The connection to Microsoft Exchange is unavailable, Outlook must be online or connected

Microsoft Outlook is sometimes known to give an error saying: The action can not be completed. The connection to Microsoft Exchange is not available, Outlook must be online or connected to perform this action.. In this article, we will show how you can solve this problem and put it back to work normally.

The connection to Microsoft Exchange is not available, Outlook must be online or connected to perform this action.

There are two ways to solve this problem. First, create a new profile by default. Second, delete the default profile. Not many have multiple Outlook profiles is not always an option. So use the second method as follows:

1. Delete the default profile
2. Create a new Outlook profile
3. Update or create your Outlook profile with RPC encryption
4. Disable the encryption requirement on all CAS servers
5. Deploy a Group Policy setting to update existing Outlook profiles with RPC encryption

The first three can be configured by the end user, while the last two only relate to the servers.

1) Delete the default profile

• Start Outlook, and then click Info> Account Settings drop-down> Manage Profile.
• This will open the Mail Setup window. Click the Show Profiles button.
• Delete the default profile by clicking the Delete button.
• Restart Outlook.

When you delete the profile, all offline cached content in his account will be deleted. However, you can save the OST profile for reuse.

When you restart Outlook, you must create a new profile and then start the installation process again.

2) Create a new Outlook profile

If you do not want to delete, you can create a new default profile. In the Mail Setup> Profiles section, you can click the Add button and name the profile. Then you must add the email accounts you want to add. Make sure that you correctly configure the e-mail account so that the error does not reappear. Be sure to set it as the default profile.

3) Update or create your Outlook profile with RPC encryption

Most users have all email accounts under one profile. One of the problematic e-mail accounts is running Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft Exchange Server 2013, or Microsoft Exchange Server 2021. These are typically business accounts that have not been configured correctly.

1. Start Outlook, and then click Info> Account Settings drop-down> Manage Profile.
2. Click Email Accounts> select the e-mail address that is configured with Exchange Server, and then click Edit> More Settings.
3. In the Microsoft Exchange window, switch to the Security tab.
4. To select Encrypt data between Microsoft Office Outlook and Microsoft Exchange.
5. Click OK and quit

The problem should be solved if it was an RPC encryption error.

4) Disable the encryption requirement on all CAS servers

This part is specifically for IT administrators who can disable encryption requirements. Microsoft warns It should only be used when you can not immediately deploy the necessary RPC encryption settings on your Outlook clients. Run the following command in the Exchange Management Shell:

Set-RpcClientAccess –Server  –EncryptionRequired:$False

You must run this cmdlet for all Client Access servers running Exchange Server 2010 or later. Restart this command for each Exchange server with the Client Access Server role. Also be sure to disable RPC encryption, which we talked about at the step above.

However, be sure to re-enable it after deployment with the changes made to the RPC requirement on Outlook.

5) Deploy a Group Policy setting to update existing Outlook profiles with RPC encryption

You can also modify server-side RPC settings by using Group Policy. Navigate to User Configuration> Administrative Templates> Microsoft Office Version Number> Account Settings> Exchange. Location Policy Enable RPC Encryption and disable it.

We hope these methods helped you troubleshoot Outlook with Microsoft Exchange.