On a Windows 7 pro 64 bit and Office 2013 64 bit I have one laptop that keeps getting this error:

cannot start microsoft outlook.  cannot open the outlook window.  the set of folders cannot be opened.  the operation failed.

Its an Office 365 account with default settings.  

I have created a new profile, repaired outlook, removed and reinstalled outlook. The issue comes back within a week.  It is not in compatibility mode.  Outlook.exe /resetnavpane doesn't work.  

Thanks for the help

David,

- I hope you tried the options in the article - https://support.office.com/en-za/article/I-can-t-start-Microsoft-Outlook-2010-or-2013-or-receive-the-error-Cannot-start-Microsoft-Office-Outlook-Cannot-open-the-Outlook-Window-d1f69da6-b333-4650-97bf-4d77bd7abb85?

- Also try whether you can try opening the Outlook in safe mode, "Outlook.exe /safe". If you can open the Outlook, then issue might have happened due to 3rd party add-ins. Disable the 3rd party add-ins and see whether you can overcome the issue or not.

Hi lapello,

Based on your description, you have tried several methods to solve your issue. Now please try this method and check if it works for you.

Please try to delete the Navigation pane settings file. If for some reason you were not able to recover the Navigation pane configuration file, nor did the automatic fix provided by Microsoft work, try to delete the XML file that stores the navigation pane settings. To do this, proceed with the following steps:

1. Enter the below command in the Start > Search field on Windows 7 and Windows 8 (or Start > Run on Windows XP) and press Enter:

%appdata%\Microsoft\Outlook

2. This will open the folder where Microsoft Outlook configuration files are stored. Find and delete the Outlook.xml file.

NOTE: Do try to recover the Navigation pane settings file first. Consider deleting as the last resort, if nothing else works.

To get more information about your issue please refer to this article:

https://www.ablebits.com/office-addins-blog/2013/12/06/cannot-start-microsoft-outlook-solutions/

Please Note: Since the web site is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.

If the issue still exists, please try to collect the event log messages and send the event log messages to our email address:
ibsofc@microsoft.com
 Please Note: Please add the URL of the case in the email subject or body.

So that I can get more information from event log messages.

I'm glad to help and follow up your reply.

Regards,

Emi Zhang
TechNet Community Su

Sorry for the delay in response.  I wanted to wait to make sure the problem didn't come back.  So far it hasn't.  

The fix was to remove Office, restart the computer, delete every office file that was left over in appdata after removal(which was quite a few), and reinstall Office.  

Hi lapello,

Did you mean you have resolved your issue by removing Office completely and reinstalling it?

Does it work fine without any problems now?

Regards,

Emi Zhang
TechNet Community Su

Never mind, it stopped working again.  It has the same error.  I'm all out of ideas.

Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window. The set of folders cannot be opened. The operation failed