Outlook 2013 Appointments Window Is Visible In Taskbar Preview Thumbnail But Is Otherwise Invisible

I have a problem with my Outlook 2013 appointments, the appointment window is visible in taskbar preview thumbnail but is otherwise invisible.

I'm running Office 2013 on Windows 8.1 Pro + latest updates. I did a "Switch User" in Windows 8.1 and left Outlook running in the original user account with an appointments window open. When I signed out of the second user account and logged back in to the original user account the appointments window would not come to the fore.

This is very frustrating as I can't create a new appointment or amend existing ones.

Disabling hardware graphics acceleration in Outlook 2013 hasn't helped.

Note for MSFT: This is similar to my posting here when the same thing happened with Reminders and Steve Fan kindly posted a solution: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/f00e895a-15f8-4619-8545-6ac4ad40ec2d/outlook-2013-reminders-window-is-visible-in-taskbar-preview-thumbnail-but-is-otherwise-invisible?forum=outlook

It appears to be a bug in Outlook and very frustrating as I have no way of acknowledging reminders and they are just building up.

June 30th, 2015 4:33pm

Hi,

I'm not quite sure about the root cause, but it is more likely related to the "Switch User" operation. A quick solution is to right click on the task bar and select one of the following commands:

  • Cascade windows
  • Show Windows stacked
  • Show Windows side by side

These commands should show all windows onscreen, but you have to resize all windows later.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Steve Fan

Forum Support

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
July 1st, 2015 9:58pm

Thanks for trying Steve this didn't do it and I'm getting farther and farther behind with my appointments so for me this is becoming more urgent.

It would seem to be related to the Switch User because when I switched back to the original account one of the Windows Explorer windows wouldn't come to the fore. This same Windows Explorer window also wouldn't come to the fore after a reboot (I have Control Panel - Folder Options - View - Restore Previous Folder Windows At Logon ticked). I had to close the Windows Explorer window from the taskbar thumbnail view.

So it's probably related to the Switch User and may possibly be caused by the fact that Restore Previous Folder Windows At Logon is ticked. I have a feeling that, just like the previous one you answered for me which I referred to above, if I can find a registry key for the Outlook 2013 appointment window/mechanism and reset it this may well resolve things.

Have you any idea what that registry key might be?


  • Edited by MalcH 9 minutes ago
July 2nd, 2015 3:20am

Thanks for trying Steve this didn't do it and I'm getting farther and farther behind with my appointments so for me this is becoming more urgent.

It would seem to be related to the Switch User because when I switched back to the original account one of the Windows Explorer windows wouldn't come to the fore. This same Windows Explorer window also wouldn't come to the fore after a reboot (I have Control Panel - Folder Options - View - Restore Previous Folder Windows At Logon ticked). I had to close the Windows Explorer window from the taskbar thumbnail view.

So it's probably related to the Switch User and may possibly be caused by the fact that Restore Previous Folder Windows At Logon is ticked. I have a feeling that, just like the previous one you answered for me which I referred to above, if I can find a registry key for the Outlook 2013 appointment window/mechanism and reset it this may well resolve things.

Have you any idea what that registry key might be?


  • Edited by MalcH Thursday, July 02, 2015 7:19 AM
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
July 2nd, 2015 7:18am

Thanks for trying Steve this didn't do it and I'm getting farther and farther behind with my appointments so for me this is becoming more urgent.

It would seem to be related to the Switch User because when I switched back to the original account one of the Windows Explorer windows wouldn't come to the fore. This same Windows Explorer window also wouldn't come to the fore after a reboot (I have Control Panel - Folder Options - View - Restore Previous Folder Windows At Logon ticked). I had to close the Windows Explorer window from the taskbar thumbnail view.

So it's probably related to the Switch User and may possibly be caused by the fact that Restore Previous Folder Windows At Logon is ticked. I have a feeling that, just like the previous one you answered for me which I referred to above, if I can find a registry key for the Outlook 2013 appointment window/mechanism and reset it this may well resolve things.

Have you any idea what that registry key might be?


  • Edited by MalcH Thursday, July 02, 2015 7:19 AM
July 2nd, 2015 7:18am

Thank you for the update. You can try editing the following registry key to see if it will help:

Note: Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. For added protection, back up the registrybefore you modify it.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Office Explorer

REG_BINARY: Frame

Try exiting Outlook, delete above key and then restart Outlook to see the result.

Please keep me updated.

Regards,

Steve Fan

Forum Support

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
July 2nd, 2015 9:18pm

Thank again Steve but unfortunately this didn't work.

Have you any other ideas? Is there any way to escalate this without having to pay for a support incident? (Wish they hadn't done away with TechNet, I could really use the support incident I used to get with my TechNet subscription right now!)

July 3rd, 2015 12:08pm

Since this problem also affect Windows explorer, it is more likely an OS problem instead of Outlook. We have tried so many steps and we can do few things to fix the issue on Outlook side. Based on the forum policy, I'd recommend you post a new question in the Windows Client forum to further troubleshooting. If still no luck, you can also ask the support engineer in that forum to escalate the issue for you.

Windows Client forum:

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/home?category=w7itpro%2Cw8itpro%2Cwindowsvistaitpro%2Cwindowsxpitpro%2Cwindowsintune

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Steve Fan
TechNet Community Support

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
July 6th, 2015 5:38am

Steve, as I said above I just closed the one Windows Explorer window that was affected and haven't been troubled by this problem since in Windows Explorer.

The problem is with Outlook 2013 and I require support for this.

July 6th, 2015 8:02am

Hi,

I've consulted our escalation team and we need to clarify the following questions:

1. the appointment window is visible in taskbar preview thumbnail but is otherwise invisible., could you please share some snapshots of this so that we can understand it more clearly?

2. "This is very frustrating as I can't create a new appointment or amend existing ones, did you get any error message when trying to create a new appointment? Are you in Calendar view when creating a new appointment? Can we go to Mail tab, and then create a new appointment manually?

In addition, I'd like to confirm if you have Outlook closed before deleting the "Frame" value. If there is a namespace value, delete it as well. Please also check if you have the similar "Frame" value under the Appointment, Appointment Request and Appointment Response keys from HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\. If any, please back up your registry and then delete these "Frame" values also to see the result. If you are using a registry cleaner or any type of system utility that might restore the old registry settings, please temporarily disable the utility before testing above steps.

Best Regards,

Steve Fan

Forum Support

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
July 7th, 2015 10:40pm

Steve,

Firstly I would just like to thank you for going the extra mile on this one I really appreciate it.

The problem was obvious when I came to take the screen prints.

I have a KVM switch to change between using single monitor and dual monitor use. What seems to have happened is when I did the switch user dual monitor mode was enabled in Windows and the Outlook 2013 appointment Window was placed, greatly enlarged, on the second monitor. As the second monitor is switched off and I am only using monitor number one I couldn't see the appointment window but I could see it minimised on the taskbar.

I have Windows 8.1 Pro - I closed Outlook 2013, did Control Panel - Display - Adjust Resolution and switched back to single monitor then opened Outlook again. The appointment window was then displayed on monitor one.

Your instinct about this being a Windows problem was correct so apologies for doubting you but it was only by you taking it that initial stage further that I was able to resolve the issue.

Thank again (y)

  • Marked as answer by MalcH 19 hours 51 minutes ago
July 8th, 2015 7:40am

Glad to hear that! Thank you for sharing your experience here.

Best Regards,

Steve Fan

Forum Support

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
July 8th, 2015 9:30pm

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