Keep Getting "Outlook closed while you had items open. Reopen items from last session?" Even Though It's Not True

Hi Drcard:)),

I printed and followed exactly your excellent step by step instructions to achieve the rollback to the previous version, so I should have opened the Admin command prompt.

It's time to rush off to work, I will try to reply more in depth tonight, but be aware I'm at nowhere near the level you are at.

Pete

Why is everyone downgrading Office, there is absolutely no reason to do so and you run the risk of any security holes that might of been fixed in the current latest update.

I just did the following:

#1 Run Outlook as an Elevated Process (i.e. as Administrator) this is so that if Outlook needed to set stuff outside the Users location (i.e. SYSTEM LOCATIONS)#2 Once opened if popup saying closed with open files, then click on NO.

#3 Disable storing the Outlook settings under Cloud storage options shown in the image below:

#4 Set (add DWORD 32-bit item with name ReopenWindowsOption if not already there) ReopenWindowsOption and set its value to 1 in the following location: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Preferences

#5 Close Outlook and Reboot-System just to make sure new settings are loaded up.

To be honest I think it might just be the disabling of Outlook saving its settings on the cloud that was causing this issue, but I thought I would say what I changed just in case it was a combination of what I did as a whole.

Image of Outlook settings in the cloud:

I did this back on the 13th July and have not gotten any more of those popups since.

The screen shot shows you are using Windows PowerShell which is a totally different app than Windows Command Prompt (CLI). The command is for the Command Prompt. PowerShell is the next generation replacement for Windows Command Prompt (CLI). PowerShell and Command Prompt share similar commands with slight variations. That command was not written to run in PowerShell. You are lucky that the command ran at all. My instructions explain how to open an Administrator's Command Prompt (which is called the CLI - Command Line Interpreter). WinKey + R to open a Run box, type in cmd, press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys at the same time, and click Yes to the UAC box that opens.

The "gaps" in the command are spaces and are critical as they tell the command what to do.

The CD is Change Directory command to change the prompt (part before the >) to the folder where the OfficeC2RClient.exe is located in. The command must be executed in the folder that the OfficeC2RClient.exe resides. The difference in the Gregory's instructions is two different ways to run the OfficeC2RClient.exe file. Gregory's instructions uses the full Path address of the location of the OfficeC2RClient.exe (C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun*)* where my instructions move the prompt to the folder. BTW: Upper and lower case doesn't matter in the Command Prompt. The command starts with naming the exe file to run which is OfficeC2RClient.exe and in Gregory's command where the prompt before entering the command is not at the folder where this file is location must include the Path to the file so the command can run that file. In my instructions I have two commands, the first moves the prompt to that folder and the second only has to state the file name (no Path) because the Prompt is already at the file's location.

I do this method as experience has shown that novices that have errors in a command are most often due to entering the Path incorrectly and when the Path is combined with the command the users doesn't know if it was an error in the Path entered or how the run command was entered. Two separate commands help determine if error is in the Path or in the command.

Also I used an Environmental variable %programfiles%, which in most cases is the same as C:\Program Files, but is not the same for those that have Windows install on another drive such as D:\Program Files. The %programfiles% will find both locations where the C:\Progranm Files will not work for Windows installed on any other drive except C:\ which makes the %programfile% more compatible for more setups.

Side Tip to enter the Path address in the Command Prompt correctly:

Start the Path address such as C:\Users. After typing C:\ press the Tab key which will display the first folder/file (alphabetically - numbers first) all the folders and files in that directory. Press the Tab key to toggle to the next folder/file and keep pressing the Tab to go thru the list of folders and files in that directory alphabetically. When you get to the one you want enter the \ and press the Tab key to toggle thru the list of folder and files in that folder. Keep doing this until you get to the file you want. The Path entered by Windows in this method will always be spelled and spaced correctly. This is called Tab Auto Complete. If you enter the first letter of the folder/file you want the list will start with that letter and cut down on the number of tab clicks you need to display that folder or file.

I'm still amazed you got it to run in PowerShell.

Let me know if you need more help

Hi Gregory-Assistance Needed,

Apologies for the slow reply to your post. We are on vastly different time zones, and life just sometimes gets in the way.

So, I have a MSI laptop with Windows 11 Pro and Office Pro, details below. It is running the latest 2036 version of Outlook, but hasn't had any pop up issues that I can remember. The store settings in the cloud is ticked and I notice that the drop down start options are now missing. I decided to try your method of rolling back to Version 16 build 16501.20210 on the laptop to see if it worked.

The screen shot below shows the error message that occurred after trying your method. I'm far from a skilled person such as yourself or Drcards:)) and I might be doing something wrong to cause this issue. To my untrained eye there are subtle differences between yours and Drcards)) commands/methods, whether they make any difference is way beyond my capability's.

*Drcard:)) CD %program(no gap)files%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun*

*Yours "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun*

Further his second part starting with OfficeC2RClient.exe is required to be manually input, not cut and pasted. ****

I did not fully comprehend some of the successful instructions, they are also beyond my abilities, but I managed to get the desired outcome.

Hope this helps

Pete

MSI Modern 15, i5-1155G7, 24gb DDR4, Windows 11 Pro Version 22H2 build 22621.1992, Office 2021 version 2306, build 16529.20182, Bitdefender Total Security latest build.