Problems with Outlook 1

[CorpCo]

I am sort of the self-taught "IT" person in my office and I have a problem that has baffled me. Some of the office employees take turns covering for the receptionist when she's at lunch so I told them all to logoff their own computers and logon as themselves when they are covering the front desk. Everything was fine except with one girl...

When she logged on as herself and opened Outlook all of her messages that were on exchange appeared as they should. However, when she logged off and went to her own computer and logged on again, all of her messages were gone. I tried to log her on to several different computers in the office, but the only computer that had all of her old messages was the one at the receptionists desk. She's getting her new messages and is able to send new messages from anywhere else in the office, but any time she logs on at the receptionist's desk, all of the messages that appear there end up "leaving" her own computer (and don't appear on any other computer in the office, for that matter).

I have asked a real IT person that we use for tougher cases and he said he was baffled too. I tried the knowledge base on microsoft, but found nothing similar. Any ideas how to fix this problem?

HELP!
Christy

 

[ShackDaddy]

The profile she had on the receptionist computer was configured to download her files to a local personal folder instead of keeping them stored on the exchange server. You should log on to the receptionist system as her and change that configuration. Then identify the personal folder that's open in that Outlook config and copy the mail back into the "Mailbox - Username" area of the Outlook interface.

Shackdaddy

 

[ShackDaddy]

BTW, the best way to change this is to log on as her and then instead of opening Outlook, go to Mail in the Control Panel and change the profile there. Go to Email Accounts and find the pulldown box that says "Deliver new email to the following location." That's what needs to be changed.

ShackDaddy

 

[CorpCo]

Okay...but can you be a bit more specific?

I'm computer knowledgeable, but as I mentioned am self-taught (sort of a learn by experience thing). I need to know where to go to change the config. and exactly how to copy the mail back to her mailbox. I can follow instructions well...no need to explain in minute detail...just give the basics.

Also, will the change in configuration prevent this from happening again?

Thanks a lot ShackDaddy!

Christy

 

[CorpCo]

Okay on changing the config. I'll try it asap. What about copying the mail?

Thanks for your speedy reply.

Christy

 

[ShackDaddy]

Following the instructions I gave you should keep this from happening again.

As far as copying the mail from the personal folder to the "Outlook Today" or "Mailbox - Name", if you look in the 'Folder View' style of viewing outlook, you should be able to distinguish between which folder is on the server and is empty versus which folder is the personal folder.

Another possibility is that this user didn't set up her profile as an Exchange client, but as a POP3 client, so when she connected, it just downloaded all the mail. If that's the case, you need to reconfig that profile by deleting the POP3 mailbox listing in the list of mailboxes to access and adding an Exchange server. You should then be able to copy the messages from the personal folders to the server folder as described above.

ShackDaddy

 

[CorpCo]

Update...

I was the one who set up her email at the receptionist's desk...I must have inadvertently chosen "Personal Folder" for mail location. Oops. Well, I changed it as directed to her mailbox. Now I need some more help with copying the other messages to her mailbox.

I always use the folder view style, but am a little lost with your instruction. The only thing I can see is that the inbox has all of her messages. How do I copy the messages from the inbox folder at the reception desk to her mailbox?

Thanks again, SD.

Christy

 

[ShackDaddy]

Make sure that her profile is using and Exchange mailbox and not a POP3 mailbox. If it is using the latter, you won't see the "Mailbox - UserName" option at the root of your folderlist view. Once you've made sure you have an Exchange mailbox, you will have two places to look for mail: on the server and in the .pst file that got created on that system when you chose "Personal Folder" on her system. You should be able to drag mail from the personal folder to the folder that resides on the server (the one designated "Mailbox - Username").

ShackDaddy

 

[CorpCo]

Okay...I did make the "Personal Folder" mistake, but I KNOW I set it up as an Exchange and not a POP3.

So...I'm still not understanding where to look. Pardon me if I'm being ignorant. Do I understand that you want me to:

1. Logon to the receptionist's computer as the person with the problem.
2. Right click and explore to find the ".pst" file

This is the part that confuses me. Can you dumb it down a little and give me step by step folder seeking instructions (like you did for fixing the problem)?

Thanks!

Christy

 

[ShackDaddy]

When you look in your folder views (directory of folders on the lefthand side) what do you see?

Do you see "Mailbox - Username"? If so, that's where you want the mail to ultimately get to.

