Auto-archive, sending and receiving a very large attachment, or running some of the other mailbox tools can all be done in the background. Check the status bar at the bottom of the screen to see if another process is running. If so, wait a short time (usually two or three minutes) to see if Outlook starts working again. If you can't choose any of the menu options, type inside an email message, calendar event, or contact, Outlook may have frozen. There are three steps you can take to try to g...