MS Outlook is a useful application for sending and receiving email, keeping journals, and other tasks. It is like a personal manager. Sometimes you may encounter problems with Outlook. It may be due to your operating system or other issue. Whatever the reason may be your daily work will be hampered if you can’t access your email in Outlook, for example. You may fail to make important business decisions because your Outlook is not working. The good news is that there is an ‘Outlook safe mode’ to rescue you from dreadful situations like this.
The Outlook safe mode is a built-in feature for troubleshooting. Using this option you can use Outlook, but with a limited number of functionalities compared to its normal mode. You won’t be able to use any add-ins or plug-ins.
There are several ways to start the safe mode in Outlook. You should use the method that is suitable for your operating system.
You should click on the ‘Run’ option from your computer’s ‘Start’ menu. Alternatively, you can use the shortcut ‘Window key + r’. Then type ‘outlook.exe/safe’. Once you click the ‘OK’ button the safe mode will launch on your computer.
You should double-click on the Outlook icon on the desktop of your computer. Then hold the ‘Ctrl’ key until you see a pop-up message asking you whether you want to start the safe mode. Just click ‘yes’ to launch the safe mode of Outlook.
You can create a new shortcut for opening the Outlook safe mode. For this, you should first right-click on any space on the computer. Go to New -> Shortcut. Type the file path of the executable file of Outlook followed by /safe. You can name your shortcut. If you want to get access to the safe mode quickly then you can use this software.
You can add ‘switches’ on the outlook.exe/safe command. These switches will tell how the safe mode will launch on your computer. The switches are mentioned here.
/safe: The Outlook safe mode will launch without plug-ins and add-ons.
/safe: 1 safe mode without reading pane.
/safe: 2: safe mode skips mail check.
/safe: 3: launches safe mode along with Microsoft Exchange Client Extensions Component Object Model add-ins off.
/safe: 4 launches safe mode without the customized toolbars.
With the safe mode of Outlook, you can come out of trouble immediately. It gives you a temporary solution to the problem at hand. To avoid further issues with Outlook you should ensure that your Outlook is up-to-date. Try to back up your emails and contacts regularly so that you don’t lose your crucial data. You must keep the mailbox size reasonable so that it doesn’t affect your email communication.