Outlook unable to retrieve messages with blank From: address

M

Mark Ryan

Outlook 2003 aborts mesasge retrieval functions when a POP3 message has a
blank From: address. Outlook Express works fine. Whare do I configure
Outlook to allow inbound messgaes to lack a From: address? I connect only to
a POP3 server; no Exchange server involved.
 
J

Jeff Stephenson [MSFT]

What happens when you try to receive the message in Outlook? Any error
message?
 
M

Mark Ryan

Thanks for the reply. WHen Outlook hits one of these messages, I get an
error downloading messages and the message download process stops dead in its
tracks. If I retry the download, I get the same set of messages downloaded
up to the blank message and then it errors again.
 
J

Jeff Stephenson [MSFT]

What is the error message that you get when downloading?

--
Jeff Stephenson
Outlook Development
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
 
B

Brian Tillman

Mark Ryan said:
Thanks for the reply. WHen Outlook hits one of these messages, I
get an error downloading messages and the message download process
stops dead in its tracks. If I retry the download, I get the same
set of messages downloaded up to the blank message and then it
errors again.
Click to expand...

That's been a problem for a long time. There are several ways to handle it.
The first is to use a web interface to your mailbox and delete the offending
message. The second is to follow the advice given here:
http://tinyurl.com/5mewj . I also thought there was a message posted to
this group or the m.p.outlook group that addressed it via a registry
setting, but I can't find it.
 
M

Mark RYan

Thanks for the info. I have had to resort to using a web interface ot the
POP3 server in order to remove the offending messages. Great nuisance.

What I am trying to figure out is why Outlook fails on messages with a blank
"From:" line yet Outlook Express works great. I have not downgraded to older
versions of Outlook to see if this is something new (spam blocking effort)
but I am tempted to go that route.

I believe this behavior falls under the "Laws on unintended consequences"
with regard to Outlook development.
 
M

Mark RYan

OK. I have done some more digging and it seems that the "From:" field is not
blank but has 1 or more hidden characters. The "invisible" characters could
be almost any ASCII sequence that does not display as characters.

Looks like a change of mail applications is in order.
 
M

Mark RYan

Thanks for the ongoing assistance. I will be out of the office all week but
will give it a go next week and let you know.
 
M

Mark RYan

Here's the error message I get when Outlook hits a message it cannot
download. Again, Outlook Express downloads without a problem.


Task 'mail.c-e-p-inc.com - Receiving' reported error (0x800CCC0F) : 'The
connection to the server was interrupted. If this problem continues, contact
your server administrator or Internet service provider (ISP). The server
responded: +OK 1073 octets'
 
J

Jeff Stephenson [MSFT]

Do you have a web interface to your mail system? If so, can you use it to
see the message that seems to be causing the problem? I'd be interested to
know about it - in particular, does it have lots and lots of recipients
(like some spam messages do)? You can probably get things working again by
simply deleting the message from the web interface.

--
Jeff Stephenson
Outlook Development
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
 
M

Mark RYan

I do have a browser interface and that is waht I have been using to unstop
the clog. FIxes the sympton but does not address the problem. May switch
to Outlook Express just o avoid the headaches.
 
J

Jeff Stephenson [MSFT]

When you go to the browser interface to unstop the clog, could you look at
the message and see if there's anything unusual about it? In particular,
are there a *lot* of recipients on the message? Is the message header (the
part of the message that comes before the actual text body - don't know if
your browser interface will show it...) really big?
 
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