How to fix "Error 0x8004060C" of Outlook?

Organizations and business individuals prefer to work around MS Outlook as it comprehensively manages all the activities on a single platform. It plays a key role in the day-to-day activities of an organization. When a user encounters an Outlook error, it can disrupt communication and meetings of an organization. Any such error needs to be acted upon and fixed as quickly as possible. While one error can be more impactful than the other, the fix for one issue can also be very different from that of the other. Error 0x8004060C is one such error that can impact all the capabilities of Outlook application, thereby making the user standstill in terms of usage. This error can even result in turning all the emails and other items inaccessible to the user. 0x8004060C can occur in different scenarios, and based on that, the error message may differ, although the error code remains the same - 0x8004060C.

Since the errors differ in these scenarios, the causes that led to this error will vary too. There can be many possible logical or physical corruptions that could have caused this error. Some of the most common causes are:

• Exchange server outage
• Synchronization problem between MS Outlook and exchange server
• A corrupt PST or OST file
• Virus infection or malware attack
• Outlook has reached its maximum defined storage capacity

Of all the above-listed causes, the most common cause is an oversized PST or OST file leading to reaching the maximum defined storage capacity for Outlook. Let us first discuss the fixes for reaching the storage limit.

Empty Deleted Items Folder - Manually

As you might have observed, Outlook doesn’t directly delete the items that you have chosen to be deleted. It, however, moves those items from the active folders to a Deleted Items folder. This is done to help you recover any email or meeting that was deleted by mistake. But the size of this folder can grow immensely because this folder is not cleaned up by the users manually. Hence, it needs to be emptied to retrieve some space quickly.

You need to click on the File button on the top left of your Outlook and select Info. Then click on Tools.

1. It will open a small list. Choose ‘Empty Deleted Items Folder’ from the list.
2. A new window will pop up, and you need to click on ‘Empty Folder’ and then press OK or hit Enter.

Now, to make sure that the size of the Deleted items folder is always in check, you need to turn on the settings to empty this folder whenever you exit the Outlook application. This option will automate the cleaning of the Deleted Items folder for you.

1. Click on the File button on the menu bar of the Outlook application. Click on Info.
2. Choose the Options menu button on the left.
3. Click on Advanced.
4. On the right, under Outlook start and exit, tick the option for ‘Empty Deleted Items folders when exiting Outlook’ and click OK.

If the above methods have not fixed the issue for you, there is a high probability that most of the space is consumed by your active folders and needs to be cleaned up. Manual sorting and cleaning can take hours to free up space like this mainly because there is a limit to the size of email messages, which is mostly 25MB. Deleting a few emails can only temporarily fix the issue for you. The issue will occur again in a few days. So, you need to clean up some considerable space and further ensure that the free space is maintained. Let us first discuss the cleanup part.

1. From the Outlook menu bar, go to File > Info.
2. On the right-hand side, you would see a Tools button with a drop-down sign. Click on it and select ‘Mailbox Cleanup’ from the list.
3. It will open a new window. Select the ‘Find items larger than’ option and select the size you find appropriate. The default is set to 250 KB. Then click on the Find button.
4. It will scan your Outlook items and list down all the mails and other objects which are greater than 250 KB. You can then delete those items and free up considerable space without manually scrolling through your emails.

Even if this Step is able to fix your issue, proceed next for ensuring a permanent fix.

If the above Steps have worked for you, congrats. You have found a solution to one of the most problematic issues in Outlook. But, to ensure that the issue doesn’t recur for you in a few months, you need to auto-archive your emails. This option is very useful as it clears space from your drive without deleting emails or other items. This will move old emails from your current storage location to a different one. These old emails will still be accessible to you.

1. Go to the Advanced options menu, as shown in the above methods. Go to File > Option > Advanced.
2. Under Autoarchive heading, click on the AutoArchive Settings button.
3. It will pop open a new window, select the ‘Run autoarchive’ option and select the number of days next to it. It is optional to check the Prompt user option. Click on Browse option to select the location where old items will be moved. Then click on OK.

By default, a copy of every email that you forward to your associate resides in your Inbox and your Sent Items folder. In this way, the copied emails occupy unnecessary Outlook space. To eliminate these copied forwarded files, you can follow effective measures:

• Manual Method:
  • Go to Sent Items folder and sort it by the recipient
  • Click on the header to accomplish the task
• Automatic Settings:
  • Go to the File Tab
  • Select Options and click Save Message section
  • Go to the Send Section and uncheck the option ‘Save a copy of forwarded message’
  • Click OK to save the changes you have made

A user can restore the individual emails in various formats at different location and save the attachment to the same location for future usage. For this purpose, user can right click on email and click Save As option then select the required format to save the file. Subsequently, save the attachment in the same folder.

If a user wants to accelerate the process of fixing PST files, then the user must take the help of a third-party PST recovery software that is capable of restoring and splitting PST files in the desired size.

Outlook Error 0x8004060C can be easily fixed by following any of the above-mentioned procedures. Some of the methods consume time to accomplish the task, so it would be better to take the help of third-party software like Kernel for Outlook PST repair in order to fix this issue instantly.

Following these option users will retrieve 100%complete PST files and can then access Outlook files flawlessly.

Conclusion

In this blog, we discussed the Error 0x8004060C of Outlook in detail. First, we covered the basic meaning of this error and the different variations of the error that users have faced. Then we covered the various causes behind this error and how oversized PST and corrupt PST are the highly common reasons. We provided quick fixes and proactive mailbox cleaning and auto-archiving Steps to fix the issue once and for all. In the end, we suggested Kernel for Outlook Repair tool to fix a corrupt PST for the user.

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