Outlook users occasionally encounter a "Your message can't be displayed right now" error, which can be frustrating during important communication but is usually straightforward to fix. The issue is typically linked to a corrupted or overloaded cache, and the solution differs slightly depending on whether the user is running the desktop client or a web browser version of Outlook.

On the desktop app, users can clear the RoamCache folder via File Explorer or reset their account through the Tools menu, with a full uninstall and reinstall as a backup option. In a browser, the fix involves clearing cookies and site data specifically for Outlook, with instructions varying across Edge, Chrome and Safari; clearing the cache does not delete emails, calendar entries or contacts. If none of these steps work, disabling browser extensions such as adblockers or privacy tools, or trying a different browser altogether, may resolve the problem.