Salesforce for Outlook causes Microsoft Outlook to crash

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This issue could be related to a few things such as 
 

STEP 1 - A few corrupted or problematic records in Outlook
STEP 2 - A corrupted MSMAPI file
STEP 3 - A corrupted Outlook data file (.OST file)
STEP 4 - A corrupted Outlook Profile
STEP 5 - Connectivity issues or Security settings such as a Proxy Server
STEP 6 - Latest Service Pack and Microsoft Updates
STEP 7 - A corrupted user's Windows profile
STEP 8 - A corrupted mshtml.dll file ​
STEP 9 - Gather Outlook Crash Dump files

But first thing you should check or have the customer's IT team to check is the Windows Event Viewer logs.

Event Viewer tracks information in several different logs. The Windows Logs that you would find useful are:

• Application (program) events. Events are classified as error, warning, or information, depending on the severity of the event. An error is a significant problem, such as loss of data. A warning is an event that isn't necessarily significant, but might indicate a possible future problem. An information event describes the successful operation of a program, driver, or service.

• System events. System events are logged by Windows and Windows system services, and are classified as error, warning, or information.

To start the Event Viewer

Use the R and the Windows key combination on your keyboard (Press and hold down the Windows key then press the R key) to open the Run command box and then enter Eventvwr.msc and press OK

To clear the Event Viewer logs

Since everything is being logged the events will be too many so its best to clear the log and then reproduce the issue/crash and then capture the logs

1. Start Event Viewer

2. In the console tree, navigate to the event log you want to clear.

4. You can either clear the event log or save a copy of the event log and then clear it.

- To clear the event log without saving: Click Clear .
- To clear the event log after saving: Click Save and Clear , type a name for the saved file in File name on theSave As dialog box and click Save .

To select and save one or more events

You need to expand the Windows Logs and then click on the Application log and search for any errors around MS Outlook, Salesforce for Outlook or any other errors at the time of the crash (error on the screen). 
These errors should have a red exclamation mark under the Level column. Once you see the errors, hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard and click on every one of them that is related to the issue. Next make sure the events you like to save are selected (highlighted) then on the right hand side click on Save Selected Events
On the Save As pop up window, type in a name for the file and save it on your Desktop
Do the same thing for the System logs

The errors in the Event viewer could be straight forward and explain why SFO or Outlook crashes. It could be something that the IT department can handle. If there are no errors or anything related to Outlook or .NET or SFO (SFDCMsOl.exe) and such in the Event Viewer logs follow the troubleshooting steps below
 

More information on how to use Event Viewer - It is a 3rd party website but has useful information with screen shots and explanation  Windows 7: Event Viewer - Open and Use in Windows 7

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Possible causes and resolutions

STEP 1 - A few corrupted or problematic records in Outlook

    Examples:

• Look for events that have a duration of none or events with a value of 60 min or larger in the Duration field/columns instead of hour. For instance, instead of an event with a duration of 2 hours, you see 120 minutes. Edit the event to correct the duration

• Events that are created by another application could generate different ASCII characters such as # or > --> ==> in the Subject field. One scenario that we have faced a few times, a Airline ticketing system generating events for the user in their Outlook Calendar with these characters that would cause our SFO sync to fail. Correcting these events resolved the issue

• Look for wrong type of records in Contacts, Events and Tasks folder. For instance, make sure there are no Emails in the Contacts or Events folder.

After correcting such errors, close Outlook and then run SFO, right click on the SFO system tray icon and click on Settings. Click on the Change user  button and relogin. Click Allow and then open Outlook and finish the wizard and let SFO to sync

If you have Outlook running in the Exchange Cache mode, by default Microsoft Outlook will create a data file with a .ost extension in the following location and download the data from the Exchange server so Outlook and other applications such as Salesforce for Outlook can access the data locally much faster

%LocalAppData%\microsoft\outlook\<name of the Outlook data file . ost >

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STEP 2 - A corrupted MSMAPI file

The symptoms of a corrupted message store are typically severe from not being able to open any program that uses email to crashing apps or Outlook.

Do these steps to recreate the MSMAPI or MAPI DLL

- Close SFO and Outlook.
- Uninstall SFO (Do not skip this step)
- Rename every instance of MSMAPI32.dll and/or MAPI32.DLL on your system to <filename>.OLD  (i.e MSMAPI32.dll.OLD) The easiest way to find it is to search for it in files and folders. 
- Delete the content of the %TEMP% folder (you may not be able to delete everything, since some files and folders are being used and are open in the background, you can skip them)
- Open Outlook and then check the folder that you renamed the DLL and make sure another instance is created, If not, simply close Outlook and all other programs and run a repair on Microsoft Office from the Control Panel. If you have Office 365, make sure to choose the On-line Repair option and not the Quick Repair.
- After repair is done, restart your computer and Open Outlook
- Next navigate back to those folders and make sure MSMAPI is created
- Test Outlook by closing and opening a few times, sending a new email or replying to one and make sure it does not crash
* If it crashes, then you may have to reach out to your internal Help Desk and have them take a look at the Office installation. Perhaps a clean uninstall, restart and reinstall would be necessary
- Next download and install the latest version of SFO
- Restart your computer and try to reproduce the issue
 

