Microsoft is working on fixing an issue affecting some Outlook for Microsoft 365 clients and preventing them from accessing email and their calendars.

“After updating to Outlook version 2303 (Build 16227.20212), users may not be able to view or access Microsoft 365 group calendars and email messages in Outlook Desktop,” said the company in a support document released Thursday.

“The affected users are part of a Microsoft 365 group. Some affected users may also notice that the impact resolves automatically after a period of time, although the impact may also recur later.”

Outlook users affected by this issue may experience issues when attempting to perform any of the following actions while using the Outlook desktop client:

• Add or access group mailbox
• Add or access the group calendar
• Add, remove, or edit group members
• Edit mail items, such as marking as read, archiving, or moving emails to other folders

The buggy version of Outlook was posted to Current Channel over two weeks ago, the March 28.

Among a long list of feature updates and bug fixes, it also addressed a known connection problem preventing customers from accessing their account since at least October 2022, with “You cannot sign in with a personal account. Use your work or school account.” Errors.

Workaround available

Microsoft says the Outlook team is working on a fix for this known issue and has shared a temporary workaround until a fix is ​​rolled out for those who are having trouble trying to access email.

Affected customers are encouraged to use Outlook Web Access (OWA) if they wish to use the Groups feature or to come back to Outlook Desktop build 16130.20332, which is not affected by this issue.

The step-by-step procedure required to still have the previous version of Outlook unaffected requires you to:

1. Open a command prompt (Run as administrator).

2. Type/paste the following commands and press Enter after each:

   cd %programfiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun

   officec2rclient.exe /update user updatetoversion=16.0.16130.20332

3. Behind the scenes, disable updates (File, Office Account, Update Options, Disable Updates).

4. Set a reminder on your calendar for May 9, 2023, to remind you to turn updates back on. The fix should be out sooner, but May 9 is Patch Tuesday, and the fix will be in this update.