Classic Outlook Bug Now Crashes App When Opening or Writing Emails

Microsoft seems all-in on getting people to switch to the New Outlook app, but Classic Outlook users are paying the price. After a string of bugs this year, another major issue has now hit the legacy version of Outlook, and it’s a frustrating one. Users have been reporting that opening or writing an email crashes the Classic Outlook app entirely.

The issue affects all Microsoft 365 Office channels, though most reports are coming from virtual desktop setups. According to Microsoft, the crash happens because Outlook can’t open the Forms Library. The faulty module is OLMAPI32.DLL, tied to the Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI).

Also read: Microsoft fixes Windows Classic Outlook CAA2000B and 4usqa sign-in errors

The good news is that the company has shared a temporary fix in a support article. Users can manually create a missing FORMS2 folder at this location: C:\Users\<YourName>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\FORMS2.

Next, you have to:

• Close Outlook and any Office apps.
• Press Start > Run, type %localappdata%\Microsoft, and click OK.
• Create a new folder called “FORMS2” in that directory.

Also read: Microsoft shares fix for Windows’ Classic Outlook CPU spike issue

That workaround may get your app running again while Microsoft continues to investigate. But for longtime Outlook users, it’s yet another reminder that the classic version isn’t the priority anymore, and bugs like this one are becoming all too common.