Quick Steps to Troubleshoot Identity

If you are having problem with Entourage and/or Outlook for Mac, use the following steps to identify the source of your problem.

1) Hold down Shift key when launching Entourage and/or Outlook for Mac. This disables schedules. If this works, check your Outbox and remove the outgoing messages. Often it's a message with an attachment that's too large. Send one at a time to find problem message. You can copy/paste into a new message to send.

2) If this fails, try testing in a new Identity. Create a new test Identity. If you have a POP accounts, set to "leave on server" for this test. (Leave on server is an option in Accounts)

• Under Entourage in the Menu bar select "Switch Identity". Click on "New".
• How to create a new Identity or switch to a new Identity in Outlook 2011

If it works in a new Identity...

• Rebuild your Entourage Identitiy. More info
  • If rebuild fails, move into new Identity. How to move your Entourage data into a new Identity.
• Rebuild, repair your Outlook Identity. More info
  • If rebuild fails, move into new Identity...How to move your Outlook data into a new Identity.
• Even if rebuild works, it's best to move into a new Identity. We often see failure in an Identity that was rebuilt shortly after rebuilding. The more you try to rebuild the more damage you can do to your Identity. If you need to recovery, select the first copy of the rebuild process.

Note: Rebuilding does not fix all issues in an Identity. You must have a lot of free space to rebuild. Make a backup before rebuilding. More info.

3) If a new Identity fails, try testing in a new User. Testing in a new User will quickly tell you if the problem is system wide or if it's your User's folder that contains the problem.

CREATE A NEW USER

Go to System Preferences --> Create a New User in Accounts. Switch to the New User by logging out/in or use Fast User Switching.

• If it works in the new User, the problem is in your User's account. Start here to troubleshoot
• If it fails in the new User.
  • Check your fonts
  • If the problems still exist after testing your fonts. it’s either the Apple OS files or your Office install. Start here to fix

Other tests:

• Verify that you have enough free space on your drive
• Restart your computer using Safe Boot mode, then restart normally.
  • SAFE BOOT MODE - Hold down the Shift key when booting your computer. You can let go of the Shift key when you see ’Safe Boot’ and a progress bar. When booting into safe boot mode it forces your computer to run various maintenance tasks.
• Update base system files
• Run Repair Permissions from Disk Utility.