Troubleshooting

Customizations Won't "Stick"

I keep customizing my toolbars and every time I close Outlook and reopen, the changes I made are gone.

Outlook stores the toolbar information in a file called outcmd.dat, in the C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook folder. Outlook occasionally replaces that file with a new copy and you lose your custom toolbars.

TIP

If you can't find the folder where outcmd.dat is stored, you'll need to enable Show Hidden Files And Folders in Windows Explorer's Tools, Folder Options on the View tab.

Show All of Your Menus and Tools

I'm having a hard time finding some of the menu commands. When I look on the menu where I think I'll find a command, it's not there. In fact, many times there are just a few commands listed. What gremlin is doing this to me?

It's not a gremlin, but personalized menus. They're supposed to help you work faster and smarter because they show you only the commands you use the most.

You can disable this feature, set the toolbars to expand automatically, and reset the usage data using Tools, Customize on the Options tab.

Remove Customizations on Menus and Toolbars

I want my toolbars to look like they did when I first installed Outlook. What do I need to do?

If you want only some toolbars reset to the default look, without affecting other toolbars, you can right-click on a toolbar and select Customize. From the Toolbars tab, select the toolbar or menu and click the Reset button. If you want to reset all the menus and toolbars throughout Outlook, including customized toolbars on forms, close Outlook and delete the outcmd.dat file. The next time you open Outlook, it will create a new outcmd.dat file and all the menus and toolbars will be restored to their default settings.

Creating Hyperlink Buttons

I used Outlook Bar shortcuts with my previous version of Outlook and can't get used to switching to the Shortcut section of the Navigation Pane. Can I use a custom toolbar to open my favorite folders?

Yes, you can create a customized toolbar with hyperlinks to your favorite folders. The following steps will create a link to an Outlook folder, but you can also open files or folders in your file system, your network, or the Internet:

1. Select the folder you want to use a button to open.

2. Show the Web toolbar and copy the folder path, which will look something like this: outlook:\\Inbox\Project Data\Stevens.

3. Choose Tools, Customize to open the Customize dialog box.

4. From the Toolbars tab, create a new toolbar.

5. Drag some buttons to the toolbar from the Customize tab.

6. Right-click on a button and choose Assign Hyperlink.

7. Paste the folder path in the URL field and close the dialog boxes.

When you choose the button, a new Outlook window opens with the folder in view.