Forum Discussion
Kyle McGovern
Jan 17, 2018Copper Contributor
we can't complete this because we can't contact the server right now
Just this morning I am having issues connecting to my Office 365 mailbox in Outlook 2016. I have been troubleshooting a similar issue with another colleague and now it seems I've been bitten by the b...
JLMathes
Jul 25, 2024Copper Contributor
I'm not precisely responding to Kyle McGovern but sharing this with anyone else still experiencing this issue. Although this is a very old post (from 6 years ago), I stumbled across it because I was experiencing the exact same error message and had 3 emails stuck in my Outbox. This is what I did to resolve this issue:
-- Exit MS Outlook
-- Exit MS Teams (just in case you have a version that is tied to Outlook as a mail-enabled item)
-- Launch Windows (File) Explorer
-- Navigate to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16 (for MS O365 suite)
-- Single Click inside of that folder on any file/item and tap the letter 'S' key on your keyboard twice
-- You should see the SCANPST application
-- Double-click on SCANPST and a MS Outlook Inbox Repair dialog box will appear
-- The file name to repair should automatically appear there. But if not, then browse to 'C:\Users\Profile\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\email address removed for privacy reasons'
-- Click Start. It may ask you to overwrite that existing file with the same name. Click Yes to Overwrite.
-- Allow this utility to run until it reports that it's completed
-- Launch MS Outlook and see if those messages stuck in the Outbox have been sent automatically or try pushing them out by hitting "Send and Receive".
-- Exit MS Outlook
-- Exit MS Teams (just in case you have a version that is tied to Outlook as a mail-enabled item)
-- Launch Windows (File) Explorer
-- Navigate to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16 (for MS O365 suite)
-- Single Click inside of that folder on any file/item and tap the letter 'S' key on your keyboard twice
-- You should see the SCANPST application
-- Double-click on SCANPST and a MS Outlook Inbox Repair dialog box will appear
-- The file name to repair should automatically appear there. But if not, then browse to 'C:\Users\Profile\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\email address removed for privacy reasons'
-- Click Start. It may ask you to overwrite that existing file with the same name. Click Yes to Overwrite.
-- Allow this utility to run until it reports that it's completed
-- Launch MS Outlook and see if those messages stuck in the Outbox have been sent automatically or try pushing them out by hitting "Send and Receive".