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

Anonymous
2023-07-05T13:34:20+00:00

This just started happening. Whenever I open Outlook, I get the message "Outlook closed while you had items open. Reopen items from last session?" even though this is not true -- I did not have items open when I closed Outlook. Using Windows 11. Screenshot of what version of Outlook I have:

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For business

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Anonymous
2023-07-07T17:46:51+00:00

I'm on build 2306. Is this the reg key in question?

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Preferences
DWORD: ReopenWindowsOption
Value: 1

Yes.

Some users that updated to 2306 have reported that the key was not already in the Registry and had to add it and the value.

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-07-09T05:04:00+00:00

    Not so fast. Don't hold your breath...

    I was also afflicted for the last few days - with this registry setting present and set to 1..

    I'm also on Office 2021 Pro (perpetual) - lacking the Startup option dropdown.

    The annoying popup reliably occurred every time I opened Outlook for the last several days - and then magically stopped today, until late tonight. Oh.. I didn't previously close Outlook with any open messages.

    ReopenWindowsOption had been there all along, set to 1, since the issue arose - I did not need to add it.

    While it was behaving today, I tried to force it using key value 0 while closing with open messages (no pop up opened on startup)... as well as closing Outlook with an open message and key value 2 (it did not open the message on startup). So it is not obeying the registry value anyway.

    This quirk appears to have a complete mind of it's own regardless of the registry setting - at least for me.

    Oh... I've followed Diane's work for years (over two decades actually - oh my) - and I'm confident she'll get to the bottom of it.

    Cheers!

    Chip

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-07-09T09:40:33+00:00

    Interesting. I added the key to the registry, and the problem has gone away...for now.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-07-10T07:12:58+00:00

    Hello Chipster,

    I have deleted the registry item I recently created, and yes, the issue has not re-occurred. The startup drop box is still missing though.

    Happy to wait for a fix from Diane or MS, hopefully she will post and give us an update.

    Pete

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-07-10T16:30:27+00:00

    Rebooting the PC will temp fix it, but will happen again.

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