Outlook Configuration Analyzer Tool information

The Microsoft Outlook Configuration Analyzer Tool (OCAT) is a program that provides a detailed report of your current Outlook profile. This report includes many parameters about your profile and highlights any known problems that it found in your profile. For any problems that are listed in the report, you are provided with a link to a Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article that outlines a possible fix for the problem. If you are a Help Desk professional, you can also save the report to file so that the report can be viewed in the Outlook Configuration Analyzer Tool on another client where the tool is installed.

Please use the following bookmarks to jump to the relevant section.



How to start OCAT and generate a report

Current Issues/Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How to uninstall OCAT

Submitting feedback

Installation

Use the following link to download and install the Outlook Configuration Analyzer Tool:

OCAT Download (http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28806)

Before you install the Outlook Configuration Analyzer Tool, please log into your computer as a member of the local Administrators group. If you attempt to install OCAT as a non-administrative user, you will receive the following error during OCAT setup.



Please also make sure that your computer meets the following system requirements.

System requirements

Supported operating systems:

• Windows 7
• Windows Vista Service Pack 2
• Windows XP Service Pack 3
  

This download works with the following Office programs:

• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
• Microsoft Outlook 2010

The following is also required (at a minimum):

• .NET Programmability Support

If you do not have the .NET ProgrammabilitySupport feature installed as part of your Office installation, you will receive the following error when you start a scan:


This error is shown in the following figure.





Please use the following steps to add the .NET Programmability Support feature to your Office installation.

Windows 7 and Windows Vista

1. Exit Outlook.
2. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
3. In Control Panel, click Programs.
4. Then, click Programs and Features.
5. In the list of installed products, select your Microsoft Office product and then click Change.
6. When prompted, select Add or Remove Features and then click Continue.
7. In the Installation Options feature tree, expand the node for Microsoft Outlook.
8. Click the icon next to .NET Programmability Support and then select Run from My Computer.
   
   This setting is shown in the following figure.
   
   
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9. Click Continue.
10. Click Close when the installation update is finished.

Windows XP

1. On the Start menu, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
3. In the list of currently installed programs, select your Microsoft Office product and then click Change.
4. When prompted, select Add or Remove Features and then click Continue.
5. In the Installation Options feature tree, expand the node for Microsoft Outlook.
6. Click the icon next to .NET Programmability Support and then select Run from My Computer.
   
   This setting is shown in the following figure.
   
   
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7. Click Continue.
8. Click Close when the installation update is finished.

• The Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0

Note The Setup program for the Outlook Configuration Analyzer Tool prompts you to install the .NET Framework 2.0 if it is not already installed.



In this scenario, the link that is provided to install the .NET Framework takes you to the download for the .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1. This supersedes the .NET Framework 2.0. After the system requirements for the .NET Framework are met, you can install the Outlook Configuration Analyzer Tool.

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How to start OCAT

To start the Outlook Configuration Analyzer Tool, click the Microsoft OCAT icon on the Start menu. If you do not see the Microsoft OCAT icon on the Start menu, look for it under Microsoft Outlook Configuration Analyzer Tool on the All Programs menu.

How to generate a report by using OCAT

After OCAT is started, click Start a scan in the left panel to generate a report of your Outlook profile.




If Outlook is not running when you start a scan, OCAT displays the following notification.



For the most complete OCAT scan report, make sure that Outlook is running when you start a scan.

In situations in which you cannot keep Outlook running long enough to start a scan, you can still perform a basic scan. To do this, select Offline Scan in the Task drop-down list, and then click Start scanning.



Although an offline scan does not contain as many profile details as an online scan, an offline scan may still provide enough information to help you resolve any problems that you are experiencing with Outlook.

For an online scan, you may receive the following prompt to give OCAT access to information that is stored in Outlook. To give this access, select Allow access for, specify 1 minute, and then click Allow.



Note This prompt may not automatically take focus. To display this prompt, click the Outlook icon on the Windows taskbar.



After the scan is complete, click View a report of this configuration scan to display the report that is generated by OCAT.



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Current Issues/Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

This section will be updated on a regular basis as new issues are discovered. Please check back here periodically to see if there are new items.

• "Could not load files or assembly ..." error starting a scan (posted March 2, 2012)
  
  When you click Start a scan, you may see text similar to the following in the bottom status bar section of the OCAT window:
  
  Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKey=
  
  This error occurs when you do not have the .NET Programmability Support feature installed as part of your Office installation.
  
  Resolution:
  
  Please see the System Requirements section of this article for steps on installing the .NET Programmability Support feature.

• "Object reference not set ..." or "Outlook is not installed" errors starting a scan (posted March 1, 2012)
  
  When you click Start a scan, you may see the following text in the main section of OCAT if Outlook is not running:
  
   Microsoft Office Outlook is not installed on this computer. You can only view reports.
  
  Or, you may see the following text in the lower left status bar section of the OCAT window if Outlook is running:
  
  Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
  
  These errors occur when your Windows registry is missing important information about your Outlook installation.
  
  Resolution
  
  To resolve this problem, please repair your Office installation using the Add or Remove Programs control panel in Windows XP or the Programs and Features control panel in Windows 7/Windows Vista.

• Typo found in the OCAT report (posted February 22, 2012)
  
  In the OCAT report you may see the following warning text related to your Global Catalog server:
  
  No wrietable Global Catalog found
  
  The word "wrietable" is a typo and should be "writeable".

• Error starting scan on an Outlook 2003 client (posted February 20, 2012)
  
  If you try to perform a scan on a client that has Outlook 2003 installed, you receive the following error message:
  
  Error starting scan, please try again. If error persists, please send mail toocatsupp@microsoft.com (mailto:ocatsupp@microsoft.com) .
  
  This error message is shown in the following figure:
  
  
  Collapse this imageExpand this image

  

• Unable to print (posted February 20, 2012)
  
  At this time, you can use the Print Report feature only if you are running OCAT on a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 client. We have a fix for this in the next version of OCAT.

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How to uninstall OCAT

Windows 7 and Windows Vista

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. In Control Panel under Programs, select Uninstall a program.
3. In the list of currently installed programs, select Microsoft Outlook Configuration Analyzer Tool, and then click Remove.
4. Click Yes to confirm that you want to remove the program.

Windows XP

1. On the Start menu, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
3. In the list of currently installed programs, select Microsoft Outlook Configuration Analyzer Tool, and then click Remove.
4. Click Yes to confirm that you want to remove the program.

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More information

For more information about OCAT and about the information available in the report that is generated by OCAT, see the following document:

OCAT Supplemental Download Information (http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28806)

Submit any feedback on OCAT to ocatsupp@microsoft.com.

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