Do you see any other top-level folders besides that one? What are they called? You might see "Personal Folder" or "Public Folders."

If you see "Personal Folder," open it up. Isn't that where your mail is currently residing? If you have it there, drag it into the first folder I mentioned.

If you don't have "Personal Folder," then you want to go to your File menu in Outlook and choose Open -> Outlook Data File and then find the .pst file that Outlook was storing your mail in.

If you only have a Personal Folder in the list and nothing else, let me know.

ShackDaddy

 

[CorpCo]

Um...Okay, I looked at my email first. My "Mailbox - Username" folder is next to "Outlook Today" and all of the associated folders (i.e. Inbox, Deleted, Sent, etc.) are under that. On hers, it is the same. I think I know what happened. When I fixed the problem and went to open Outlook, a box came up and asked if I wanted it to fix my folders which might change the way things look. I said "yes". It probably removed the "Personal Folder".

I think this must be the case because I did the manual "File->Open->Data File->". All that was in there was a file titled "outlook" that didn't obviously have a recognizable extension because it had that appearance.

Now what? I see all the email messages...they're sitting in the Inbox. I just don't see them anywhere else.

I know you're getting tired of me.

Christy

 

[ShackDaddy]

So when you saw the file named "Outlook" did you select it? That's your .pst file. If you open that, then you will have both the "Mailbox - Username" folder and the "Personal Folder" folders.

When you say "I see all the email messages sitting in the Inbox," which Inbox are they in? The one in your Personal Folder, or the one in the "Mailbox - Username" hierarchy?

If they are in the former Inbox, copy them into the latter.

ShackDaddy

 

[CorpCo]

The email messages have always appeared in the "Inbox" of Outlook...under the main "Outlook" folder. Only I guess before it was "Outlook Today - Personal Folder" instead of "Outlook Today - Mailbox - Username". I don't really recall because I just changed it following your instructions without looking at the detail. The messages basically never appeared to move. I looked all over the folder list for a "Personal Folder" and couldn't find one. Not even under "Public Folders".

I also (just to be sure I was doing it right) looked under "File->Open->Outlook Data File" on my computer and all that's in mine is "archive". Okay, so if I go back to her computer and open the outlook folder, then what? Copy it and paste it to the "Inbox"?

You see? This is what happens when you ask a person who has no fear with "figuring" things out to be your help desk.

Christy

 

[ShackDaddy]

If the mail is currently in an Inbox under the "MailBox - Username" folder, then should already be in the right place (on the server). Check by logging into Outlook on her primary system, and you should be able to see all the mail there too.

Otherwise, read on.

Yes, if you open that Outlook.pst file (the .pst is probably hidden) it will show another folder in your folder view called "Personal Folder." Once that's there, you can drag and drop from it into the "Outlook Today - Mailbox - Username" folder's Inbox.

 

[bobh2436]

We recently had to re-load all of the .PST for all employees. This has caused some contact problems.

When I right click on contacts and go to properties and then click on the tab Outlook Address Book, most of the employees I can put a checkmark in there to show this folder.

But, I have about six people that this option is ghosted out???

Everyone was set up exactly the same???

Would appreciate any help.


Thanks

 

[CorpCo]

I'm back...

I opened the "outlook.pst" file and sure enough it made the "Personal Folder" list underneath the "Outlook Today - Mailbox - Username" list. I tried to drag and drop the "Inbox" from the personal folder to the "Inbox" of the mailbox and it said the following:

Cant move the items. Special Folders, including the Inbox, Contacts, Calendar, Notes, Tasks, and Journal Folders cannot be moved.

I tried dragging and dropping the entire "Personal Folder" list too...same thing. Now that we know that's where all her emails went and that I can't drag and drop, what to do?

Perhaps it will let me save it to the desktop and import it or something. You think?

Christy

 

[ShackDaddy]

Don't drag and drop the folders. Drag and drop the messages in them. Open a folder so that it shows the mail, then right-click it and choose the "move to folder" option at the bottom of the list. Then specify the proper folder, and ZING....you mail gets moved to the right place. You will have to do this one folder at a time.

ShackDaddy

 

[CorpCo]

Doh! When something is so simple I always try to find the hard way to do it.

I fixed the problem and the user is now happy that the world is right. Thanks a bunch ShackDaddy!

I sure am glad I found this place. I'm going to post on another forum to see if I can get help with yet another problem.

Have a great day!

Christy