Outlook an Impossible window size

[Hobbes80]

I have a windows XP Pro laptop, SP2. For some reason, Outlook 2003 will only
run as maximized, or minimized. If I attempt to restore the window, the focus
is on the application in the task bar, but the application is not on the
screen. So far I have done the following to try and correct:

1) Tried to right click and choose "size". when it is minimized it is grayed
out, no help there. When I restore, it gives me crosshairs, but no affect
when I try to resize.

2) Deleted the Bags and BagsMRU from both Shell and ShellNoRoam in the
registry. No affect to outlook. The cross hairs are in a different place, but
still have the problem.

3) Copied the profile to a new machine and brought it up there, same issue.
Outlook will be minimized or maximized, nothing in the middle.

4) Attached a 2nd monitor, checked to see if outlook had beend dragged off
screen and was simply out of visible range. No Dice.

I would prefer not to uninstall and reinstall outlook because the user has a
few encrypted archives that the passwords are stored in his outlook and he
doesn't remember them.
I'm at a loss... thanks in advance.
--Hobes80

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

Did you try the following?

1) Start/Run Outlook maximized
2) Right click on the Outlook button in taskbar and select restore so the
window disappears
3) Right click on the Outlook button and select Move (Mouse cursor should
jump off somwhere...)
4) Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the window
5) Once you see a bit of it, then you can use the mouse to resize/move the
window

If this is too hard to do, then do the following.

1) Close all applications (make sure nothing office'ish is listed in task
manager's processes tab)
2) Start Regedit
3) Export/Delete...
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook
4) Run a repair on Office/Outlook 2003 via Add/Remove programs
5) Start Outlook

Other than that, there is no reason to reinstall Office. The issue is with
your user profile under XP. When you use Office 2003's save my settings
wizard or XP's file and settings transfer wizard, you will always recreated
the messed up registry key dealing with Outlook's window size/look.

/neo

PS - Deleting the registry key mentioned will not touch your e-mail account
settings or data. That is in a different place in the registry.

 

[Ole Kristian]

Hello.
I also see this behavior at my customer's site. What seems to be the cause,
is that the window size for Outlook actually gets set to zero! You can
resolve this (temporarily) by deleting the following registry value:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Office Explorer\Frame

But, at least in my environment it keeps returning. Could this be due to
some Office 2003 policy? We run this in a Terminal Server environment, with
some policies set for Office 2k3...

Regards, Ole Kristian