Microsoft Outlook desktop crash fixed but cause remains unknown
There was a time in the distant past when PIM (short for "Personal Information Management") was the name of the enterprise and productivity game and Microsoft Outlook was the king of that hill. Today, Outlook has become mostly an email client like many, with a few add-ons on top. Perhaps that may have been for the best because, for almost half a day, Outlook uses were unable to use Microsoft's Windows app due to still unexplained crashes.
Of course, they could still use Outlook's other incarnations, including the web browser experience or its mobile apps. For users already familiar with a workflow that revolves around the Windows desktop app, however, even more than a few hours of downtime during work hours can be infuriating. Especially when simply reinstalling the app doesn't seem to solve anything.
That has prompted users to suspect a recent update as the culprit since the Outlook app started crashing on launch after that update. Being a security update, however, users, especially Office 365 customers, would have to install it again anyway to ensure the safety of their data, creating a rather vicious cycle.
Fortunately, Microsoft assures that the crashes had nothing to do with the recent security update rolled out on July 15. Even better, the company says that it already has rolled out a mitigation that will finally stop Outlook from crashing. They might, however, have to restart Outlook to apply the fix.
We've completed the fix rollout and confirmed via internal monitoring the service has recovered. Please note, users may need to restart the Outlook client to enable the fix. Additional details can be found under EX218604 in the admin center.
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) July 15, 2020
It might take some time for the fix to propagate to all users but Microsoft says it shouldn't take more than four hours. If it does, you'll have to contact Microsoft support. Unfortunately, it does say anything else about the issue or what caused it in the first place.