9 Useful Ways to Fix “The server is not available” Error (0x8004011D) in Outlook Send/Receive Progress

At times you might receive an error “The server is not available” with error code 0x8004011D in Outlook while sending or receiving emails. We offer here, 9 useful ways to resolve the issue in a quick time.

For those of us who have been working with the MS Outlook email client for several years, encountering error messages is not a rare occurrence. Outlook has a rather uncanny knack for throwing up error messages when we never expect them. One such error message is “The server is not available” Error (0x8004011D) while you are trying to send or receive emails in Outlook. Let’s explore the issue in depth.

Key Causes Behind “The server is not available” Error (0x8004011D)

If you are running Outlook on an Exchange Server backbone, you might receive the Error 0x8004011D along with an additional description, Microsoft Exchange Server –Sending and Receiving reported error. This may occur due to a variety of causes ranging from a corrupted profile to malware plaguing your system. However, you may still receive the error while you are working in offline mode or when you are using Outlook in isolation. To deal with the issue we have listed below 9 effective solutions that you can try out.

#1. Create a New Outlook Profile

One of the key causes that might make this error show up is a corrupted Outlook profile. Hence you need to create a new Outlook mailbox profile by performing the steps listed below.

• Go to the Run Box (also known as Windows Search Bar in Windows 10) from your desktop screen and type in Control Panel
• Next, bring up the Control Panel feature
• Further just head out to the Search Box that is located top right section of the Control Panel screen, and then key in Mail
• As the Mail option screen comes into the view, just hit it to bring up the Mail Setup – Outlook screen.
• Once there click on Show Profiles
• Now click on the Add option and follow through the instructions shown to build up a New Profile and then simply put your existing Mail account under it.

#2. Run an Antivirus Scan

In some cases, there is a considerable possibility that malware is impacting the connection of your Outlook application with the Exchange Server. To remove the possibility, we recommend that you run a deep scan/complete system scan with any leading commercial Antivirus tool like Norton Antivirus or Avast, etc.

#3. Disable Conflicting Add-ins

In some cases, conflicting add-ins can trigger this issue. To isolate such plug-ins consider starting Outlook in Safe Mode by following the steps below.

• From your desktop view, head to the Windows Search Bar or the Run Box
• Now type in cmd and then hit Enter to showcase the command prompt
• When the Command Prompt window shows up, just type the text outlook.exe/safe and then again hit Enter to launch the Microsoft Outlook email client in safe mode.
• Now consider disabling the Add-in you may suspect to be conflicting with the application and restart in normal mode. The process needs to be repeated iteratively to isolate and disable the conflicting Add-in.

#4.  Consider Enabling Cached Exchange Mode While you are Working Offline

When you are working offline, just enabling the cached exchange mode can effectively resolve the error in some cases. To attempt this option, perform the steps listed below.

• From your desktop screen, just head go to Windows Search Bar or the Run Box
• Bring up the Control Panel by simply typing control.exe
• Next, click or search the Mail option, and in the next Mail Setup – Outlook screen click on Email Accounts
• Under the E-mail tab, choose the Exchange account you are using and double click on it
• Use the Next button to move to the Server Settings screen within the Change Account Wizard
• Next just check the box next to the Use Cached Exchange Mode option. Apply the settings and restart the Outlook email client to check whether the issue has been resolved.

#5. Utilize the Best Outlook Recovery Tool in Business

In the event that the steps listed above fail to resolve the issue at hand, you might be dealing with a corrupt PST file. Hence, you need to consider utilizing the best Outlook recovery tool that is available today; the highly sophisticated DataNumen Outlook Repair application. This brilliant piece of software is designed to extract every piece of information stored in your Outlook PST file in quick time. The tool is capable of handling PST files of gigantic sizes with dexterity and is also able to negotiate encrypted data files too.

#6. Try to Run the Inbox Repair Tool from Microsoft

There may be cases where you believe that the incident of PST corruption is rather minor or you are fine with a certain amount of data loss. In such cases, you can use the Inbox Repair tool or ScanPST which is included in your MS Office package. While the tool does have a patch recovery rate, it still may work out perfectly in many cases. Visit Microsoft’s Support site to locate the tool in your system based on the office version you are running. Once you have it, follow the given steps to attempt a recovery operation.

• Open up the Inbox Repair Tool (ScanPST) application
• Now using the Browse button just choose the corrupted PST file you are planning to repair
• Once set, just click on the Start option to initiate the recovery. The application uses a status bar to showcase the progress.

#7.  Explore the Data Drive or Disk Source to Perform a Direct Recovery

In some rare cases, any attempt to recover data from a corrupted PST data file may come as a cropper. The alternate recourse that you can take involves trying to attempt a recovery directly from the disk drive using the remarkable DataNumen Outlook Drive Recovery tool by trying the steps listed below.

• Bring up the DataNumen Outlook Drive Recovery utility
• In the application interface, reach out to the Recovery tab, and once there select the relevant source Drive which needs to be checked (the drive where Outlook was storing the mail data)
• Further, enter an Output file name and then hit the Start Recovery button
• The application will carefully examine the data drive and recover all possible Outlook contents directly off it and store it in the output file.

#8.  Call in System Restore  

Occasionally you may arrive at a situation where all incremental steps at resolving the issue do not seem to work. This is where you need to call in the artillery or so as to speak the System Restore utility. With the help of the formidable tool, you can simply revert back the Windows system to a previous date along with all application software installed in it. All you need to do is choose a restore point when Outlook was functioning normally and the OS will revert back to that date. However, before running the System Restore, be aware of the fact that any application that you might have installed beyond the restore point will not be available.  

#9. Utilize a Previously Backed-up Copy of the PST Data File

In some cases, one might just use a previously stored copy of the Outlook data file to get the application running again. In case you have a backed-up PST copy, just grab hold of it and replace the current PST file that Outlook is using by it. Here’s how you can get this done.

• In the Outlook application interface, head to the File tab
• Now go to the Account Settings which is showcased under the Info tab
• Once there, just hit on Account Settings and then directly head to the Data Files tab where you can find the location of the current PST data file
• All you now need to do is replace this current file with the backed-up copy. Once done just open up Outlook in a routine fashion. You might miss a few emails since the last backup, but the application should be running in perfect shape.

A Few Things to Remember

Error messages in Outlook, however strange they may appear often indicate some issue that might be plaguing the application or its underlying data file. When you do encounter such error messages, you need to correctly analyze the possible causes and attempt to resolve them in a stepwise gradual manner as showcased above. However, if you are a regular user of Outlook, especially for business, keeping a powerful tool like DataNumen Outlook Repair can come rather handy for dealing with contingencies.