The location for this DLL if you have Microsoft Office 2010 installed

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\1033\MSMAPI32.dll
or
C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\1033\MSMAPI32.dll

location for this DLL if you have Microsoft Office 2013/2016/Office 365 installed
C:\Windows\System32\mapi32.dll

** Search for the DLL there may be other instances as well, being used by other applications

For Office 2013 or 2016 users, they can ask their local admin to use the following commands to take ownership of the file and rename it without logging off
 

Takeown /F c:\windows\system32\mapi32.dll​

Rename c:\windows\system32\mapi32.dll   mapi32.dll.old

C:\windows\system32> takeown /F c:\windows\system32\mapi32.dll                     (to take ownership of the mapi32.dll file - in this example since its from my own machine its my username but you would see your domain\username instead)

SUCCESS: The file (or folder): "c:\windows\system32\mapi32.dll" now owned by user "Stow\mree"
.

C:\windows\system32>rename c:\windows\system32\mapi32.dll mapi32.dll.old                               (to rename the mapi32.dll to mapi32.dll.old)

C:\windows\system32>Dir mapi32.*                                         (to list all the files name mapi32 with any extensions )
 Volume in drive C is OSDisk
 Volume Serial Number is 940A-997E

 Directory of C:\windows\system32

10/28/2014  07:36 PM           102,912 mapi32.dll.old
               1 File(s)        102,912 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  356,389,900,288 bytes free

C:\windows\system32>fixmapi                (to create a new instance of the mapi32.dll file)

C:\windows\system32>dir mapi32.*       (to confirm a new instance of the mapi32.dll is created)
 Volume in drive C is OSDisk
 Volume Serial Number is 940A-997E

 Directory of C:\windows\system32

10/28/2014  07:36 PM           102,912 mapi32.dll
10/28/2014  07:36 PM           102,912 mapi32.dll.old
               2 File(s)        205,824 bytes
               0 Dir(s)  356,389,793,792 bytes free

C:\windows\system32>

 

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STEP 3 - Corrupted Outlook Data file (OST)

You can also locate the Outlook default .OST file from the MAIL icon in the Control Panel.

1- Go to Control Panel and find the Mail icon (you can type in Mail in the search box on the top right corner of the Control Panel window)
2- Double click on it 
3- On the Mail Setup screen click on "Show Profile" and on the Mail window, select the default profile and click on "Properties"

4- On the Mail Setup - <profile name> click on Data Files
5- On the "Account Settings" window, select the Default .ost file and click on Open Folder...

At times the Outlook data file ( the .OST file) becomes corrupt and repair is not an option. In such a case, the OST file can be renamed (we don't recommend deleting anything from the end user's machine).

To rename the corrupt OST file,
You can use the Knowledge Article 000193713 - 
How to rename and recreate Microsoft Outlook data (.OST) file that has step by step screen shots or follow the steps below
 

1- Close Microsoft Outlook
2- Exit Salesforce for Outlook by right clicking on the SFO system tray icon if it is running and click on Exit
3- Next navigate to %LocalAppData%\microsoft\outlook\
4- Locate the OST file that you want to rename
5- Right click on it once and click on Rename and change the name and press Enter

Note**
If you are unable to see the file extension you may need to change the Windows settings from Control Panel. See the Microsoft link below for more information on "How to show or hide file name extensions in Windows Explorer"

6- Reopen Outlook and you will see Outlook starts to configure the data file. This may take anywhere between 10-60 minutes depending on the user's mailbox size

Make sure you do not open SFO until the mailbox is fully created and downloaded. You will see a message at the bottom right corner of the Outlook window saying "All Folders are up to date" when this is done.(  Link to relate image )

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STEP 4 - A corrupted Outlook Profile

Its very common for Outlook profile to be corrupted. You may experience random and weird issues such as crashing, pop ups, operation failed and more. The best way to make sure you have a healthy Outlook profile is to create one. You do not need to delete or touch your old Outlook profile nor its data file. 

The Microsoft link below will assist you with creating a new Outlook profile  (In case you do NOT have an IT department)
How to create profile and set up an e-mail account in Outlook
 

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STEP 5 - Connectivity issues or Security settings such as a Proxy Server

Salesforce for Outlook may cause Outlook to crash or freeze and throw the "Outlook not responding" error or a quick crash if there is something on the machine or your network blocking its communication with our servers.

Make sure the IE optimal settings Knowledge Article is applied even if your default browser is not IE.

