Microsoft admits Outlook might freeze when saving files to OneDrive

January update is the gift that keeps on giving

Microsoft's January Windows update has delivered another blow for unsuspecting users – apps including Outlook might freeze when saving files to cloud storage services such as OneDrive or Dropbox.

The megacorp acknowledged the latest issue days after releasing an emergency out-of-band update to deal with connection and authentication failures in the Windows App. Yet another fault in the update caused some Windows 11 23H2 PCs to refuse to shut down or hibernate.

According to Microsoft, after installing the January 13 update, "some applications might become unresponsive or experience unexpected errors when opening files from or saving files to cloud-backed storage, such as OneDrive or Dropbox."

One application is Outlook, which, when combined with a PST (Personal Storage Table) file on OneDrive, "might become unresponsive and fail to reopen unless its process is terminated in Task Manager, or the system is restarted." Sent emails might also fail to appear.

The workaround for Outlook is to move the PST file out of OneDrive. Putting a PST file in OneDrive is generally not recommended except for backup purposes, though there are plenty of scenarios where users or administrators do so, and changing a workflow due to a bug introduced by an update is not ideal.

Microsoft had already acknowledged a problem with Classic Outlook profiles and POP accounts. The latest addition to its Release Health dashboard indicates the issue is more widespread than thought.

The advice Microsoft dished out to users experiencing the glitch is to "contact the application developer for possible alternative methods of accessing the files." Microsoft also suggested users left staring at a frozen Outlook could use webmail "if supported by your email provider."

In the meantime, it added: "We are working on releasing a resolution for this issue as soon as possible. We will provide an update when more information is available."

This means a sad-faced engineer somewhere in Redmond has likely reset the "days since we broke something in Windows" counter to zero, and we're not even out of the first month of 2026. ®