Outlook 2007 may close unexpectedly (crash) when you try to start Outlook 2007 under an existing profile

You perform an in-place upgrade to Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 from one of the following Microsoft products:

• Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
• A version of Outlook that is earlier than Outlook 2003

When you try to start Outlook 2007 under an existing profile, Outlook 2007 may close unexpectedly (crash).

Note This problem does not occur when you try to start Outlook 2007 under a new profile.

This problem occurs when the existing profile contains an .fav file.

Note An .fav file is a folder shortcuts file. You can create an .fav file only in a version of Outlook that is earlier than Outlook 2003.

To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type %UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Right-click the .fav file, click Delete, and then click OK.

Notes

• You can safely delete the .fav file when you upgrade Outlook 2003 to Outlook 2007. This is because the shortcuts in the .fav files were removed when you installed Outlook 2003.
• You can safely delete the .fav file when you upgrade to Outlook 2007 from a version of Outlook that is earlier than Outlook 2003. The shortcuts in the .fav files are already removed. However, data that is related to e-mail or to other rules is not lost.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.