Category: Outlook

 

Imagine starting Outlook one day and being greeted with an error ‘Could not create the work file. Check the temp environment variable’. It can be pretty annoying right? Don’t worry, in this article, we are going to guide you through how you can go about solving this error.

First of all, it is important to understand that this error usually occurs due to incorrect registry settings. And hence the solution requires you to modify some registry values. But please be very careful while doing so as even a minor mistake may cause serious damage to your system and may require reinstalling of the OS in worse cases.

How to solve ‘Outlook could not create the work file’?

1. Close Outlook if you have it open
2. Open the Registry Editor.

• If you’re using Windows 10 or 8, click on Windows + R keys to open Run Then type ‘regedit.exe’ and hit Ok
• If you’re using Windows 7 or earlier, click on the Start button and in the search box, type ‘exe’ and hit Enter

3. Go to the following path

‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders’

4. Right click on Cache and select Modify

Please refer the section below to note the cache values depending on the Windows version you have.

For Windows 10 and 8.1,

DWORD: Cache

Type: REG_EXPAND_SZ

Data: %UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\NetCache

For Windows 8, 7 and Vista

DWORD: Cache

Type: REG_EXPAND_SZ

Data: %UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files

For Windows XP

DWORD: Cache

Type: REG_EXPAND_SZ

Data: %UserProfile%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files

5. Exit the registry editor and restart Outlook

This time when you restart Outlook, you should be able to log in without any issues. The above solution should have fixed ‘Outlook could not create the work file’ error.

Resolve other Outlook issues using Hi5 PST repair software

The error ‘Outlook could not create the work file’ is one thing, but there are other Outlook errors that are more common. For instance, errors like ‘PST not found’, ‘Unknown messaging interface’ etc. are extremely common errors that occur mainly due to corruption in the PST file.

PST files can get corrupted due to various reasons such as PST file size issues, storing the PST file on a server or corruption in the storage space where the PST file is stored. And these corrupt PST files can interfere with the regular functioning of Outlook. Hence, in order to resolve these errors, one needs to repair the PST file using reliable tools such as Hi5 PST Repair Software.

It is a specialized PST repair tool that can resolve all kinds of corruption issues from minor to major. Once the PST file is repaired, just import it to Outlook and resume operations. Yes, it’s that simple.

The advantage of using this software is that it can be used with all versions of Outlook including Outlook 2016 and all versions of Windows like Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista and XP. Take advantage of the free trial version and repair your PST file for free!

Normally, Outlook saves a copy of all its data in a file on your local computer. These files are called .pst and .ost files. OST comes into picture if you’re using an Exchange account or Outlook 365 and PST is when you use a POP account.

This OST file updates itself as and when your Outlook is connected to the internet using the information available on the server. However, due to slow internet connection or due to various other reasons, there may be issues with this synchronization process.

Confirm that your folders are not syncing properly

To confirm that there really is a problem with your folders syncing, you can perform a little test using the steps below.

1. Right click on the folder to be verified and click Properties
2. Select the Synchronization tab and check the statistics for this folder. Here, the value in ‘Server Folder contains’ and ‘Offline folder contains’ should be the same. If there is a mismatch, it indicates that your folders are not syncing properly, in which case, you can proceed with the next step.

Step 1: Check if Cached Mode is enabled

For Outlook folders to sync properly, the cached mode should be enabled. To check if it is enabled, perform the following steps.

1. Open Outlook and select File from the menu
2. Select Account Settings > Account Settings
3. In the Data files tab, make sure that the account name is set the default
4. Click on the Email tab > Mailbox – Account Name > Change
5. Check if Cached Exchange Mode is selected; if not please select it
6. Then close the Account Settings box and restart Outlook

Step 2: Synchronize folders

Once the cached mode setting is enabled, you will have to synchronize the folders again either manually or automatically.

Case 1: To manually synchronize folders

1. Click on the folder to be synchronized and select Tools menu
2. Click Send/Receive and then click This folder to synchronize a particular folder
3. If you want to synchronize all folders, click Send/Receive All

Case 2: To automatically synchronize folders

1. Click on the Tools menu, click Options
2. Choose Mail setup
3. In the Send/Receive tab, select ‘Send immediately when connected’ and click Send/Receive
4. Also, select ‘Perform an automatic send/receive when exiting’ in the Send/Receive Groups dialogue and click Close
5. Click Ok

However, if this method doesn’t help you synchronize folders or if all except your Inbox folder is not synchronized, it indicates that your OST file may be corrupt. In that case, you can use Hi5’s OST to PST converter to convert the corrupt OST file to a PST. Once this is done, all your emails, contacts, calendars etc can be recovered once the PST is imported to Outlook.

To work with Hi5Software is really simple, simply select the OST file (or let the software to do it for you automatically) to repair. Then provide a destination to save the repaired file and click Repair. That is all you need to do, the software will take care of the rest and repair the file for you.

To see how the software works, you can download a trial and convert your OST file for free! Check it out today!