I have a 15" MacBook Pro (retina display) and use Parallels for Windows and MS Office for the last 3 years.
I used to run Windows 8.1 Pro and Office 2013 Pro for several years without issue. In this setup I used Outlook with 1x Exchange account (work e-mail) and 2x GMail with POP config and local .pst files.
A couple of months ago I upgraded to Windows 10 and subscribed to Office365 Business (Office 2013) with the above e-mail setup in Outlook, and all worked fine until last week Thursday.
Note that, for all of the above mentioned time and configurations, I used to save the .ost file (Exchange account) and .pst files (GMail POP3 accounts) in a Dropbox folder. Windows saw this folder as a "network" location as the Dropbox folder was created and managed on the Macbook Pro, but in OSX and not in Windows.
When the problems started, Outlook would give me an error message that stated that the .ost and/or .pst files are not recognised as an Outlook file and that the application could not be opened. I tried several fixes posted on Microsoft and/or other websites, including (but not limited to):
* using scanpst.exe - which would completely "destroy the .ost or .pst file requiring that I restore a .pst backup or create and download a new .ost file
* creating a new Outlook profile and linking existing .pst files or creating new .pst files and restoring .ost file from the Office 365 server
* running the MicrosoftEasyFix20101.mini application without success
* installing and running the Office 365 Recovery Assistant Setup without success.
In all of the above instances the .pst and/or .ost files would corrupt on the first opening of OUtlook after executing the repairs.
Out of desparation I then created a new VM in Parallels with clean install of Windows 10 and Office 365. Note that NO other software was installed (e.g. AntiVirus, Adobe Acrobat Pro, HP Printer software, etc).
In this new installation I would use the Outlook Account Setup feature to setup e-mail accounts. In all instances I am able to setup only one working e-mail account with its local mail file (.pst or .ost). On trying to create the second mail account Outlook 2016 experiences a "critical error", which causes the application to shutdown. When I re-start the application the local mail files (.ost or .pst) of the created e-mail accounts can be located, but Outlook does not recognise the files as valid mail files.
I then created another Parallels VM with Windows 8.1 Pro (including updates) and installed Office 2016. I am now able to setup all the e-mail accounts (1x Exchange with .ost file and 2x GMail POP3 with .pst files). However, when I move the created .pst files from the default Outlook save location to my Dropbox folder and try to point Outlook to the new file locations the software again gives the "critical error" message and hangs up. When I move the .pst files back to the default saving location and try to open it again with Outlook 2016 the files are corrupted and Outlook does not recognise the files. If I then run scanpst.exe to repair the files they are completely destroyed and all e-mail, calender and contact information is deleted.
Note that I have installed no other software required (e.g. Adove Acrobat Pro, Adobe Photoshop, HP printer software/drivers, AntiVirus software) out of fear that something will break again and prevent me from accessing e-mails and working.
What I cannot understand, and would like resolution for are the following:
1. Why would Outlook 2016 in Windows 10 suddenly experience the problems since Thursday last week? I have made no changes to my setup, e.g. installing or uninstalling software etc. I cannot determine whether Windows 10 and/or Office 2016 ran updates as MS does not allow user the functionality to manage updates like in previous versions of the OS.
2. Although I have managed to get Outlook 2016 working in Windows 8.1 Pro again, why am I unable to move or change the saved locations of .pst (and .ost) files like I was able to do up to Thursday last week.
