Outlook Interview Questions and Answers

 

OUTLOOK INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND ASWERS

1. What is outlook and why is it used for?

Answer:

Outlook is an emailing tool which is designed by Microsoft. It is used to emailing. But there are lot of additional features in this tool. These features to help users manage their communications, schedules, tasks, and contacts effectively.

Features:

1. Email Management

2. Calendar

3.Contacts

4.Task and To Do List

5. Integration with Other Microsoft Services

6. Search and Organization.

It is useful for communicating with people in the organizations very securely. Outlook's shared calendar and contact features helps to collaborate and coordinate with team members.

2. What are the different versions available Microsoft Outlook?
Answer:
There are two different versions are available in Microsoft outlook:

Desktop Application: This is a Desktop application which is part of Microsoft 365 subscription.

Web Application: This is known as Outlook Web look version, accessible through a browser with a Microsoft 365 or Exchange account.

3. How can you configure an email account in Outlook?
Answer:
To configure an email account in Outlook:

1. In windows search bar type outlook and launch Then Go to File > Add Account.
2. Enter your email address and password and click Connect.
3. Enter the incoming and outgoing server details (provided by your email provider). If it is manual set up.
4. Click Next, > ok > Finish.

 

4. How can we set up email rules on Outlook?
Answer:
To set up rules on Outlook:

Setting up email rules on Outlook helps you organise your emails in a structured manner.

1.Launch Outlook and then Go to File > Manage Rules & Alerts.

        2.Create a New Rule and then

In the Rules and Alerts dialog box, click on New Rule.

        3. Choose a rule template, such as(example): Playing a sound when I get message from some   as shown in picture.

       4.Specify conditions and actions.

       5.Save the rule and Next and Finish.

5. What is the Auto Archive feature in Outlook, and how do you use it?
Answer:
Auto Archive is a feature that automatically moves old emails to a designated archive folder to free up space in your mailbox. This helps the performance of the outlook.

Helps and manages the size of the mailbox. This leads to improve outlook performance.

This helps your mailbox organized by archiving old items into a separate folder.
To enable Auto Archive:

1.Click on the File tab in the upper left corner.

                2. select Options.

                        3.In the Outlook Options window, click on the Advanced category on the left sidebar.

                        4.Under the Auto Archive section, click on Auto Archive Settings.

To set up it manually

Go to File> Tools>manage clean up Click on Clean up Tools as shown in Picture.

Then select Auto Archive and Before that adjust your settings like how many days and size of it as shown in Picture.

Then Click ok and close.
This helps for archiving your emails on outlook and increase the performance.

6. How would you troubleshoot if Outlook is not sending or receiving emails?
Answer:
Steps to troubleshoot:

1. Check if your network connectivity. If you have any network issues you can see a yellow triangle at the bottom right of the outlook.

2.Check the account settings under File > Account Settings.

3.Make sure the email server details are correct.

        4. Make sure your add-ins on outlook are disabled

select COM Add-ins, and disable any unnecessary add-ins.

5.Repair the Outlook profile via File > Account Settings > Repair.

6. Check in your outlook whether they have stuck in your outbox.

7. Check in Junk or spam folder.

8.Restart Outlook or reboot the computer.

9. Update your office account. File > Office Account > Update Options and select Update Now.

10.Check your Email settings: Check your email account settings. Go to File > Account Settings > Manage Profiles, select your email account, and click Change to review and update settings.

11. Some time Firewall or Antivirus settings also block the emails. So temporarily disable them and check it. This may resolve the issue.

12. Recreate the profile by following these steps: Go to Control Panel > Mail > Show Profiles, click Add, and set up a new profile.

7. How do you share your Outlook calendar with others?
Answer:
To share a calendar:

1. Launch Outlook
2. Go to Calendar icon, which is at left bottom of the outlook.
3. In the calendar view, select the calendar you want to share from the list on the left.
4. Click on Share Calendar on the ribbon which is on Home Tab.
5. Enter the recipient's email address and set permissions (e.g., view only, edit).   In the Calendar Properties, click Add.
6. Then enter the email id of the recipient’s whom who you want share with.
7.   Click OK
8. You can also set permissions according to your requirements. For Instance, they can view your whole calendar or edit it. This depends on what level of access you have granted to them.
9. You can send invitations to the recipients, and they will receive your calendar invitation.

