Outlook 2019 ‘Closes’ But Hangs Open in RAM

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As I can easily see in Task Manager, and although I exit the program, a recent installation of Outlook 2019 on Windows 10 often (but not always) hangs open in RAM. This is despite Outlook closing on-screen, and it’s certainly not available to use. I would not call this a ‘freeze’ because Outlook does close. When it does hang open in RAM, the only way to reopen it I’ve found (so far) is to force it to close via an End Task via Task Manager.

Has anyone else heard about or seen this unnecessary Microsoft wackiness? If so, might there be a sane, easy fix? Thank you. I’d prefer not to go through the unnecessarily labyrinthine Microsoft support process and queue. For me, Outlook 2010 is a ‘cross-grade’ from 2010, which never had this problem. By definition, for me an upgrade actually improves features and performance. So far Outlook’s performance has been downgraded from 2010 to 2019.

Human, who sports only naturally-occurring DNA ~ oneironaut ~ broadcaster

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Did you uninstall Outlook 2010? There may be a conflict with the older version.

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Mr. Austin

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[Mr. Austin]

Thank you. Your reply might be the approach I’ll end up taking because it might require the least amounts of debugging. Outlook 2010 was not uninstalled before cross-grading to 2019, although it’s my experience with many computer programs, sometimes including Microsoft’s, that however the publisher says to cross-grade it, it’s sometimes best to just nuke all traces of the old program.

Human, who sports only naturally-occurring DNA ~ oneironaut ~ broadcaster

• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by Mr. Austin.

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Various add-ins (including Malwarebytes) can keep Outlook running when closed:

OUTLOOK.EXE continues running after you exit Outlook

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Mr. Austin

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Your link is topical and is clearly relevant, so thank you. It hadn’t occurred to me to consider that. And *if* the add-ons in the link might be contributing to the issue, then the issue is specific to Outlook 2019. That’s because Outlook 2010 was all using the exact same plug-ins as 2019  — *except for any new ones Microsoft would have added* as part of the Office 2019 bundle including Notes, and other products I don’t use.

Human, who sports only naturally-occurring DNA ~ oneironaut ~ broadcaster

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You might not notice but a newer version of Office could require a newer version of an add-in. If there is a new version of an add-in, the new version could cause the issue.

--Joe

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