Can't launch Outlook when switching to Exchange from POP3

I've had an irritating issue for the past week or so. I used to use POP3 in Outlook however the other day I switched to the internal Exchange server and I got stuck in an eternal loop saying that Exchange needed to connect to the server to synchronise the offline files and folders -but you couldn't do that until the files were transferred.

The message looked something like this:

The set of folders cannot be opened. You must connect to Microsoft Exchange with the current profile before you can synchronise your folders with your offline folder file.

Took me a while but the fix was to remove the profile and setup the exchange inbox first:

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Click Switch to Classic View, and then double-click Mail.
3. In the Mail Setup dialog box, click Show Profiles.
4. On the General tab, click Prompt for a profile to be used, and then click Add.
5. In the Profile Name box, type a descriptive name for the new e-mail profile, and then click OK.
6. In the E-mail Accounts dialog box, click Add a new e-mail account, and then click Next.
7. Click the appropriate server type for your new e-mail account, and then click Next.
8. Type your account information in the required boxes, and then click Next.
9. Click Finish, and then click OK.