Real Time Scenarios

8. Outlook is running very slowly. What can you do to improve its performance?

Answer: There are several reasons why outlook runs slowly:

1. Updates: Update your office account. File > Office account > select update option > There will be drop down arrow click on go to view updates and do updates.

Sometimes this issue might occur due windows updates as well. So, if needed perform windows updates.

2. Disable any unnecessary add-ins

File > options > Add-ins, Select COM Add-ins and disable any add-ins.

3. Try Outlook in safe Mode by using RUN command

WIN Key + R > a small window will be opened then type > outlook.exe /safe

This step helps a lot.

4.Remove Cache on outlook.

Go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings.

Select your email account, click Change, and reduce the age of items stored in the cache.

5. Archive old emails. For that use “auto archive” feature for it.

6.Remove any unused calendars that are no longer used to free up some space and this can help.

7. Delete any unnecessary emails especially with large space to empty the space.

8. Compact the OST File: This reduces the size of your offline data file (.ost). Go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings > Data Files. Select your Exchange account's .ost file and click "Settings." Then click "Compact Now.

These troubleshooting steps improves the outlook performance and runs quickly.

9.  A user reports he is unable to open the attachments on the outlook. How to sort it?

Answer:

1.Launch outlook> Go to File > Options> Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Attachment Handling.

2.Make sure that the settings aren't blocking common attachment file types. Try to open file on different locations. Or try to download that file on your local drive and then try to open it.

3. Check the size of the attachment. Large files might have trouble being opened or downloaded, especially on slower connections or with limited mail storage limits.

4. Clear cache: You can clear cache by using the step-in 9^th question.

If not, you can try by this step: C:\Users\<YourUsername>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook.

5. Disable add-ins if required.

6. Recreate outlook profile.

By following these steps issue can be resolved.

10. A user reports he want to set up his signature on outlook profile. How do you sort it?

Answer:

1. Launch outlook> Go to file > open new email> On the ribbon, you can see signature button.

On the signature button you can see a drop-down arrow> and click on signature and window will get opened. There edits your signature.

Example: Full name, user job title,

  Company name

 Contact information (phone number, email address, website)

Company logo.

In this way you can set up your signature.

Or you can also try in different way.
2. Go to File > options > In the Outlook Options window, click on Mail in the left-hand menu.

A window will open, you can edit the signature from there.

In this way you can set up the signature.

11. A user reports. Unable to access a shared mailbox in Outlook. How can this be resolved?

Answer:

·       Check with user whether he is trying to access share mailbox for the 1^st time. If not verify on Exchange administrator whether user is having permission to access the mailbox.

·       If user is not having permission to access, please provide access to the user.

·       Go to exchange admin > Search for user mailbox> And delegate access to the user.

·       Network issues or a lack of office upgrades might occasionally cause problems.

·       Restart outlook.

You can also try this step if he is having permissions already.

To do this, go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings, select the shared mailbox, click Change, uncheck "Use Cached Exchange Mode," and restart Outlook.

Mostly this issue occurs due to lack of permissions. Please ensure that and issue will get resolved.

12. Emails are stuck in the Outbox and not being sent. What could be the reason?

Answer:
This issue could be caused by incorrect server settings, a large attachment, or a network problem.
Steps to resolve:

Check your internet connection.

Verify email server settings under File > Account Settings > Account Name and Settings.

If the email has a large attachment, delete it from the Outbox and send a smaller attachment.

Restart Outlook in Safe Mode (Run outlook.exe /safe) to check for conflicting add-ins.

Repair the email account under File > Account Settings > Repair.

These are some interview questions on outlook and few example scenarios which occur in real time.

If you want more information and real time issues and troubleshooting steps please drop a comment.

I will post more questions.