Outlooks keeps freezing

Dear Amit Agrawal,

Thank you for your post in this Microsoft forum and sharing detailed information. 

From what you described—random freezes, single work/Exchange account, and Outlook data stored in OneDrive with “store files locally” enabled—the most common root cause is that an Outlook data file (PST/OST) is sitting in a OneDrive‑synced folder. Outlook isn’t supported with data files in a synced or network location, and OneDrive/Known‑Folder‑Move can intermittently lock those files, which often looks exactly like Outlook “hangs/freezes”. 

Below is a focused, step-by-step plan to resolve this. Please follow the steps in order. 

1. Take Outlook Data Files out of OneDrive 

This is the most critical step and should resolve the majority of random freeze cases. Your Exchange account uses an OST file, which is a local copy of your mailbox data from the server. By creating a new profile, you will force Outlook to create a fresh, healthy data file in the correct local path. 

1. Close Outlook completely (check Task Manager to ensure it is not running). 
2. Create a New Outlook Profile: The best approach for an Exchange account is to create a new profile so Outlook recreates the data file in its default local path. 
   1. Press the Windows key and search for Mail. 
   2. Open the Mail (Microsoft Outlook) app from the Control Panel. 
   3. Click on Show Profiles..., then Add... to create a new profile. 
   4. Set up your Exchange account in this new profile. 
   5. Select Always use this profile and choose the new profile, then click OK. 
3. Launch Outlook with the new profile. Open Outlook as you normally would. It will now use the new profile you created. It may take some time to download all of your email data from the server, depending on the size of your mailbox.   

2. Stabilize Outlook 

Disclaimer: The following steps involve modifying your Office installation and security software settings. Your Exchange account data is stored safely on the server, but please proceed with caution. 

If the issue persists after the above steps, please try these additional actions: 

• Update Office: In Outlook, go to File > Office Account > Update Options > Update Now. 
• Repair Office: Go to Settings > Apps > find your Microsoft 365/Office installation > Modify > Quick Repair (and then Online Repair if needed). 
• Disable Hardware Graphics Acceleration: In Outlook, go to File > Options > Advanced > Display > check Disable hardware graphics acceleration (then restart Outlook). 
• Antivirus: Temporarily disable email scanning or exclude the Outlook data file path from your antivirus software to rule out file-locking by the security program. 
• Start in Safe Mode: To confirm stability with all add-ins disabled, press Win + R and type outlook.exe /safe and press Enter. If Outlook is stable, you can re-enable add-ins one by one to find the culprit. 

We look forward to your update and hope the new profile resolves this issue for you. 

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Something to try is to create a blank Outlook profile.

1. Right click the Windows Start button and click Run.
2. Type the command below and press OK.

Outlook.exe /PIM blankprofile

Note: blankprofile is the name of the new Outlook profile. You can use a different name. If you run the command again change the name because the current name is already used e.g. blankprofile2 or whatever you want.

If a blank profile also has the hang, try repairing Office.

Also, now that you have multiple profiles you can always pick the profile you want to switch to by holding down the Shift key when starting Outlook. This launches the Profile Picker. On this dialog you can also delete unwanted profiles. Do not delete your main profile until you know a new profile is working and all the data is there.

If a blank profile works then its possible your current profile has some corruption. Use the steps in this article to create a new Outlook profile, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-an-outlook-profile-f544c1ba-3352-4b3b-be0b-8d42a540459d. I would not use the Mail applet in the Control Panel because it has not been updated to support modern auth. It might work but it will fail in some situations.