Cannot open, accept, or delete tasks in outllook 2007

[Cory Brown]

OS: Winows XP Pro SP3
Software: Outlook 2007 / Outlook 2002

We are having a problem opening tasks in Outlook. We just started using
Outlook as our task management software and not being able to open task
requests is causing us lots of problems.

We recently upgraded half of our office to using outlook 2007 and the other
half is still using outlook 2002 (came with office XP).

We do not have an exchange server and are using pop3 mail to send the task
requests.

Tasks in general worked fine, but it seemed that random employees could not
open task requests that they had received in their inbox. My first thought
was that there was a version compatibility problem between 2002 and 2007.
This however is not the case. If one of our employees sends a task request to
another employee they can open it no matter their version with no problems.

The problem presents itself when they have a task that goes from employee A
to employee B and then employee B reassigns that task to employee C. The
third person in the chain is out of luck. We thought this was random but
after much testing we found a pattern. If employee B is running Outlook 2007,
employee C will not be able to open it.

I've tested this in every configuration possible.

Employee A | Employee B | Employee C | Successfully opens
A) 2007 > B) 2002 Pass
A) 2002 > B) 2007 Pass
A) 2002 > B) 2002 > C) 2002 Pass
A) 2002 > B) 2002 > C) 2007 Pass
A) 2007 > B) 2002 > C) 2002 Pass
A) 2007 > B) 2002 > C) 2007 Pass
A) 2002 > B) 2007 > C) 2002 Fail
A) 2002 > B) 2007 > C) 2007 Fail
A) 2007 > B) 2007 > C) 2002 Fail
A) 2007 > B) 2007 > C) 2007 Fail

I find it odd that a task sent from 07 to 07 and forwarded on to a 3rd
person running 07 would fail but it does.

I've found posts about problems with hot fixes but none of those seem to
help. I've also cleared the forms cache but had no luck. I've also installed
office 2007 sp2 and this did not help. I've tried disableing antivirus email
scanning as I thought it might be stripping out the attachment that makes the
task request work but again it did not help.

Any ideas on this would be great. Thank you for taking the time on such a
long read.

 

[Cory Brown]

This is definately an issue as I can repeat this on any system. You can
create and assign a task from a pc running outlook 2007 via a pop3 mail
message to a pc running outlook 2007 with no problem. However, if that 2nd pc
accepts the task and then assigns it to a 3rd pc, that 3rd pc will not be
able to open it. They will get an error messagebox that says "Can't open this
item. Operation failed." The task cannot be opened, deleted, or accepted. The
only way to get rid of it is to create a new folder, drag it to that folder
and then delete the folder. If we were only assinging tasks to one person we
would not have a problem but unfortunately our work flow demands that some
tasks be passed on to others.

I've tried service packs, disabling av software, making sure all pc's were
running the same OS with service packs, all security settings are identical
across all of the pc's

Any help here would be great. Microsoft will not talk to me unless I pay
them $200+, which I'm really upset about as we just spent $1800 on software.
Is there any way to tell MS their software is broken without paying to tell
them?

On a side note. Outlook 2002 does not have this problem as half of our
employees are running it. I've been in situations where I downgraded my os to
earlier versions using my product key. Is there a way to legally run outlook
2002 with my outlook 2007 key? Grapsing at straws at this point.

 

[Leonid S. Knyshov // SBS Expert]

OS: Winows XP Pro SP3
Software: Outlook 2007 / Outlook 2002

We are having a problem opening tasks in Outlook. We just started using
Outlook as our task management software and not being able to open task
requests is causing us lots of problems.

We recently upgraded half of our office to using outlook 2007 and the other
half is still using outlook 2002 (came with office XP).

We do not have an exchange server and are using pop3 mail to send the task
requests.

Tasks in general worked fine, but it seemed that random employees could not
open task requests that they had received in their inbox. My first thought
was that there was a version compatibility problem between 2002 and 2007.
This however is not the case. If one of our employees sends a task request to
another employee they can open it no matter their version with no problems.

The problem presents itself when they have a task that goes from employee A
to employee B and then employee B reassigns that task to employee C. The
third person in the chain is out of luck. We thought this was random but
after much testing we found a pattern. If employee B is running Outlook 2007,
employee C will not be able to open it.

I've tested this in every configuration possible.

Employee A | Employee B | Employee C | Successfully opens
A) 2007> B) 2002 Pass
A) 2002> B) 2007 Pass
A) 2002> B) 2002> C) 2002 Pass
A) 2002> B) 2002> C) 2007 Pass
A) 2007> B) 2002> C) 2002 Pass
A) 2007> B) 2002> C) 2007 Pass
A) 2002> B) 2007> C) 2002 Fail
A) 2002> B) 2007> C) 2007 Fail
A) 2007> B) 2007> C) 2002 Fail
A) 2007> B) 2007> C) 2007 Fail

I find it odd that a task sent from 07 to 07 and forwarded on to a 3rd
person running 07 would fail but it does.

I've found posts about problems with hot fixes but none of those seem to
help. I've also cleared the forms cache but had no luck. I've also installed
office 2007 sp2 and this did not help. I've tried disableing antivirus email
scanning as I thought it might be stripping out the attachment that makes the
task request work but again it did not help.

Any ideas on this would be great. Thank you for taking the time on such a
long read.

Can you try reproducing this bug on Outlook 2010? There is an active
collection of bug reports on that platform right now. Then you can
mention 2007 is affected as well.
--
Leonid S. Knyshov
Crashproof Solutions
510-282-1008
Twitter: @wiseleo
http://crashproofsolutions.com
Microsoft Small Business Specialist
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