I can't access an additional account in Outlook for Windows; error message "This set of folders cannot be opened"

Issue

When attempting to open the Outlook application, I receive the following message: "Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window. The set of folders cannot be opened. The operation failed"

Resolution

There are a few things that we can attempt to resolve this issue, but in this case, I was able to resolve the issue by resetting the navigation pane.

Note: The Navigation Pane is found on the bottom left side of the Outlook window. It allows to you to easily switch between Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes. By resetting the Navigation pane, you will remove any customizations of the pane which can also solve the error.

How to reset the navigation pane

  1. Close Outlook
  2. Open Run Command by pressing the Window+R keys at the same time
  3. Type the following in the dialog box: outlook.exe /resetnavpane
  4. Press Enter or click the Ok button to run the command

For more information and other tips on troubleshooting this issue, please reference this article from Microsoft's Website.

Possible Similar Issue

When attempting to open the Outlook application, I receive the following message: "Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window. The set of folders cannot be opened. The operation failed"

For those who access other accounts in Outlook for Windows when logged into their Dartmouth email account. When you try to access the account, the account can't be accessed i.e. you can't write/send/receive emails at all. The error message is "This set of folders cannot be opened"

The account is accessible when logging into bwa.dartmouth.edu

The solution:

  1. Open Outlook for Windows and login with your account credentials
  2. Click the File menu > Office account > Manage Account
  3. Sign out of your Dartmouth account
  4. Sign into the account you're unable to access
  5. Quit Outlook
  6. Open Outlook and log in with your own account information
  7. Click the File menu > Office account > User Information and changed the account to the account you're having issues accessing
  8. Quit Outlook
  9. Reopen Outlook and login with the account you're having issues with
  10. Quit Outlook
  11. Login with your own credentials

You should then be able to access the other account

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