My Outlook 2016 "Start Up Options menu" has no drop down submenu

Hello CSG-08

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community.

I understand that you have an issue in regard to the Startup option is missing in your Outlook. Let’s work together in finding the best resolution to this issue.

For me to better understand the issue, I’d like to ask a few questions:

• What is the version of your Outlook app? About Office: What version of Office am I using? - Microsoft Support
• What are the changes made to the account prior of having the issue?
• What is the exact error message you encountered? Take a screenshot

It seems that the Startup option is missing in your Outlook. You can try the following steps:

• Open Outlook.
• Click on File > Options > Advanced.
• Scroll down to the General section.
• Check the box next to “Show startup in the folder pane”.
• Click OK.

If this does not work, you can try repairing your Office installation by accessing this link: Repair an Office application - Microsoft Support

We look forward to your next response.

Regards,

Jason Guer

Microsoft Community Moderator

Good afternoon Jason,

Beginning with your specific questions: ~

1. This is Microsoft Outlook 2016, part of the Microsoft Office Suite and has been operating, without issues on my home desktop PC since January 2020. I use Windows 10 which is updated regularly.
2. I am unaware of any changes in the account which precipitated the strange behaviour this week. (According to Properties> Previous versions ~ there are none)
3. For the last few days ~ whenever I open Outlook, I am presented with a Microsoft Outlook message stating: ~ “Outlook closed whilst you had items open. Reopen those items from your last session”

I have already taken the following action: ~

• Even when I close down all pages before closing Outlook it reopens as above!!
• Following the online Microsoft Help advice, I went to – File> Options> General looking for the heading "Start-up options". Yes, the sub heading is there but there are no drop down command options visible!! --- I have searched and clicked many times
• Following your suggestion, I opened Outlook, clicked on File> Options> Advances but cannot find a “General Section” on this page. The available options listed on this page are: ~

Outlook Panes; Outlook Start & Exit; Auto Archive; File & Browser preferences; Reminders; Export; RSS Feeds; Send/receive; Developers; International Options; Display; Other.

Am I missing something obvious? If not then I’ll try the Microsoft Office repair function.

In the meantime, thanks for your help.

Hello CSG-08

Hope you are doing well today!

Thank you for all the information above. Highly appreciated!

Since you tried the first suggestion and it was not successful. I wanted you to proceed to perform the "Repair Office Application". Just let me know about the result of the steps. Then, if the issue will continue. I will provide additional methods or troubleshooting steps for yo possibly correct the problem. It depends on your next reply.

We look forward to your next response.

Regards,

Jason Guer

Microsoft Community Moderator

Hi CSG-08:

Just an FYI that other MS Outlook users with a perpetual (non-subscription) license are reporting the same problem in the 04-Jul-2023 thread Outlook MS Pro+ 2021 Start-up Options Disappeared in the AskWoody forum but no one posting there has found a solution yet.

I use MS Office Home and Business 2019 Click-to-Run (Current Channel release) and recently noticed that my Outlook 2019 setting(s) at File | Options | General | Start Up Options are blank ...

.. when they should look something like this. (Note: the image below was copied from Diane Poremsky [ M365 MVP ]'s 06-Apr-2021 post in How to enable the prompt "Outlook Closed while you had items open. Reopen those items from your last session?")

I performed a Quick Repair of my MS Office 2019 installation as instructed in the MS support article Repair an Office Application but that did not restore my missing Start Up Options settings. If I can't find a simple solution in the next day or two I'll run a Full Repair and will post back to let you know if that fixes the problem.

The only reason I noticed my Start Up Options are missing is that, like you, I began seeing the same “Outlook closed while you had items open . Reopen these items from your last session?" pop-ups about a week ago (perhaps when I was automatically updated to Version 2306 / Build 16529.20154 that was released on 26-Jun-2023) and began looking for the setting in Outlook 2019 at File | Options | General | Start Up Options that should allow me to stop this pop-up.

Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.3086 * Firefox v115.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.23050.5-1.1.23050.3 * Malwarebytes Premium 4.5.32.271-1.0.2051 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * Microsoft Office 2019 Home and Business 2019 Version 2306 / Build 16529.20154 C2R

.... Just an FYI that other MS Outlook users with a perpetual (non-subscription) license are reporting the same problem in the 04-Jul-2023 thread Outlook MS Pro+ 2021 Start-up Options Disappeared in the AskWoody forum but no one posting there has found a solution yet ...

Hi CSG-08:

User Drcard:)) just reported in post # 2571671 of that AskWoody thread that they were able to restore the dropdown list at File | Options | General | Start Up Options | When Outlook Opens: (i.e., the dropdown list that controls the appearance of the “Outlook closed while you had items open. Reopen those items from your last session?” prompt at startup) when they rolled their MS Office Home and Business 2019 C2R back to Version 2305 / Build 16501.20210.

That suggests that the Version 2306 / Build 16529.20154 (rel. 26-Jun-2023) update of perpetual editions of MS Office 2016 C2R and higher has a bug that removed this setting from File | Options | General | Start Up Options. I don't know if this bug also affects Outlook 365 in Microsoft 365.

Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.3086 * Firefox v115.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.23050.5-1.1.23050.3 * Malwarebytes Premium 4.5.32.271-1.0.2051 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * Microsoft Office 2019 Home and Business 2019 Version 2306 / Build 16529.20154 C2R