and all, but there are so many issues that I can’t help until I am remoted in and recommend getting on my calendar.

Update May 14, 2017

Before you read further, please take note of one important thing. If you use Gmail in Outlook and are on IMAP, it’s possible that your contacts and calendar entries in Outlook are in a “cached” OST file in your computer. Most backup programs do not back up this file by default, you must select the directory it’s being stored. As well, an OST file cannot be imported into Outlook. OST files need to be converted to PST files to be opened in Outlook again. I have found many clients with years of data in these very unsafe OST files. If you want my help moving your entries to a safe PST file, we can schedule an appointment.

I’ll review with you here the most common issues I get calls to fix. You will see a pattern here: I move a lot of email out of Outlook to a local PST file. That is the common fix to most issues. Be sure to read my “Basic rules” at the bottom of this blog.

 

#1. Email overload

Even though you are supposed to have a limit of email with Gmail…well, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Clients tend to call me when it doesn’t, and what I find is that their local copy of their Gmail in the Outlook profile is very large and corrupted. What that means is that the profile in Outlook doesn’t match what Gmail says on the server, and I have to fix that to make it match up. What I do is create a new Outlook profile, bring down a good copy off the server, and let it sync and then match up. Then the corrupted emails are gone and the client is fresh. Still, most of the time we have to move mail off the new profile as, of course, Gmail hoards email. (See #3 below.)

#2 IMAP synchronizes constantly

After you start having email overload, the folders in your Outlook stop synchronizing nice and easy. You may see the “synchronizing” at the bottom right of Outlook, a sure sign of problems starting. Gmail uses a platform called “IMAP” (you can use POP if you want, the platform that does not synchronize) and IMAP is really a great way to have your email sync, but the issue most people have is that the more email you have and the larger your attachments are, the longer synchronizing takes for Outlook to sync with the Gmail server. I can fix this, but how I fix it is by moving out all large emails to a local PST file and remove some IMAP folders from being subscribed by Outlook. This helps immensely!

 

#3 Hidden Filters/All Mail and Important

If you are using the free Gmail version, your browser may never show you problems with email size as it’s intended to just not have problems. But with Outlook, it can download folders in a sub folder of your Gmail account. You have to go look for this as it might appear collapsed. Click on the + sign next to Gmail and you should see a set of folders.

  • All Mail
  • Important
  • Junk
  • Sent
  • other folders (not sure what you will have)

The All Mail is a duplicate copy of all of your emails/sent and received. The important folders are emails that Gmail deems as important. I have tried to figure out how this works and I have never really figured it out other than it’s probably people you have emailed often and Gmail has it trained.

NEW! This is a new video I created for those with a lot (and I mean a lot!) of Gmail email in their Outlook. This nifty trick will help you remove the All Mail and Important folders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PQlQZxMpxc

In this section, I will also add that Gmail and IMAP add on a “Filters Applied” and it can hide your email in folders. Check out this video to fix that asap!

 #4 Your email stops sending or receiving

If you cap out with your email limits, your Outlook Gmail will stop sending, or receiving, or both. To solve this problem, you have to move a lot of email. I usually start with sent items, as those are usually the easiest to move off the server. I move them to a local PST file. Then I move old “All Mail” and “Important” to a local PST file. These 3 folders cleaned up puts Outlook back in running shape again.

#5 Not using the Google Apps Sync tool

If you are using Gmail as a server and Outlook as the platform to read the email, the Google Apps sync tool can be downloaded and installed on your computer. This will then synchronize your email, contacts and calendar within the Google Apps system. You will have fewer issues using this tool with email, but if you have issues synchronizing with the Google Apps tools, it’s because of conflicts. (Yeah, a whole new story.) Many of my Google Apps clients just move to Microsoft Exchange as it works perfectly with Outlook and no sync tools.

#6 Cannot setup Gmail in Outlook using basic information

If you try to setup a Gmail account in Outlook, you may have to setup your email account manually. Many times you also need to lift a security measure Gmail has: turn on or off Less Secured Apps. You can click on this link to help: https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps

Basic rules

If you are using a free Gmail account for your business, upgrade to business class email! Not only does it add a level of professionalism, but you will be on a good Microsoft server with almost no problems. Outlook and Microsoft Exchange are meant to be together, like ice cream and cake. Gmail and Outlook are like ice cream and salsa. But never fear: I can help you set that up, so contact me with the form below

If you are using Google Apps and Outlook and are having sync issues, you probably have too many conflicts. Be sure to use the details button to find those conflicts and delete them or fix them. If it’s set up right and with no conflicts, Google Apps Sync Tool does work, but it’s dang annoying for the end users as it constantly pops up and syncs.

 

 

 

Outlook cannot log on Verify you are connected to the network

| August 11, 2015 | 4 Comments

Outlook cannot log onI am a Microsoft Outlook Expert and Support Technician. I get calls often about this error: “Outlook cannot log on. Verify you are connected to the network and are using the proper server and mailbox name. The Microsoft Exchange information service in your profile is missing required information. Modify your profile to ensure that you are using the correct Microsoft Exchange information service.”

Latest update Feb 5, 2017

This blog has been updated many times since I first fixed it. When folks got this error a year ago and found my blog, I had almost 1500 views a month. My fix back then was to downgrade to Outlook 2013 as most people had 2016 and it was pretty flaky back then. Now 2016 is a bit more stable (not 100%) so this error is not a common search, now I only get about 400 people a month searching. I’m glad about that!

At the end of February, Microsoft is discontinuing the download offering of Outlook 2013, so yeah….my current fix is going away unless you have a copy of Outlook 2013 and you can get that if you’re a subscriber of Office 365. If you bought Outlook 2016, contact Microsoft and they can and should downgrade you and change your license.

Other fixes to try

  1. Backing up all of your data if you can

  2. Try opening in safe mode

  3. Try a new profile

  4. If that fails, you might have to delete all of your profiles

  5. If these fail, try uninstalling and reinstalling your Office program

  6. If these fail, contact Microsoft and have them fix it.

  7. If this fails and you want me to try, you can schedule time on my calendar below.