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Outlook annoyance with Exchange Server

More than a few Outlook users have seen this error message

“The Microsoft Exchange administrator has made a change that requires you quit and restart Outlook”

Outlook - Exchange error message

Problem is, the Microsoft message is lying!  All too often Outlook users restart Outlook, even restart the computer, but the same message keeps appearing.  Grrrrrr.

Happily you can click OK and keep working in Outlook.  The message box will appear from time to time, but otherwise its Outlook situation normal.

The solution isn’t with the Outlook user, it’s with the Exchange Server administrator.  Most of the time, you can ignore the message and continue working.  The annoyance should go away in a day or so.

Most commonly the problem occurs when the servers are being changed, for example an upgrade to Exchange Server 2013. During the transition, the connection between Outlook and the mail servers can get a little confused being partly on the old software and partly on the new software.  Once the server changeover is complete, Outlook will stop complaining.

This kind of bug should not happen with an ‘all Microsoft’ system.  Microsoft components should work together better, after all that’s what Microsoft keeps promising us.

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