What resetting Outlook actually does

Resetting Outlook to default settings clears your customizations — toolbar layouts, view preferences, signature settings, and display options — but leaves your email accounts, messages, and calendar intact. The reset removes add-ins, restores the original ribbon layout, and clears cached data that sometimes causes freezing or slow performance. Your actual email data stays on the server and in your local folders.

A reset is useful when Outlook crashes repeatedly, displays messages incorrectly, or stops responding to clicks. It is not the same as uninstalling and reinstalling the program, which takes longer and may require you to re-enter account passwords.

Key Takeaways

  • Resetting Outlook clears customizations and cached data but preserves your email accounts, messages, and calendar entries.
  • The reset process differs between Outlook on Windows, Outlook on Mac, and Outlook on the web — each has its own steps.
  • Before resetting, close Outlook completely and back up your .pst files if you store local copies of messages.
  • After reset, you may need to re-enter account passwords and re-enable add-ins you were using.

Resetting Outlook on Windows

Close Outlook completely — check the system tray at the bottom right of your screen to make sure no Outlook process is still running. Open the Windows Settings app, go to Apps, then Apps & features. Scroll down to find Microsoft Outlook, click it, then click Uninstall. A dialog will appear asking whether you want to remove the program or reset it — select Reset.

Windows will show a progress bar while it resets Outlook to factory settings. This takes two to five minutes. When it finishes, Outlook will open automatically. You will see the account setup screen. Enter your email address and password to reconnect your accounts. Your messages, calendar, and contacts will sync back from the server within a few minutes.

If you use local .pst files to store messages offline, those files remain untouched during a reset. Outlook will ask you to re-add them to your account list after the reset completes.

Resetting Outlook on Mac

Close Outlook. Open Finder, click Go in the menu bar, then click Go to Folder. Type ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office and press Enter. You will see a folder named Outlook.settings. Move this folder to your Desktop as a backup — do not delete it yet in case you need to restore it.

Open Outlook again. It will rebuild its settings from scratch and ask you to sign in to your accounts. Your email messages remain in the Exchange or IMAP server and will read again automatically. If the reset does not fix your problem, you can move the Outlook.settings folder back to its original location to restore your previous settings.

On Mac, you can also reset individual features without resetting everything. Hold down Option, click Help in the menu bar, then click Troubleshooting. Select the feature you want to reset — for example, Sync Issues or Reminders — and click Reset.

Resetting Outlook on the web

Outlook on the web (the version you access through a browser at outlook.com or outlook.office.com) does not have a full reset option, but you can clear your settings and return to defaults. Click the gear icon in the top right, then click View all Outlook settings. Go to General, then Accessibility. Scroll to the bottom and click Reset settings to default. Outlook will reload with the original layout and preferences.

If you want to clear your browsing cache and cookies for Outlook specifically, close the browser tab, then clear your browser's cache and cookies. The next time you open Outlook on the web, it will load fresh.

What to do before you reset

Back up any .pst files you have created. These are local copies of your email stored on your computer. To find them, open Outlook, click File, then click Open & Export, then click Open File. Look for files ending in .pst. Note their location on your computer. Copy them to an external drive or cloud storage as a backup.

Write down any custom signatures, rules, or add-ins you have set up. After the reset, you will need to recreate these manually. Take a screenshot of your toolbar layout if you have customized it heavily, so you can remember what buttons you had where.

If you use Outlook with a work or school account, check with your IT department before resetting. Some organizations lock down Outlook settings, and a reset might trigger re-authentication or require your IT team to re-provision your account.

What happens after you reset

Outlook will ask you to sign in to your email accounts again. Have your passwords ready. If you use two-factor authentication, you will need to complete that step as well. Your messages will begin syncing from the server when ready, but large mailboxes may take several minutes to fully read.

Any add-ins you had installed will be removed. If you need them back, you can reinstall them through the Get Add-ins menu in Outlook. Rules you created for organizing mail will be gone — you will need to recreate them by going to File, then Manage Rules & Alerts.

Your calendar, contacts, and tasks will sync back from the server. If you stored these locally in .pst files, you will need to re-import those files after the reset.

When a reset does not fix the problem

If Outlook still crashes or freezes after a reset, the issue may be with a specific add-in that reinstalled automatically, or with your email account configuration. Disable add-ins one at a time to find the culprit. Go to File, then Options, then Trust Center, then Trust Center Settings, then Disabled Items. Re-enable items one at a time and test Outlook after each one.

If the problem persists, try removing and re-adding your email account. Go to File, then Account Settings, then Account Settings. Select your account and click Remove, then click New. Enter your email address and password again. This forces Outlook to re-read your account settings from the server, which sometimes fixes configuration errors that a reset alone cannot solve.

If Outlook still does not work, uninstalling and reinstalling the entire program may be necessary. This is more time-consuming than a reset but can fix deeper problems with corrupted program files.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will resetting Outlook delete my emails?

No. Your emails remain on the server and in any local .pst files you have created. A reset only clears customizations like toolbar layouts and display settings. After you sign back in, your messages will sync back to Outlook automatically.

Do I need to re-enter my password after resetting?

Yes. Outlook clears stored credentials during a reset for security reasons. You will see the account setup screen when Outlook opens, and you will need to enter your email address and password. If your account uses two-factor authentication, you will complete that step as well.

Can I undo a reset if I change my mind?

On Mac, yes — you backed up your Outlook.settings folder to your Desktop, so you can move it back to restore your previous settings. On Windows, a reset cannot be undone, but your email data is not lost because it lives on the server. You can recreate your customizations manually or restore from a system backup if you have one.

How long does a reset take?

The reset process itself takes two to five minutes. After that, Outlook will take several more minutes to sync your email from the server, depending on how many messages you have. Large mailboxes may take 10 to 20 minutes to fully read.

Should I reset Outlook or uninstall and reinstall it?

Start with a reset. It is faster and preserves your email data more safely. Only uninstall and reinstall if a reset does not fix the problem, or if you suspect the program files themselves are corrupted.