Here’s How to Rebuild Outlook Profile Easily [Updated Guide]
If Outlook isn’t working properly or you see repeated errors, your profile may be corrupted. In such cases, the best solution is to rebuild Outlook profile. Rebuilding creates a fresh profile with new settings, resolving issues like crashes, failed account sync, or corrupted configurations. In this guide, we’ll explain why you might need to recreate your Outlook profile and walk you through manual steps as well as automated tools to repair and rebuild it safely.
MS Outlook is one of the most commonly used email clients that provides emailing service and several functionalities like calendar, task management, contacts, notes, etc. Outlook is mainly used by professional and enterprise-level users, as it gives many superior features like MS Office applications that other email clients do not support. MS Outlook stores all data items associated with an Outlook profile in a single data file called Personal Storage Table (PST). Sometimes, due to any issues related to the Outlook email profile, we need to repair or rebuild the Outlook profile.
This guide covers everything you need to know about recreating an Outlook profile: manual methods, professional tools, causes of corruption, and preventive measures to avoid future errors.
What is an Outlook Profile?
An Outlook profile is a collection of settings that defines how your account connects to mail servers. It includes:
- Email account details (Exchange, IMAP, or POP3).
- Data files (PST and OST).
- Rules, signatures, and preferences.
Outlook cannot load properly when the profile is corrupted. That’s where rebuilding Outlook profile becomes essential.
Why Do You Need to Rebuild Your Outlook Profile? – Top Reasons
Sometimes we need to recreate the current profile or create a new additional mail profile. If you notice any of the following reasons, you may need to recreate your MS Outlook profile.
- The current Outlook email profile is damaged.
- If your Outlook application crashes frequently.
- To create separate accounts for work & personal use.
- Separately manage an additional Exchange mailbox.
- Users may also need to rebuild their Outlook profile for trial purposes.
- After upgrading your MS Outlook version or migrating accounts.
Quick Solution For Outlook Issues: Damaged Outlook profile sometimes might result corruption in PST file, Use Outlook PST Recovery Software . It resolves all corruption-related issues.
To fix damaged Mac Outlook file you can try the Mac Outlook Recovery tool if your are on Mac environment. The tool resolves all Mac Outlook data issues.
Common Causes of Outlook Profile Corruption
Understanding the root causes helps in preventing future issues. Some common reasons include:
- Sudden system shutdowns while Outlook is running.
- Large or oversized PST/OST files.
- Conflicts with third-party add-ins.
- Malware or virus infections.
- Windows or Outlook updates are causing compatibility issues.
How to Recreate Outlook Profile Manually?
Outlook Mail Profile can be managed in any system with the help of Control Panel. However, the location of the control panel depends on different versions of Windows. We can rebuild Outlook profile manually by following the below steps, which are as follows:
- Select Mail from the control panel items and click it. A new pop-up window will appear.
- From the Mail setup, click on the ‘Show Profiles’ button and select it to manage the Outlook mail accounts.
- We will select the profile we want to delete. Here the account to be deleted is Outlook. After selecting the account, click on Remove and OK.
- Now we will recreate Outlook profile by selecting the Add button from the Mail window.
- A new window will be opened after clicking on the Add button. Write a new profile name and click on OK. Here the profile name is OutlookNew.
- A new Add Account window will be opened where we need to add the name, email address, and password and click on ‘Next’ to rebuild Outlook profile.
- After clicking Next, the configuration process will start, and once the account is configured successfully, click on Finish.
- After adding the additional mail profile, we should configure Outlook to prompt us for which profile we want to start Outlook with. We must restart MS Outlook and select the new profile while opening MS Outlook and click OK.
Hence, the new Outlook Email Profile has been created, which can be accessed in MS Outlook by selecting the particular profile. However, as we discussed above, the main cause to rebuild an Outlook profile is having a damaged Outlook profile. Below we also provided manual steps.
Repair Outlook Profile Manually in Outlook 2013 & 2016
- Open Outlook 2013 or 2016 and click on the File tab.
- Click on Info, then select Account Settings > Account Setting.
- Select your current profile from the E-mail tab.
- Press the Repair button from the top.
- Lastly, hit the Next button to initiate the Outlook profile repairing process.
Note: Manual ways has a few limitations-
- It involves multiple complex steps and is not suitable for users who are not familiar with Outlook settings and Control Panel configurations.
- If a user fail in this process to rebuild Outlook profile or make a mistake, there are high risk of data loss in manual ways
- It can be time-consuming especially to rebuild multiple Outlook profiles.
Hence, it is preferred to use the specialized tool.
Resolve the Issue by Using Professional Utility
Manual ways are challenging and time-consuming to repair and recreate an Outlook profile. Hence, you should use the advanced tool. It can smoothly fix corrupt and damaged Outlook profiles without the need of human effort. This professional tool is easy to use, and you don’t require technicalities.
4 Quick Steps to Repair Outlook Profile
- Start the Tool to repair Outlook Profile and make it accessible.
- Click add File button to add Outlook profile files or simply click on Search button.
- After adding the damaged files, specify the required ones.
- Finally, select a destination path and click on the “Export” button.
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Let’s Wrap It Up
Rebuilding an Outlook profile is often the quickest way to fix corruption, sync errors, or setup issues. You can manually recreate the profile using Control Panel or Outlook settings, or if the profile and PST files are heavily damaged, use professional tools. Remember, rebuilding does not delete your emails if backups and account settings are managed correctly. By following the steps in this guide, you can restore Outlook functionality and prevent future profile errors.