Outlook with Dynamics CRM 2011 Always on Top

Question

We recently upgraded about 30 workstations from Microsoft Office XP/2003 to Office 2010 and deployed MS Dynamics CRM 2011 at the same time. Previously, we did not use Dynamics CRM. Since the upgrade/CRM deployment, workstations will randomly encounter an issue where Outlook is "always on top" of all other windows. At first, I discovered that deleting the user's Outlook profile and re-creating it would solve the issue. After facing the problem on several different workstations, I found that an easier solution is to close Outlook then go into the Mail (32-bit) control panel applet > Data Files and remove the CRM data file. You then re-open Outlook and fill out the CRM setup wizard information again and you're good to go. The issue has recurred on a couple of workstations, but removing the CRM data file and adding it back always fixes the problem for a few days. It is happening on both Windows XP and Windows 7 x64 workstations. Has anyone else run into this issue?

Answer 1

No one else has run into this issue? It is occurring on brand new computers as well.

Outlook 2010 x86 with the MS Dynamics CRM 2011 plugin. Everything will be fine for a while and then, for no clear reason, Outlook will suddenly be "always on top". Go to Control Panel > Mail (32-bit) > Data Files and remove the CRM data file. Launch Outlook and fill out the CRM wizard again and problem goes away for another couple of months. Disable the CRM plugin for Outlook and the problem goes away permanently.

Answer 2

This is an issue we have been running into as well.  So far it seems to be random, though there are a couple users that it seems to happen to more frequently. 

Answer 3

When I noticed mine start to do that I had just installed Google Drive, so I'm thinking it must have installed some add-in that was messing it up. I read in some other threads that changing the Load Behavior for all of the add-ins from 3 to 2 stops the main Outlook window from preventing other windows to open on top of it, but I also read that for some users changing it to 2 disabled the add-ins. There doesn't seem to be any consensus on which add-ins cause it though. Messing around with the registry on my work computer makes me nervous, especially when nobody seems to agree on what the problem is, so I kept looking.

I found the following thread that fixed my problem immediately: "techtalkz.com/microsoft-outlook/138776-new-mail-window-always-top" (you'll have to copy/paste/search for it to go there though because I'm apparently not allowed to post links yet...). It says to run the command prompt "C:\...outlook.exe /cleanprofile" (but with whatever your path is to Outlook.exe  - search online for "office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/command-line-switches-HP001003110" if anyone is looking here for a solution and needs more information on how to do that). I am not sure how permanent this solution is though, because I assume that whatever caused the problem originally can cause it just as quickly a second time if I do it again, but at least it is quick and easy.

I also saw on other sites some people say that it works to right click the taskbar and toggle the "Lock the Taskbar" setting on and off. This didn't do anything for me though.

Answer 4

We've completely deleted and recreated the Outlook profile for a couple of users that this was happening with, which caused the problem to go away for a while. Unfortunately, it has always come back. Eventually, we discovered that we didn't have to go as far as deleting the entire profile, simply removing the CRM data file and adding it back would do the trick. Once again, though, this always seems to be a temporary fix.