Outlook error Ive never seen

I am using Outook 2007 and it crashed in a wierd way last night. I had to shut down the computer manually (holding down button) and booted it up this morning to find this when I tried to open it:

Outlook has detected a problem with the existing NormalEmail.dotm. Would you like to create a new NormalEmail.dotm?


For the record, I have a large PST file for my email and sometimes get the error when I re-open it saying it didnt shut down properly and needs to scan the file, but that seems to be a bug with large PST files that Microsoft acknowledges and doesnt have a solution for yet.

I dont know if my new error and that ongoing one are related. But I have no idea what "NormalEmail.dotm" means or if I want to "create a new one".

please advise.

Thanks in advance.

 

It is probably some sort of template for your emails. If you haven't customized any email templates or outlook forms I say its safe to create a new one.

 

how large is the pst file?
outlook doesn't actually terminate right away if you have a very large PST, it will stay open for up to a minute or two after the program has been asked to be closed by the user. Sometimes, it terminates quick. Other times, it will not.
Just let it create a new normalemail.dotm, it's basically the template for formatting your new emails when you create them (like normal.dot for Word).

 

What I recommend doing is arhiving your e-mails.
It'll reduce your default pst file - still retain access to your old e-mails and most crucially speed up Outlook.

I'm speaking from experience here.

The error... what is the filetype .dotm used for?

 

yes, it is a template--any reason why you don't let outlook create an archive--you will still have access to the email, it will just be in a different PST file. Outlook will work better if you do

EDIT--Beat me to it

 

Thanks everyone. The reason I havent archived old emails is that I didnt know exactly what it does and I sometimes have to quickly access the old emails randomly.

So what EXACTLY does it do?

 

It creates a secondary PST file called archive.pst.

This file will duplicate the folder structure of your current folder structure and place it in a separate heirarchy beneath your current PERSONAL FOLDERS, called ARCHIVE>

All emails older than (for example) 6 months will be available through this secondary folder structure

 

Yepp, I'll second it.

Another point:
When you archive, you set the date for it.
So it can be 6 months ago, 2 weeks or a month.

I recommend archiving regularly, also because it really speeds up Outlook.