Cannot empty deleted items folder

[Glenn]

I have a user with Outlook 2003 installed. When she tries to empty her
deleted items folder, she receives the following messages:
Outlook has not finished synchronizing local changes made to items in this
folder.
You cannot delete this folder until the synchronization with the server is
complete.
The status bar says that all folder are up to date and she is connected to
the Exchange server. Does anyone know what may be causing this problem?

 

[K. Orland]

Can she empty the folder if she works offline? What about if she opens
Outlook in safe mode?

You could also try closing Outlook, deleting the .ost file, and opening
again to see if that resolves the issue as well.

 

[Glenn]

Thanks for the response Kathleen. I tried your suggestions, with regard to
safe mode and offline, but neither one worked. I still couldn't empty her
deleted items folder. I searched for a .ost file but there was none. Any
other ideas?

 

[K. Orland]

Does this user have the same problem if she uses a different PC/laptop?

 

[Glenn]

I had her log onto another PC and open her mailbox and the results were
surprisingly different. The folder totals differed from those on her own PC
and she was able to clean up her junk mail and empty her deleted items
folder. Then, when she opened Outlook on her own PC, the folder totals
intitially showed the same totals but then quickly changed to be the same as
thse on the other PC. She tried deleting some messages and then emptying her
deleted items folder and everything worked. For some reason, opening her
mailbox on another PC seemed to reslove the problems she was having on her
own PC. Thanks for your help.