Using Process Explorer to list dlls running under the Outlook.exe process

  • Article
  • Applies to:
    Outlook

Summary

Process Explorer is a utility that provides information about which handles and dlls each process has open. In the context of Outlook troubleshooting, Process Explorer is commonly used to determine if you have any third-party dlls running under the Outlook.exe process. This is an important step as it raises a possibility that add-ins or other software on your computer may be causing problems in Outlook.

This article provides details on how you can use Process Explorer to output all dll files running under the Outlook.exe process.

Obtaining Process Explorer

The first thing to do is to obtain the latest version of Process Explorer. It can be downloaded from Process Explorer v16.43.

Make sure to read the information on this page to introduce yourself to this tool.

Running Process Explorer

After you download and extract Process Explorer, use the following steps to gather the list of dlls running under the Outlook.exe process.

  1. Start Outlook.
  2. Double-click Procexp.exe to start Process Explorer.
  3. On the View menu, make sure Show Lower Pane is checked.
  4. Press CTRL+D or select View > Lower Pane View > DLLs to enable DLL view mode.
  5. In the Process Explorer top pane, scroll down the list of the files and then select Outlook.exe.
  6. After the list of dlls running under Outlook.exe are listed in the bottom pane, select Save As on the File menu.
  7. Save the file as Outlook.exe.txt.

Analyzing the Process Explorer Output

The output text file is a tab-delimited text file that is best opened in Microsoft Excel so you can use the Filter function to quickly locate all non-Microsoft dlls loaded.

  1. Start Microsoft Office Excel and open Outlook.exe.txt.

  2. In the Text Import Wizard use the following options:

    • Delimited
    • Tab delimiter
    • General column data format

  3. Scroll down the worksheet and locate the following line:

    Name Description Company Name Version

    This is the list of all dlls (Microsoft and third party) running under the Outlook.exe process.

  4. Select the cell with "Name" just above the list of dlls and then turn on the Filter feature.

  5. Select the filter drop-down in the Name field and then configure a Text Filter with the following parameters:

    Name - Contains - .dll

  6. Select the filter drop-down in theCompany Name field and then clear the check boxes containing "Microsoft".

Identifying Microsoft and third-Party dlls

The filtered list of dlls displayed using the above steps will contain third party dlls running under Outlook. You can examine the Company Name column to determine the vendor responsible for the dll file.

In the filter list of dlls, there is also some dlls that ship with Outlook that do not display "Microsoft" in the Company Name column. To identify these Microsoft dlls, use the following steps:

  • Outlook 2010

    1. Start Outlook 2010.
    2. Select the File tab on the ribbon, then select the Options button.
    3. In the Outlook Options dialog box, select Add-Ins.
    4. To examine COM add-ins, select COM Add-ins in the Manage drop-down and then select Go.
    5. Select each add-in in the COM Add-ins dialog box and then examine the .dll file name in the Location: information in the bottom of the dialog box. The name of the add-in should tell you if the dll file is made by Microsoft.

  • Outlook 2007

    1. Start Outlook 2007.
    2. On the Tools menu, select Trust Center.
    3. In the Trust Center, select Add-ins.
    4. To examine COM add-ins, select COM Add-ins in the Manage drop-down and then select Go.
    5. Select each add-in in the COM Add-ins dialog box and then examine the .dll file name in the Location: information in the bottom of the dialog box. The name of the add-in should tell you if the dll file is made by Microsoft.

  • Outlook 2003 and earlier

    1. Start Outlook 2003.
    2. On the Tools menu, select Options.
    3. On the Other tab, select Advanced Options.
    4. Select COM Add-ins.
    5. Select each add-in in the COM Add-ins dialog box and then examine the .dll file name in the Location: information in the bottom of the dialog box. The name of the add-in should tell you if the dll file is made by Microsoft.