Does Outlook work on Vista or Windows 7 or Windows 8?

Do not enable compatibility mode – this is not needed and will cause problems with any version of Outlook.

Outlook 2003:

For issues involving Outlook 2003 on Windows 7 or Windows 8, see the following pages:
Opening Zip Attachments
Office Assistant requires Microsoft Agent
Tip 734: Outlook 2003 buttons group with Word
Tip 1037: Outlook 2003 and Windows 8

Outlook 2000 information is now at Outlook 2000 on Vista & Windows 7

Naturally, Outlook 2007, 2010, and 2013, work well on Vista and Windows 7/8. (Outlook 2007/2010 also work great on Windows XP; Outlook 2013 is not supported on Windows XP.)

Outlook 2003 works well on Vista but there are a few problems with it on Windows 7 (see links above). Both of these versions are officially supported on Vista and Windows 7, so if any issues arise Microsoft will offer public hotfixes or include the fix in future Service Packs.

Outlook 2002, 2000, 98, and 97 are not supported on Vista or Windows 7 (or any later versions). If you choose to install any of these applications you should expect errors and annoyances. The better known problems are listed below but there may be others I'm not aware of. These versions of Outlook are all long out of support and Microsoft will not release patches to fix any problems with these versions. Upgrading is highly recommended, or use the new Vista calendar and mail applications if you are unwilling or unable to upgrade.

Outlook 2002:

It runs, but email account passwords are not saved. After you enter the password during the first email check, Outlook will remember it until you close down Outlook. This is because Outlook used the protected storage interfaces to store passwords and these are no longer supported in Vista.

One possible solution is to run Outlook as an administrator. Right click on Outlook shortcut or Outlook.exe and choose Run as Administrator. If you don't see the Run as Administrator command, Shift + right-click to enable the Run as Administrator command.

OLAutoPW automates the Network Password Entry for POP3 and IMAP accounts in Outlook 2002/XP SP3 on Windows Vista/Windows 7.

You can use a Windows script program such as AutoIt to enter the password for you.

Note that when you enter the password, the Send and Receive that brought up the password dialog may fail but future send and receives will work. Leave Outlook open 24/7 to avoid entering it frequently.

Recurring calendar items may not open. This may be related to opening a single event in a series from the Day/Week/Month view. Open the event using any List view, such as Recurring Appointments (View, Current View, Recurring Appointments). It may also work to open the entire series from the Day/Week/Month view, I haven't tested it yet.

Outlook 2000:

Now that the list of workarounds is growing, thanks to our readers, I moved Outlook 2000 to its own page at Outlook 2000 on Vista & Win7.

Outlook 98:

Like Outlook 2000, IMO mode will not work because of the missing wab.dll. I haven't tested it with Corporate mode yet, but I recommend using Vista's Mail and Calendar programs instead – Outlook 98 is just too insecure.

If you are unfamiliar with the difference between IMO and Corporate modes, see Choosing an Outlook 98 or Outlook 2000 Mode.

Outlook 97:

Not yet tested. Because of the lack of features, buggyness and slowness, it's highly recommended you either upgrade or use Vista's Mail and Calendar instead.

  15 comments for “Does Outlook work on Vista or Windows 7 or Windows 8?

  1. Irfan
    August 7, 2011 at 12:46 pm

    My outlook 2007 does not work on window 7 can you help please.

  2. Diane Poremsky
    August 7, 2011 at 12:48 pm

    What exactly happens when you try to use it?

  3. william keegan
    November 28, 2011 at 1:08 pm

    In Outlook Calendar I tried to open an entry I get an error message "Can't open this item. The object is not valid" Why am I getting this message and what does it mean?

  4. Ric Bowell
    January 11, 2012 at 12:57 pm

    Outlook 7 - I have setup my em address.When I try to open Outlook 7 I get the following message. "Outlook won't start "the information store could not be opened" I have follow many suggestions but none have worked.

  5. January 11, 2012 at 2:39 pm

    Are you using Compatibility mode? That is not necessary and can cause this error message. http://www.outlook-tips.net/configuration/troubleshoot-compatibility-errors/

    Did you try resetting the navigation pane? http://www.outlook-tips.net/tips/tip-657-unable-to-open-the-outlook-window-error/

  6. Kaushik Modi
    January 15, 2012 at 8:52 am

    I am upgrading my computer. Old computer has Microsoft XP and Microsoft Outlook 2002 SP3. New computer will have Windows 7 & Microsoft Office 2010 professional. I need to move all outlook data files to new computer. How should I do it.
    Thanks, Kaushik.

  7. naveen
    March 1, 2012 at 10:04 pm

    how to configure outlook in window7

  8. no-geek-at-all
    March 8, 2012 at 12:16 pm

    Will I be able to run Outlook Express (that was on my XP) on Windows 7 under compatibility mode?

    Thanks in advance!

  9. April 24, 2012 at 8:12 pm

    ave to say I was skeptical and it rook me 6 or 7 attempts , but it worked in the end.
    -had to do it from safe mode.
    - had to right click and "run as an administrator" all the time.
    but it did work ,......
    Outlook 2002 on Windows 7 SP-1 !
    http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itproinstall/thread/b2031626-02ed-43ea-b4b4-9486201a0528

  10. April 25, 2012 at 7:23 am

    Note that Protected Storage fix at that link is not from Microsoft - use at your own risk. (It also puts Windows 7 into an "unsupported mode" but most people don't go to Microsoft for support anyway.)

  11. George
    April 6, 2013 at 4:04 am

    Can i play learnkey office 2000 on windows vista ? I am getting these error messages -
    Access Violation at address 004AEDB6 in module 'velocity.exe'. Read of address 00000008

    and

    Exception EOleSysError in module velocity. exe at 000453c1.
    Class not registered.

  12. April 6, 2013 at 2:51 pm

    Generally speaking, most apps should run on it. I'm not familiar with how this program works, but I'd try setting the properties on the program to run in compatibility mode. Or see http://www.shadowbox.ca/KnowledgeBase/Class_Not_Found_Error.asp - they say to insure you have the latest media player and flash and also to install it in C:\Learnkey also see http://www.shadowbox.ca/KnowledgeBase/Install_problems_with_Vista.asp

  13. Victor Delta
    April 11, 2013 at 5:38 am

    I can provide an update on Outlook 2002 and Windows 8 (64 bit). It does work although the password problem is annoying. However, this can be overcome by using OLAutoPW (see link above) which works very impressively.

    One point to mention is that I couldn't get the Windows 7 version of OLAutoPW to work on Windows 8 (even using the compatibility mode settings) but v201 for Vista does work well (NB using compatibility settings for Vista).

  14. Victor
    April 16, 2013 at 9:13 am

    Spoke too soon! OLAutoPW works fine for the trial period but I am advised by the German software creator that unfortunately the registration process will need changing to work with Windows 8 and that will not be done owing to the low number of users requiring it. Understandable I guess. So perhaps I shall have to see if i can find a copy of Outlook 2003 (to avoid upgrading to ribbon toolbars etc!).

  15. April 16, 2013 at 6:02 pm

    Too bad they can't provide you with a registration-free product. :( Check eBay or sites that sell close-out and older software.

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