Member Avatar for Tokyoprince

Hi,
I'm having problems with Outlook 2003 hanging whenever I try to Save or Insert attachments. In either case Task Manager shows Outlook as 'not responding'. I have tried restoring back to previous restore points, repairing Office and even reinstalling Office but the problem remains. Fortunately I can insert and save attachments by dragging them between the reading pane and windows explorer but it is still a real pain! Any ideas please?

XP Pro + SP2 + Office 2003

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Justin01

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The fact that the hang disappears when the network printer is powered up (as reported by ) strongly points to a printer/print-spooler timeout rather than a corrupt Outlook install. Office apps often query the default printer (for layout/print-preview and some shell dialogs). If that default is a network device that is unreachable, the application can block while the spooler or driver waits for the device to respond.

Quick tests and fixes to try:

  • Change the default printer to a local or virtual printer (Control Panel -> Printers and Faxes -> right-click a local/virtual printer -> Set as Default). Then test Save/Insert.
  • Restart the Print Spooler service (Services.msc -> Print Spooler -> Restart) and try again.
  • Power the network printer on or make the print server reachable to confirm the printer is the trigger.

Longer-term remedies and diagnostics:

  • Install updated drivers on both client and the print server; older drivers can cause long timeouts.
  • If the printer is shared from another PC, ensure that host is always online or move the printer to a true print server.
  • Use Event Viewer (System/Application) to look for spooler or RPC errors at the time Outlook hangs.
  • If the default-printer change fixes the problem, make a suitable local/virtual printer the default when the network device must be offline.
  • For deeper troubleshooting, start Outlook in safe mode to rule out add-ins, and use Process Monitor if you need to see which network/file calls are blocked.

Note: 's Detect and Repair helps with Office file problems but will not resolve timeouts caused by an unreachable network printer.

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Member Avatar for Tokyoprince

Hi folks,
I have discovered that the problem goes away when my network printer is turned on !! Seems to be caused by an off-line network connection, anyone else experienced this problem?

Member Avatar for Justin01

Never heard of such a thing. You can try repairing Outlook by going under Help>Detect and Repair.

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