How to: Clear Offline Items in Outlook
Owning ITS Area:
Helpdesk
Priority:
Low
Need for the Article:
A fix for small issues that appear in Outlook inboxes and calendars
Last Date Reviewed:
10/30/2024
Does this describe your issue?
- Calendar items that cannot be deleted with odd symbols next to them. Clicking on the calendar item may cause Outlook to crash.
- Deleted items in the calendar or inboxes reappearing.
- Items moved to different folders moving back to original spot.
Why is this happening?
These issues are likely caused by a conflict between your locally stored inbox or calendar and what is on the server. The fix proposed in this article will help clear your local saved inbox/calendar so that no more conflicts exists.
Before you start - DON'T PANIC
This fix will temporarily clear your inbox/calendar. It will repopulate in less than a minute. A very long, dreadful, minute. If you are a member of several shared inboxes, please note that it can take (sometimes much) longer than a minute for everything to fall back into place. If this describes you, please perform this fix at the end of your working day.
Inbox issues - Outlook classic
Please right click on "inbox" found under your email and select properties. Near the bottom of the window that just appeared, you will find an option to "clear offline items". Click that.
Calendar issues - Outlook classic
Please locate your calendar in the list of your calendars, right click on yours and select properties. Near the bottom of the window that just appeared, you will find an option to "clear offline items". Click that.
New Outlook
Oh, the option isn't there. How frustrating, but apparently this is a feature.
If you prefer the new Outlook, you'll have to flip back to the old one temporarily to perform this fix. You can find the means to do so in the top right corner of Outlook.