Outlook Takes Long time to Connect Exchange Server

As Outlook Application easily gets configured with Exchange Server for messaging communication for hundreds of users of the Organization. To Connect with Exchange and Outlook environment, an Administrator needs to create a mailbox in an Exchange environment and after that configure the Outlook profile with Exchange using the Auto Discover technique that helps a user to access the mailboxes connect with Exchange Database.

But sometimes Outlook takes a long time to Connect to Exchange 2013,2010 Server environment, even sometimes connection time took long more the 10 minutes, a problem for Outlook user and lead to less effectiveness in work due to a slow connection between the two environments.

In this blog, we try to fix this Outlook slow connection issue with Exchange Server, as various queries according to different scenarios asked by Outlook and Exchange user in different forums such as:

“Getting problem that’s been driving me nuts for a while and have searched solution on different platforms for Outlook 2016 when connecting from the internet using Outlook anywhere is very slow to connect to my Exchange 2013 server. It seems to hang on Trying to connect for 120-140 seconds, then connects and everything runs fine after that. Why the connection becomes so slow of Connecting Outlook with Exchange environment.”

“After Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2013 migration, Outlook 2010 takes a long time to connect to Exchange Server, some Outlook users start complaining about the Connection Time between Outlook and Environment, as it took more than minutes to connect. Auto Discover works fine, so how can I solve this issue.”

Why Outlook 2016 takes a long time to Connect Exchange Server?

This Connection time problem can occur due to various reasons, it can be due to update issue, registry key, third-party plug-in and software, protocol setting (HTTP, MAPI) issues. Now in below section, we try to fix the issue by following manual approaches first:

1) Outlook 2016 Update Issue: Before Outlook 2016 version, a user can configure the Outlook environment with Exchange using manual configuration and auto-discover technique, but in the Outlook 2016 version, no manual configuration option available, Auto Discover property helps a user to configure information about Server and sometimes lead to 20-30 minutes or even more. Now to fix Outlook 2016 very slow to connect to Exchange 2016, you can shorten the time of connecting via a Registry setting, for that find the Reg-key:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\AutoDiscover]

Now change the properties value such as given below:

“ExcludeHttpsRootDomain”=dword:00000001
“ExcludeHttpsAutoDiscoverDomain”=dword:00000001

2) RPC Issue in Exchange Environment: While opening Outlook profile running or Exchange Server, a user not able to connect account due to RPC (Remote Procedure Call) not enabled, and disallow Encryption and De encryption of data between Outlook & Exchange environment and lead to a connection issue. In Exchange 2010 Server, RPC encryption is by default enabled but in Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1, this function is disabled. Other tips also the user to fix RPC Server is Unavailable Error is common in Windows.

To enable the RPC Encryption, follow the steps for Exchange 2010 environment:

• Open Control Panel >> Mail item Section >> Show Profiles.
• Select the Desired User Profile >> Select and Right Click and open Properties section.
• Select the Email account >> Select Microsoft Exchange (send from this account by default) account >Change.
• Open Dialogue Box that contains your mailbox server and User-name, select More Settings.
• In the Microsoft Exchange Dialogue Box, Open Security Tab section.
• Select Encrypt data between Microsoft Office Outlook and Microsoft Exchange > Click OK>> Click Finish and try to open profile again.

After applying steps, the user can try to open the Outlook Profile again to fix Outlook slow to connect to Exchange Server.

3) Use Cached Exchange Mode: Use Cache Exchange mode when your network connection is slow or unavailable and Outlook slows to connect to Exchange Server 2016. This creates a mailbox copy on your local system and gets updated with the Server.

Steps to Cache Exchange Mode: Open Outlook Application

1. Click on File Option > Account Settings.
2. Click the Exchange Account, and then click the Change option.
3. Under Offline Settings section, check to Use Cached Exchange Mode.
4. Exit, and then Restart Outlook Application and Open Profile.

4) Remove Third – Party Plugin- Sometimes after applying all the above-mentioned technique, Outlook user still getting slow connection problem between Outlook and Exchange environment due to some third plug-in such as some Antivirus software. Try to uninstall software to check whether Server able to connect Outlook application or not.

Conclusion

Sometimes Outlook takes a long time to connect to Exchange Server 2016,2013, 2010 and below environment. This time-consuming process can affect the work of the user and to fix quickly, needs to find the root cause of the error first, the various reasons such as RPC error, registry key issues, Plugin, anti-virus software etc, and can be fixed using the manual approaches mentioned in the above section.