Oultlook 2002-Can’t Delete Mail (Outlook 2002 SP-1)

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Subject: Outlook 2002- Can’t Delete Mail

Hi all,

I have; OS: Win XP Pro factory installed, CPU/Ram: P4CPU 1.80GHz/512MB. Using Outlook 2002 SP-1. I do daily/weekly maintenace with Norton System Works, and haven’t installed any new programs etc.

This is a new problem; where I can read, but can’t delete, or transfer mail in one inbox-folder/size is 37,540 KB. I get the following popup: “The messaging interface has returned an unknown error. If problem persists, restart outlook” I am not using any rules, and I can delete/transfer mail in all other folders.

I’ve run “Detect and Repair” 2 times, and several times “Inbox repair tool”. I have no “unreparable errors”. I’ve tried “edit/delete”…”shift/delete”, clicked “delete X button”, all give me the same message.

How do I fix?

Thanx, appreciate your help,

-RJ

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Do you have 16,383 items in your Deleted Items folder? Unless you enable “support for large tables” in Outlook 2000 (not sure what it’s called in Outlook 2002), this is the most items you can have in a folder.

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I also have the same problem. I’m using Outlook XP SP2 on Windows XP SP1, using Exchange 2000 SP3.
I can’t delete a message in the inbox using the delete icon, drag & drop, Shift-delete or OWA. The error I get is “Can’t open this item”.
This error is impacting my offline mail users -their sync stops when it encounters this message.

I can’t use Inbox repair tool, as this is only for a PST/OST and my problem is in the Exchange inbox folder.

My deleted items folder is empty.

Any ideas?
Thanks.

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This is definitely not the same problem; completely different error message and scenario.

Are you sure the client is connected to Exchange when the error occurs? Does the message exist in the Exchange data store (I don’t know how you would verify this, actually)?

I searched Microsoft.com and couldn’t find this error message for Outlook 2002. Maybe some of these Outlook 2000 articles could be relevant?

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 274132 – OL2000: Outlook Cannot Open an Item Marked Private After You Move It to a Personal Folder

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 195754 – OL2000: How to Clear the Outlook Forms Cache

You also could try Google Groups to scan the MS newsgroups (e.g., this sample search).

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Yes, the client is connected to Exchange when the error occurs. You’re correct, it’s difficult to verify if the message is in the data store (I can use message tracking- if I’m quick enough – we only keep tracking logs for a week and the ‘undeletable’ messages are older than this. So I can’t say for sure that the message actually exists).

I’ve also searched Microsoft’s knowledge base & newsgroups, slipstick.com, winnetmag.com, kbalertz.com, etc. with no luck.
I’ve seen lots of postings for this problem, but no answers.

I don’t believe the 2 articles you listed will help. Thanks anyway.

So, I guess I’m going to have to continue with my workaround of exporting all stuff (except the corrupt message) to a PST, delete / recreate the mailbox, then import.

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From what you say, it is not clear whether you are using Exchange Server or not. I presume you are not, in which case, the following may help.

Occasionally, items get well and truly corrupted. In such instances, it is necessary to transfer everything (bar the offending message) to a separate *.PST file.

• Start with File|New|Outlook Data File.
• Drag and drop your existing folders wherever possible (otherwise copy) to the new Personal Folders file.
• Close Outlook.
• Open Windows Explorer, making sure that you can view Hidden Folders. (See Control Panel|Folder Options, if you have not enabled this.)
• Go to Documents and Settings[your username]Local SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftOutlook and move the problem file out of the folder.
• Restart Outlook.
• Outlook will complain that your Personal Folders file is missing.
• Point it to the new *.PST file that you just set up – which should be staring at you in the Open File dialogue.
• Click Open and Outlook should be running again without problems[/list]HTH

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As I stated, I’m using Exchange 2000 SP3 with Outlook XP clients.

So, unfortunately, your suggestion doesn’t really help me. Thanks anyway…

The only “workaround” I’ve found is to move/export all the folders and messages (except the corrupt one) to a .PST, delete the user’s mailbox, create a new one, then import the .PST into the new mailbox.
But this is really ugly….
There’s gotta be a better way!!

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