Microsoft has provided a workaround for a known issue that causes the classic Outlook email client to crash when users try to open or compose a new message.
The problem affects users on the Monthly Enterprise Channel who installed Outlook for Microsoft 365 updates starting with Version 2504 (Build 18730.20122).
According to a support document released by the Outlook team, the crashes occur because Outlook fails to open the Forms Library when launching a new or existing email.
Most reported cases have been on virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) environments. Microsoft has escalated the issue and promised updates as more information becomes available.
Until a permanent fix is released, Microsoft recommends a temporary solution that involves manually creating a missing FORMS2 folder. Affected users should follow these steps:
- Close Outlook and all other Office programs.
- Open the Start menu, choose Run, enter %localappdata%\Microsoft, and click OK.
- In the File Explorer window, select New, then Folder, and name the folder FORMS2.
Microsoft is also investigating a separate Outlook issue that causes mailbox folders to flicker or shift position when moving items, which began with version 2505 (Build 18827.20128).
Users encountering this issue are advised to turn off caching for shared mailboxes by disabling the "Download Shared Folders" setting. However, doing so may cause performance slowdowns, since Outlook will rely on online access rather than a cached version.
Last week, Microsoft released a service update to fix another Outlook LTSC 2019 bug that caused crashes when users opened emails linked to Viva Engage, Yammer, Power Automate, and similar services.
Earlier this year, Microsoft also addressed additional crashes in classic Outlook related to composing, replying to, or forwarding messages, and issued a fix for crashes affecting both classic Outlook and Microsoft 365 apps on Windows Server platforms.
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