When Outlook Refuses to Start

If you are lucky, Outlook will never refuse to start.  If you are not so lucky, here is how to fix it.  Hold down the Ctrl key and click on your Outlook icon. Click Yes.



That should get it to start in Outlook's safe mode, with all of it's add-ins temporarily disabled. Next, you will click on File -- Options -- Add-ins.  At the bottom of the screen, you should see this:



Click on Go, then deselect unnecessary add-ins.  Make sure to make a list of the add-ins that you deselected, just in case you need them.  If you use Microsoft Exchange, you will need the Microsoft Exchange Add-in, and probably need to keep the mail scanner add-in, if your security software has one. When you are done, click on Ok, then close Outlook.  You should now be able to open Outlook normally.  For me, this trick works about 95% of the time.  Hopefully, it will work for you as well.