Microsoft Office Outlook is an excellent platform to manage your multiple email accounts in one place, especially for the tech freaks. You can manage various email accounts like Gmail, Exchange, Office365, and Yahoo in Microsoft Outlook, a single application with a unified interface.
But, this new feature came up with a bug that won’t allow you to add a new email account to your outlook and showed an error message as “we couldn’t create the outlook data file.”
Interestingly, this outlook error usually appears when you try to add a new Gmail account. For other email providers, it just works fine in most cases. Follow this complete guide to learn why this error occurs and how to fix it. We have gathered all possible solutions to try and troubleshoot to fix the error quickly.
Reasons behind We couldn’t create the outlook data file error
As discussed earlier, the outlook error seems to be well-known. People around the internet have found the possible reasons that cause this error to appear. One of the following could be why you are facing the Microsoft outlook error.
lacking hard disk space
To create/ add a new account in outlook, your system requires a specific amount of free space. If outlook finds insufficient space, it will show you an error- we couldn’t create the outlook data file.
Write-protected hard disk
Sometimes, the hard disk is in read-only mode, which prevents the apps from creating and writing new files on the disk, resulting in an error.
Outlook We couldn’t create the outlook data file Gmail
Most of the time, it is observed that an error occurs whenever you try to add a new Gmail account to your outlook. The reason behind this can be a security issue with Gmail.
The simplified account creation wizard
This is a relatively new feature that is offered by Microsoft Outlook. Although, features come up with bugs too. But, to fix the data file error, you can disable it.
Solutions to fix the We couldn’t create the Outlook data file error
There are multiple methods you can try to resolve the issue. Here are the most efficient and straightforward methods that you can try.
- Check if the hard disk is neither full nor write-protected
- Allow all permission by Gmail
- Alternative ways to add an email account
- Disable simplified account creation
Fixed: We couldn’t create the Outlook data file error
Method 1: Check if the Hard Disk is not full
You can see the error we couldn’t create the outlook data file, followed by the cause of the error on the screen.
The most common reason to be failed to add a new account to your outlook is either you don’t have enough space in your hard disk, or your hard disk is write-protected.
You can check whether your hard disk is full or not. Follow the given simple steps to prevent it.
- Press windows and e keys simultaneously to open file explorer.
- Click on “this pc,” and you will see whether or not your disk has enough space left.
If your disk is full, try disk cleanup or uninstall some files and programs you don’t use anymore.
Method 2: Check and remove write protection of disk
To check whether your disk is write-protected, you can use the ‘diskpart’ utility. Follow the steps below to remove the write protection if there is any.
- Press Windows and r simultaneously, which will open a run command box.
- Type diskpart in the text box and hit enter. This will open the terminal in front of you.
- Now type the list disk that will show all the disks present on your system, including pen drives and memory cards.
- Select the disk you want to clear write protection by typing a command select disk disk-number.
- Finally, enter the command attributes disk clear read-only to remove the write protection. It will take some time to process, and you can close the console after it stops.
Method 3: Allow all permission and check security options by Gmail
even if everything is fine at outlook’s end, there might be chances that Gmail is not giving proper access to your account to outlook.
In that case, the easiest solution is to allow all the permissions that outlook asks for after entering the correct password to proceed further.
Method 4: Alternative way 1 – add account via manage profiles
Adding a new mail setup through the manage profiles option is another straightforward way. Just follow the steps to add your Gmail or any other email account to your outlook.
- Open the Microsoft Outlook application and access the outlook profile by clicking on the file option at the leftmost of the menu ribbon.
- Click info > account settings > manage profiles option, as shown in the picture below.
- Then click on the email accounts option.
- Now, you will see a new option. Click on it and enter the email details as shown in the picture.
- Finally, follow the instructions to add your email account to Outlook instantly.
- That’s it. You shouldn’t face any problems via this method as this is the most effective and straightforward process without getting an error message.
Method 4: Alternate way 2 – using the mail option from the control panel
Even after following the previous procedure, if you are facing outlook, we couldn’t create the outlook data file, then you may use this method. Follow the given steps for seamless troubleshooting.
- Click window key > search and open the control panel.
- Select the large icons option on the top right and then select the mail (Microsoft outlook) option.
- On the new dialog window, click on the email accounts option, and then on the new window, click on the new button (same steps as of the previous outlook profiles method).
- Now enter your email id and password and follow the instructions to add your email account on outlook. Now, you will no more face outlook 365 we couldn’t create the outlook data file.
Method 5: Disable simplified account creation by modifying registry editor
This is a lengthy process, and you should be more careful when changing the registry values here. To remove the outlook we couldn’t create the outlook data file, you need to disable the simplified account creation feature, and that’s it.
Follow the given instruction to modify the registry editor.
- Open the Run command box by pressing the Windows and R keys simultaneously. Enter the regedit command and hit enter.
- Copy and paste the following path into the address bar and press the enter button.
Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Setup
- now right-click anywhere on the blank space on the right pane and click on new option > DWORD 32 Bit Value.
- This should create a new entry. Give it the name DisableOffice365SimplifiedAccountCreation and hit enter.
- Now you can easily edit the values of this property. Just double click on the key, enter value 1 in the Value Data textbox and click ok.
- Now you are all set. Close the outlook and open it again. Now try to add a new email account, and it will not show the error outlook we couldn’t create the outlook data file Gmail.
Conclusion
Here are all the quick fixes for outlook data file errors that you can try to add or restore an outlook email account in the outlook app. Even after following the above steps, you may add your email account from a new device if you face the same error.
If the error persists, you can only contact the respective email provider.