I am unable to set up a new email account in Outlook due to an issue with multiple profiles. What should I do?

Microsoft ends its support for Windows XP inc Outlook 2003, find out more.

When you add an email account to Outlook 2003/2007, an email profile is automatically associated with it.

If, over time, several accounts are added and subsequently deleted, they sometimes remain attached to a profile without you realising it. When you try to add a new account with a username that’s been in use previously, you cannot complete the account creation process.

To resolve this issue, you need to remove the username from the profiles that were associated with it previously.

To remove a username from a profile:

1. Click on the Windows Start button and select Control Panel to display the Control Panel dialog.
2. Double-click on the Mail icon to display the Mail Setup – Outlook dialog.
3. Click on the Show Profiles button to display the list of profiles. 
   
   New accounts are automatically created in the default profile. The default profile name for POP is Outlook and for IMAP, it’s the same as your username.
4. To view the accounts under the default profile, click on the Properties button.
5. To view the email accounts listed for the profile, click on the E-mail Accounts button. The account setup wizard begins.
6. Click on the Next button to display the E-mail Accounts dialog.
7. Highlight the account name you wish to remove from the profile and click on theRemove button.
8. Click on the Finish button to save your changes.
9. Repeat steps 5 to 8 for all profiles currently in use.