How to fix the “Outlook account settings out of date” issue?

Microsoft Outlook typically automatically synchronizes its data with the connected server and displays the updated information to its users. However, there are instances where upon opening the Outlook application, a pop-up notification appears, stating 'Your Outlook account settings are out of date.' This notification may also be visible in the Action Center. Clicking on the notification presents two options: 'Fix Account' or 'Dismiss.

When you select the 'Fix Account' option, Windows initiates a diagnostic process to identify and address the issue associated with the notification. After successfully resolving the problem, you can resume using Outlook without any hindrance. However, if the issue persists despite using the 'Fix Account' option, you will need to proceed with more comprehensive troubleshooting steps to determine the cause and find a solution.

In this guide, we will explore several straightforward methods that you can implement within Outlook to resolve and eliminate this issue.

Delete Outlook Profile Folder

Frequently, the Outlook Profile Folder's contents can become corrupted, resulting in the 'Outlook account settings out of date' error. To resolve this issue, you can perform a cleanup of the profile folder by following the steps below:

1. Right-click on the Windows Icon on the extreme left of your taskbar and click on ‘File Explorer.’ Alternatively, you can press Win+E on your keyboard to open File Explorer.
2. In the address bar on the top, paste the ‘%APPDATA%MicrosoftProtect’ and press Enter.
3. This will take you to your Microsoft Outlook profile folder.
4. Take a backup of your profile folder by copying and then pasting the folder to a different location such as Desktop or Documents folder.
5. Once the backup has been taken, delete the Protect folder.
6. Restart your machine and then reopen Outlook.

A number of users have reported that disabling the option to log in through a PIN has resolved the issue for them. You can follow these simple steps to implement this change:

1. Click on the Windows icon on the bottom left of your PC and then go to Settings.
2. Click on Accounts and then navigate to ‘Sign-in options.’
3. Go to ‘Windows Hello Pin.’
4. Click on the Remove Pin option.
5. It will prompt for your Microsoft Account password.
6. Enter your password and press, Ok.

Check the password

Occasionally, when you make changes to your email account in the online Mail application and then try to access it in Outlook, Outlook may not recognize your new password. In such cases, you need to manually synchronize the Mail app and Outlook by ensuring that both are using the same password before accessing your account.

Another method is there to update the computer’s date-time settings.

1. Go to Control Panel. Select Clock > Language and Region > Date and Time > Internet Time.
2. Uncheck the option ‘Synchronize with an Internet time server’ and change the date and time.
3. Now restart the Outlook and check if the notification still occurs.

If the issue is not related to time settings, you can explore another method, which involves checking the security certificate. If you find that there is no SSL certificate setting, you can follow the upcoming steps:

1. Go to Settings, then click Manage Accounts.
2. Select the account which is showing the issue.
3. Select the option Change mailbox sync settings > Advanced mailbox settings. Select the option Advanced mailbox settings from the drop-down menu.
4. Check the option ‘Require SSL for incoming email’ and ‘Require SSL for outgoing email’ then Save it.

Sometimes, less critical software installed on your Windows system can send regular notifications, causing interruptions in the operation of other applications. To address this issue, you may need to disable notifications from these specific applications.

If you are using your Microsoft account to log in to both Windows and Outlook and encountering the notification issue, you can try using a different local account to log in to Outlook. This may help resolve the notification problem. Here's the process to do so:

1. Go to the Settings option in the application menu.
2. Go to Account Settings and select the Other Account option.
3. Choose the option ‘Add an account’ and then choose the option ‘Sign in without a Microsoft account.’
4. Input the user credentials of a local account and then click the Finish button.
5. Restart the Outlook and try to login with the new account.

Updating the Windows with the latest changes and it may remove the out of date account settings issue.

1. Go to Settings app in the application menu.
2. Follow Update & Security section > Windows Update.
3. Click the check for updates button. It will check for the available updates and install them.

The last resort in rectifying the issue is to delete your Outlook account and add it again.

Conclusion

When you are facing the ‘Outlook account settings out of date’ issue, then there are various methods which you can use to fix the issue. But there is no accurate method to follow. If the issue is not fixed by the methods given here, you should use a professional repair tool which can access the data file of the Outlook account and rectify any corruption. Kernel for Outlook PST Repair is a total recovery software which accesses the PST file from its location and recovers whole mailboxes. It also recovers deleted items and saves them at the exact folder they were saved earlier. You can save the recovered item in a new PST file and access it in the Outlook instantly.

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