Q: Outlook for Mac 2011 on OS X 10.11 hangs during account sync operation

Same here, I wish there were bulletins put out before you have to find out th ehard way. I guess I'll do work around and go back to Yosemite until it is fixed and that's not an easy option.

I rebuilt my identity and so far it is working...prayers said and fingers crossed.

This didn't work for me; still the kaleidoscopic ball.

You may want to check with your IT organisation about Outlook Web Access.

We have an Exchange server and also have web access for this Exchange Server. I am reverting to Outlook web access (OWA) while this Outlook for Mac issue is being resolved.

Outlook Web access is the best option for now. In my company it's unreliable. It's a crap shoot as to whether I'll be able to send or call up an email. Nevertheless, OWA is all I've got until Microsoft/Apple solve the problem they created.

I have found a solution, although it only works some of the time.

I had to force a quit on Outlook and turn off the wifi to get anything to work in Outlook. I then sent a test email and let it fail(as there was on wifi). I deleted the failure message and then turned on the wifi and it works about 20% of the time. I have't figured out the right combination of events to make it work all of the time, but it looks like the series of events primes the connection....(Microsoft/Apple....are you listening?)

I'll send an update if I can get it to work more often.....good luck.

Gone fishing

What a fiasco. Someone at MSFT or Apple better work out a fix for this. I have a business to run, and webmail is a PITA.

How can something as fundamental as Outlook accessing Exchange Servers cause a hang? Downgrading OSX is now not an option for me (thanks for the sage advice, MSFT). Or is this some snide ploy by Apple to get us all using 'new, improved Mail'?

Not happy at all.

Have you removed and reinstalled yet, (properly removed)

Not until there's a categorical confirmation that it's a fix. As far as MSFT is concerned, the only fix is to go back to my last OSX:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3098396

"Workaround

To work around this issue, run Outlook for Mac 2011 on Mac OS X Yosemite (version 10.10) or an earlier version. This issue occurs in Outlook for Mac 2011 version 14.5.5 and earlier versions when they are running on Mac OS X El Capitan (version 10.11). The issue does not occur on Mac OS X Yosemite (version 10.10) and earlier versions.

Status

Microsoft is researching this problem and will post more information in this article when the information becomes available."

Well that's your choice, it wouldn't be mine though.

Same for me.

Incredible fiasco by Apple/Microsoft to spoil thousands/millions of users that need daily access to mail via Outlook/Exchange.

Somebody knows about forecasts how long it will probably take them to solve the problem?

Same issue, tried rebuilding database and new identity, still hangs then crashes. Switched over to mail for now. Pretty amazing this happened.

OK. It's not technically a fix, but if you upgrade to Office 2016, everything works again. I have an Office 365 subscription, so it wasn't too painful, and I no longer have to contend with using webmail or Apple Mail as a compromise.

Same here.  Running Apple's Mail, Calendar and Contacts apps while I wait for the fix.  Am avoiding Outlook 2016 as long as I can because it just isn't as clean and easy on my eyes as the 2011 version.