Sometimes security software such as ESET, TrendMicro,  Norton, McAfee prevent Salesforce for Outlook process ( the SfdcMsOl.exe file) file to run properly and it may cause a crash

This file in SFO version 2.4.2 and older, is located in the C:\Program Files\salesforce.com\Salesforce for Outlook\ and in the SFO version 2.5.x ~ 2.7.x is located in the %appData%\salesforce.com\Salesforce for Outlook

You can also check the proxy settings from the Command prompt. Click on Start and type in CMD, right click on it and click on Run as administrator. to open the Command Prompt. In the Command Prompt, type in the following command and press Enter.
 

Netsh Winhttp import proxy source=ie

This command, imports the proxy settings in the Internet Explorer Web browser's Internet Options.  
 

The screen shot below shows that there is no proxy. 

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STEP 6 - Latest Service Pack and Microsoft Updates

Make sure you have the latest Windows updates and Microsoft Office service packs installed. Please refer to your IT department

Download Locations for Microsoft Office Service Packs

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STEP 7 - A corrupted user's Windows profile

* Using this Article uninstall Salesforce for Outlook completely

if none of the steps 1 through 5 resolved the issue, you may need to ask your IT department to create a new Windows profile (username) on your computer and see if the that resolves the issue. Once everything is working in the new Windows profile then you can ask your IT to transfer your data. Your IT can simply log in with their account and rename your Windows profile from C:\users\ and have you relogin. Your old profile won't be deleted in case this does not resolve the issue. For example if your username is JDoe they can change it to JDoe.old

If you do not have an IT department you can follow the steps below in order to create a new profile (Windows username). This link from Microsoft also has a video that would walk you through this process.
 

1- You need to be logged in to your computer as a local Administrator to create this new account. You can do this from Control Panel | Users

2. Assuming you already uninstall Salesforce for Outlook, log off and log in with your new username.

3. Windows will take a little bit longer since it will try to configure your profile for the first time. Once you see your Desktop you try to install SFO and see if the issue is still reproducible before copying your data from the old profile.

They must log you off first, switching users will keep you logged in hence won't allow them to rename your profile
Note***

If you have an Exchange email, company email, you must have your IT department assist you with this task. After you create a new user profile, you would have to create a new Outlook profile and transfer your Outlook data file along with My Documents, and other data


Additional information from Microsoft support
Outlook 2013 or Outlook 2010 not responding, hangs, freezes or stopped working
 

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STEP 8 - A corrupted mshtml.dll file ​

This could be a little tricky to troubleshoot because you have to find out which program that uses the mshtml.dll file is corrupt. The best way to attack this is to check the Event Viewer and look at the Application (see the steps on top of this article to see how)

Look for Mshtml.dll file error in the Event Viewer and find its location. If it belongs to a program on your computer, close all your application and repair that program from the Control Panel. You may need to reach out to your IT team for this step.

If the error in the Event Viewer log points to the mshtml.dll in the Syswow64 folder ( c:\Windows\SysWOW64\ )then you would need to try the following
 

1- Close all your programs
2-  Navigate to C:\windows\syswow64 folder and locate the mshtml.dll file and rename it to .old 
* You may need to take ownership of this file to be able to rename it 
See this Microsoft link for more information
 

3- Uninstall Salesforce For Outlook 
4- Next, navigate to Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features and uninstall .NET 4.6.x or 4.7 from the machine 
5- If there is no .NET installation, close the Control Panel and click on Start and search for CMD and when it shows up on the list, right click on it and run it as Administrator
6- On the Command Prompt type in sfc /scannow 
7- It may take anywhere from 5-15 minutes for the command to complete
8- Next close everything and restart your computer
9- After restart check the C:\windows\syswow64 folder and make sure that a new instance of the mshtml.dll is created 
10- Download and save the Salesforce For Outlook.exe and then run it
11- If it prompt you to download and install .NET 4.5 click on next to do that
12- Once installation is completed, run SFO and Outlook and see if it still crashes
** You may need to enable the SFO add-ins and also check the box for Salesforce for Outlook add-in in the list of inactive add-ins 
 

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STEP 9 - Gather Outlook Crash Dump files

To generate dump files, you would need help from your IT Help Desk team 

1- First download the ProcDump from Microsoft
2- Save and unzip it into a folder on your hard drive 
3- Open the registry and using the Microsoft knowledge Base article add the DumpType REG_DWORD key and set it to Full dump, meaning create it and set its value to 2 - Look under DumpType section on Microsoft article
4- Run the Command Prompt as admin and navigate to the folder that you have saved and unzipped the ProcDump
5- Reproduce the issue, when outlook hangs or crashes, do not click on anything nor close the crash. Outlook needs to be running and not closed
6- Run the command below from Command Prompt
   procdump.exe -ma -i

7- It should save the files to the same folder that you place the Procdump executable.
8- It may take a few minutes for the .dmp file to get created, depending on its size and after its created you need to run the procdump.exe -u command from the Command Prompt
9. You should only run this command after you have a completed dump file saved in that directory

** Note
If the dump file is not created, you can try swapping the Step 5 and 6. You run procdump.exe -ma -i first and then open outlook to repro the issue.

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