I Can't Preview My Emails in the Reading Pane in Microsoft Outlook 2007
- 1). Shut down Outlook and restart your computer. This can be a first step in troubleshooting a variety of software issues.
- 2). Ensure that you have downloaded and installed the latest updates from Microsoft website or through the Windows Automatic Updates feature. In 2008, there was an issue with some updates causing the Reading Pane to be nonfunctional (such as KB946983). More recent updates to Outlook should solve this issue. It is good practice to ensure Windows is properly updated as well.
- 3). Open another Microsoft Office application, such as Word or Excel. If a dialog box appears requesting for you to enter your name and initials, enter the information and click "OK." Reopen Outlook. A common issue occurs where a dialog box requesting user name and initials disappears but remains open, rendering some functions unusable. By providing the information in another Office program, the issue might be resolved.
- 4). Perform an advanced Windows search for the following files: "outcmd.dat" and "frmcache.dat." Back up these files to another location and either rename or delete the files in their current directory. Restart Outlook. For many users, this resolves the issue.
- 5). Click the "Tools" menu in Outlook, then click "Trust Center." Click "Add-Ins," then click "Manage COM Add-ins," and click "Go." In the list of Add-Ins, disable any Add-Ins that might be causing a conflict and click "OK." Common conflicts involve antivirus or media Add-Ins. Restart Outlook.
- 6). Uninstall and reinstall Outlook. This should be a last-resort step if none of the other steps were successful in resolving the issue.
