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Outlook 2013/2016 Graphical Glitches

Marcus Bluestein

< 1 min read

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Kraft Kennedy, and many of our clients, have seen a strange problem for the last 12 months. In certain circumstances, parts of the Outlook client goes black, or other graphical glitches display.  Once the problem occurs, the user can temporarily resolve it by restarting Outlook and the issue goes away, for a varying amount of time.  For users who experience the problem, they likely see it return.

Microsoft finally has publicly posted information about the issue:

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/outlooking/2017/09/06/32-bit-outlook-interface-elements-unexpectedly-render-in-black-white-or-blank/

Their solution or workaround mirrors one that we have observed ourselves.  Migrate to Office 64-bit from 32-bit.  Years ago, this would have been impossible, but today, depending on the Office add-ins you choose to use, it is possible.  The other workarounds listed on the TechNet article are also worth trying, but have not seemed to fully solve the problem at any of our clients that are experiencing the issue.

If you need guidance or assistance in migrating to Office 64-bit, please contact us at information@kraftkennedy.com, we will be happy to help.