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

I also would like to register my disappointment that one month after this bug was reported Microsoft still has not fixed it, nor have they provided any ETA for a fix. Indeed, it apparently took almost one month before they even formally acknowledged that the bug exists. C'mon, Microsoft, get the lead out!

To Great White North,

It's my understanding that any changes made under HKEY_CURRENT_USER will be lost when the current user session ends or if Windows for some other reason recopies the settings from the individual user's registry area to HKEY_CURRENT_USER. ...

Hi jgross14:

Keep in mind that my 04-Aug-post <here> on page 11 of this thread was quoting Microsoft's suggested workaround in their 03-Aug-2023 support article Outlook Unexpectedly Prompts to Reopen Items From Your Last Session to create the ReopenWindowsOption registry key. Microsoft stated in that support article that this workaround "may or may not stop all occurrences of the issue" so it's up to each individual if they want to try this registry edit or not.

I'm not an expert in this area , but according to the 14-Jun-2023 LifeWire article What Is HKEY_CURRENT_USER? this section of the registry "contains configuration information for Windows and software specific to the currently logged-in user....Since the HKCU hive is user specific, the keys and values contained in it will differ from user to user*, even on the same computer. This is unlike most other registry hives which are global, like HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, and retain the same information across all users*."

I haven't re-created that ReopenWindowsOption key in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Preferences of my own registry so you will have to wait for feedback from someone who has tried that workaround, but as far as I know if you set the value of that registry key to "1" (where "1" = "Never reopen previous items") then that value should still be "1" after the current user session ends as long as you log back in to Windows using the same Windows user account. Of course, that might change when Microsoft eventually pushes out a bug fix if they decide to change the default value of that registry key to something other than "1" (e.g., to "2", which maps to "Always reopen previous items").

In Version 2305 and earlier users with a perpetual edition MS Outlook C2R could use the dropdown list at File | Options | General | Start Up Options shown in the image below to change the value of that registry key, but it appears that the bug introduced in Version 2306 has removed both that setting and its associated ReopenWindowsOption registry key in HKEY_CURRENT_USER. From the 25-Jun-2020 Microsoft 365 blog Automatically Restore Windows in Outlook, which shows how Version 2305 and earlier users could customize their own preference for how Outlook behaved when it was opened:

I find the occasional "Outlook closed while you had items open. Reopen those items from your last session?” prompt at Outlook startup to be somewhat annoying, but I haven't tried any of the workarounds suggested in this thread and have decided to simply wait for Microsoft to release a bug fix.

Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.3208 * Firefox v116.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.23050.9-1.1.23060.1005 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.34.275-1.0.2089 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * Microsoft Office 2019 Home and Business 2019 Version 2307 / Build 16626.20134 Click-to-Run

Heb dus 6 dageen geleden op de juiste wijze het register aangepast: sinds die tijd de melding niet meer op mijn scherm gehad.

Blijft verbazingwekkend dat Microsoft deze fout niet herstelt !

I was having this same issue until I tried opening Outlook 2016 from its root folder.

I have Outlook 2016 on my home computer. Within the last few weeks, on reopening Outlook, I have received the message "Outlook closed while you had items open . Reopen these items from your last session ?".

I have tried to remove this function via File; Options; General; Start up options, but  my Start up options title does not have a drop down menu !

I have opened and reopened the Options menu, but to no avail. Nor is there an option to press on the heading "Start up options" which is located between Privacy Settings and Attachment options

I'm sure that I must have closed Outlook in the past without closing all items, but this message has only begun appearing within the last week.

Is there a fix?

I was having this same issue on Outlook 2016 and then I used on the ONLINE office repair. It still didn't work until I actually clicked "Open" on the Outlook app in the root folder instead of the shortcut. I didn't even have to "Run as administrator." It seemed as if the online repair actually uninstalled my Outlook and reinstalled it but the old toolbar shortcut had issues. I deleted the old shortcut and once it was open correctly, I "Pinned to the toolbar" and all seems well now. I hope this works for the rest of you.

As you can see in the next photo, the options are back.