Microsoft admits Outlook might freeze when saving files to OneDrive
- Reference: 1768998823
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/01/21/outlook_freeze_onedrive/
- Source link:
The megacorp acknowledged the [1]latest issue days after releasing an emergency out-of-band update to deal with [2]connection and authentication failures in the Windows App . Yet another [3]fault in the update caused some Windows 11 23H2 PCs to refuse to shut down or hibernate.
According to Microsoft, after installing the January 13 update, "some applications might become unresponsive or experience unexpected errors when opening files from or saving files to cloud-backed storage, such as OneDrive or Dropbox."
[4]
One application is Outlook, which, when combined with a PST (Personal Storage Table) file on OneDrive, "might become unresponsive and fail to reopen unless its process is terminated in Task Manager, or the system is restarted." Sent emails might also fail to appear.
[5]
[6]
The workaround for Outlook is to move the PST file out of OneDrive. Putting a PST file in OneDrive is generally not recommended except for backup purposes, though there are plenty of scenarios where users or administrators do so, and changing a workflow due to a bug introduced by an update is not ideal.
[7]Windows 11 shutdown bug forces Microsoft into out-of-band damage control
[8]Sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that! PCs refuse to shut down after Microsoft patch
[9]Windows Backup adds second-chance restore at sign-in
[10]Windows App forgets how to log in with first security update of the year
Microsoft had already [11]acknowledged a problem with Classic Outlook profiles and POP accounts. The latest addition to its Release Health dashboard indicates the issue is more widespread than thought.
The advice Microsoft dished out to users experiencing the glitch is to "contact the application developer for possible alternative methods of accessing the files." Microsoft also suggested users left staring at a frozen Outlook could use webmail "if supported by your email provider."
In the meantime, it added: "We are working on releasing a resolution for this issue as soon as possible. We will provide an update when more information is available."
[12]
This means a sad-faced engineer somewhere in Redmond has likely reset the "days since we broke something in Windows" counter to zero, and we're not even out of the first month of 2026. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-health/status-windows-11-25H2#2738msgdesc
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/15/windows_app_credential_failures/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/16/patch_tuesday_secure_launch_bug_no_shutdown/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aXEGOay3IhlD6cYrxJ64YAAAAs4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aXEGOay3IhlD6cYrxJ64YAAAAs4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aXEGOay3IhlD6cYrxJ64YAAAAs4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/19/windows_11_shutdown_bug/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/16/patch_tuesday_secure_launch_bug_no_shutdown/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/16/microsoft_windows_backup/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/15/windows_app_credential_failures/
[11] https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/classic-outlook-profiles-with-pop-accounts-and-psts-hang-after-windows-updates-on-january-13-2026-590fe356-ecc2-49f4-b9e3-bd39fafa58f6
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aXEGOay3IhlD6cYrxJ64YAAAAs4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Maybe Tuesday the 13th is another date to avoid, possibly replacing Friday the 13th.
M$ Exceeding expectations
Just when you think they can't make it any worse, they do.
Thankfully I've not used Outlook since 2007 and don't use onedrive at all.
40 years and counting.
Email is not a new technology. It must be around 40 years old, if not more. On my system it just works, and has done for several decades.
What is Microsoft doing that they can't get even such a mature technology working?
Re: 40 years and counting.
It started with top posting, then went downhill from there ;)
Re: 40 years and counting.
You are confusing where the maturity is.
The email channel is well understood and the subject of reams of internationally agreed technical standards, which is why almost anyone except from MS can build a working email client.
Its clear where the maturity *is not*
It's a good thing that in New Outlook, save to OneDrive is the only option then
My advice whenever a user has any issue, no matter how small in New Outlook is to switch to Classic
No cloud no worry
no pain still gain
ready to prooove it again
no cloud no worry
(Galaxy Rangers intro...)
makes you wonder why sane people update their systems
i remember when i was much younger i'd always install the latest updates.
when fixing someones PC the 1st thing i'd do is updates.
i've been a mac user since ~91, ive taken the same approach on those too, until recently.
i will be keeping my systems on osx/ios26 & may roll back my laptop to osx 15.
app updates i will make a judgement on, OS updates i will take the service updates but i likely will not be upgrading to osx/iso 27 unless i truly need to.
if i could roll my ios stuff back to ios 18 i would.
There are no new features in iso26 i actually want.
If i'm not having an issue with my apps why do i need to update?
re app vulnerabilities, my personal machines are protected by apples xprotect etc plus the apple firewall, plus home firewall, plus nat so most addressed exploits likely can never be remotely exploited.
unless i'm facing a usability issues or bugs then i likely have no need for the app updates.
Its not like updates fix all bugs or won't introduce new ones as per this article so why would any sane person update unless there is some significant reason to?
Error metrics
A more fun metric might be "the number of news articles per day reporting what we broke now"
I would say 2026 is definitely trending higher for Microsoft. I hope it's paying some bills for El Reg staff, so no complaints from them I guess!