C
Christopher Mackie
I've been using Outlook since 1998 and I make my living at software support,
so I'm usually hard to stump, but I'm sucking wind on this one. The
problems below all started on the remote Outlook copy, so I have to imagine
they're connected to the remote setup and OST files. But I've been through
the settings and tried to re-synch, cleared the folder store and recreated
it, etc., and nothing seems to correct the problems. Can anyone suggest a
systematic way to diagnose and fix what's happening?
Here's the story: I'm running Outlook 2003 (all current patches: build
11.5608.5703) against an Exchange 2000 server. Outlook is part of a
complete install of Office 2003 Pro, which I upgraded from XP and before
that from 2000. I have one add-in: Attachments Zip Compressor from MAPILabs
(I've tried disabling it, without effect on the problems I'll describe).
I'm running remotely, over VPN, as well as from my office desktop. I
receive 150-450 messages daily, and I use rules to route mail to any of
several folders in my Exchange mailbox, one of which is called 'Lists'.
Starting about 2 weeks ago, my Lists folder and some of my Favorite folders
started misbehaving--and the misbehavior propagated from my remote Outlook
to the server and down to my office desktop Outlook. It began with the
Lists folder no longer updating new-message info. I have my Lists favorite
configured to show the number of new messages, but it just stopped doing so.
That problem immediately propagated to my office Outlook and onto the
Exchange Server--the next time I went into the office, I was having the same
problem there.
Then it got worse. Remotely, I can no longer see *any* messages (new or
read) in my Lists folder by looking directly at that folder or at its
shortcut in Favorites, even when I know that messages are there. I *can*
see new Lists messages in my 'Unread Mail' Favorites view, but if I
highlight the Lists folder--either in the Favorites view or in the Folder
View--I see nothing. The Unread Mail view does display them accurately. On
the other hand, my desktop machine does display the messages in Lists,
although it still won't tell me how many are unread. At present, the only
way I can see the read messages in Lists is on my desktop machine or through
OWA.
Lately, there's a problem with Unread Mail as well. When I mark a message
as read and move it to another folder, the Unread Mail view still displays
it (now in its new location). I have to select another view and then return
to Unread Mail for the item to disappear. Previously, they only stayed
visible until I moved them; now they stay visible even after I move them,
until I leave the view. It's not a huge issue, but it's distracting--you
move a read message to a new folder and yet it's still there (just under
another group heading).
These are the only apparent problems: nothing's wrong with Inbox, any of the
other folders to which Exchange/Outlook route messages, or any of the other
Outlook-standard views. There were no obvious proximal events: I didn't
change configuration, there were no mods to the Exchange Server, no crashes
of Outlook or the remote system, or anything else I can determine. This did
begin a few days after I installed the latest updates from Office Update,
but it wasn't immediately afterward.
Many tia for any ideas, --Chris
so I'm usually hard to stump, but I'm sucking wind on this one. The
problems below all started on the remote Outlook copy, so I have to imagine
they're connected to the remote setup and OST files. But I've been through
the settings and tried to re-synch, cleared the folder store and recreated
it, etc., and nothing seems to correct the problems. Can anyone suggest a
systematic way to diagnose and fix what's happening?
Here's the story: I'm running Outlook 2003 (all current patches: build
11.5608.5703) against an Exchange 2000 server. Outlook is part of a
complete install of Office 2003 Pro, which I upgraded from XP and before
that from 2000. I have one add-in: Attachments Zip Compressor from MAPILabs
(I've tried disabling it, without effect on the problems I'll describe).
I'm running remotely, over VPN, as well as from my office desktop. I
receive 150-450 messages daily, and I use rules to route mail to any of
several folders in my Exchange mailbox, one of which is called 'Lists'.
Starting about 2 weeks ago, my Lists folder and some of my Favorite folders
started misbehaving--and the misbehavior propagated from my remote Outlook
to the server and down to my office desktop Outlook. It began with the
Lists folder no longer updating new-message info. I have my Lists favorite
configured to show the number of new messages, but it just stopped doing so.
That problem immediately propagated to my office Outlook and onto the
Exchange Server--the next time I went into the office, I was having the same
problem there.
Then it got worse. Remotely, I can no longer see *any* messages (new or
read) in my Lists folder by looking directly at that folder or at its
shortcut in Favorites, even when I know that messages are there. I *can*
see new Lists messages in my 'Unread Mail' Favorites view, but if I
highlight the Lists folder--either in the Favorites view or in the Folder
View--I see nothing. The Unread Mail view does display them accurately. On
the other hand, my desktop machine does display the messages in Lists,
although it still won't tell me how many are unread. At present, the only
way I can see the read messages in Lists is on my desktop machine or through
OWA.
Lately, there's a problem with Unread Mail as well. When I mark a message
as read and move it to another folder, the Unread Mail view still displays
it (now in its new location). I have to select another view and then return
to Unread Mail for the item to disappear. Previously, they only stayed
visible until I moved them; now they stay visible even after I move them,
until I leave the view. It's not a huge issue, but it's distracting--you
move a read message to a new folder and yet it's still there (just under
another group heading).
These are the only apparent problems: nothing's wrong with Inbox, any of the
other folders to which Exchange/Outlook route messages, or any of the other
Outlook-standard views. There were no obvious proximal events: I didn't
change configuration, there were no mods to the Exchange Server, no crashes
of Outlook or the remote system, or anything else I can determine. This did
begin a few days after I installed the latest updates from Office Update,
but it wasn't immediately afterward.
Many tia for any ideas, --Chris