Emails are one of the best and most efficient ways of communicating, both formally and informally. Organizations consider emailing an essential means of sending information to their peers or managers. One can also attach documents, pictures, or videos and transfer information to another person using their email id.
What Makes Outlook Different?
Microsoft Outlook is among the most preferred platforms for emailing compared to Yahoo, Gmail, or Hotmail. Here are some of the reasons:
- Outlook is the hub for the integration of calendars, and it is very easy to set up online meetings, make conference calls, or find particular contact information via Outlook.
- One of Outlook’s main highlights is email organization. Not only does it help to organize mail according to contact, but it also helps set up several rules to organize the mail. This can be according to a particular date or a contact.
- Outlook helps with flagging emails. The red flag is put against the mail to highlight. Customers say that when a red flag is marked in the mail, they will know they must address it immediately.
Along with such extensive features making Outlook the go-to solution for all email-related communication, it also comes with several drawbacks; the most common error is the pii error.
What is PII Data?
PII data stands for Personally Identifiable Information data. Basically, this data can be used to identify a particular person. For example, email addresses, social security numbers, postal, and phone numbers.
With growing technology, Microsoft PII is rapidly increasing. Now, biometrics, IP addresses, digital images, geolocation, login ID, social media posts, and behavioral information also come under the PII category.
Who is responsible for protecting PII?
No one can be held responsible for a user’s PII data unless submitted to any organization from the user’s end.
What are the main reasons for these PII errors, and how to fix them?
Reasons for PII errors:
Errors are caused due to incorrect parameters with port numbers, authentication, and insecure connections. Some of the most common reasons for PII errors are listed below :
- An error in the installation process.
- Corrupted software or files.
- Conflict of other software or the server.
Ways to fix PII errors:
There are several ways to fix the error, some of which are listed below:
- Reinstall Microsoft Outlook. The version of Outlook being used has been corrupted, causing these errors. To ensure proper working, the user must uninstall and reinstall Outlook on the particular device. Clearing cache and cookies along with this will also help in clearing the memory and releasing space. This will update the software to the latest version and replace any missing or corrupted files.
- Remove all Microsoft Accounts. If there is more than one Microsoft Outlook accounts on the user’s device, this error is bound to happen. This is due to the reason that there might be a conflict in the server. Combined with this error, if many applications are running on the PC, it can cause a PII error. Log out from all the Microsoft Outlook accounts, clear the task manager with all the unwanted applications running, and then start Outlook. Then, the error will be prevented.
- Changing the port number of the server. The following steps have to be followed for the same:
- Open Microsoft Outlook and go to account settings.
- Go for more settings and click on the Internet Email settings button.
- Click the advanced tab.
- Now change the port number from 465 to 587, and click ok.
- Downgrade the version of OS. If none of these methods are working to fix the errors, one can try to downgrade the version of the operating system on their laptop or desktop. It is possible that errors might occur due to the conflicting versions of Microsoft Outlook and the version of the operating system. This happens because the software developers take some time to release new versions of applications once the operating system has been released, so if there is any possibility that the operating system has been upgraded, the user should downgrade it.
- Contact Microsoft Support. The last and final way is to contact Microsoft support for help. The engineers there might provide a solution to the user’s problem. If not a complete solution, they might at least release a patch version compatible with the user’s PC to make it work until they release the final versions to be compatible with the application.
- Run Windows Troubleshooter. Windows has a built-in troubleshooter for different purposes, which finds and repairs the issues all by itself. It is advisable to run the system with the Troubleshooter often to ensure that if there are any issues that Microsoft itself can fix, those issues will be fixed.
- Do not use pirated outlook software. Errors occasionally occur when the system is installed with the pirated version. If it’s not the original one, it is advised to uninstall it immediately and install the original one. One can download the authentic application from the Microsoft source and add their email account. Also, the user must remove the previous corrupted version as it may interfere with other email clients on the device.
- Temporarily disable the antivirus. The antivirus installed in the computer monitors the incoming and outgoing emails for malware and other potentially hazardous stuff. If it finds the email suspicious or has any suspicious attachments like documents or videos attached to it, the email will be prevented from sending and receiving. This will cause Outlook to crash. It is advised to disable it temporarily and contact support for a permanent solution.
Conclusion
PII errors can occur due to several reasons. With the above-listed methods of fixing PII errors, any user can comfortably handle these errors in the future.
