Corrupted Custom Views in Public Folder

[Michael]

Could someone, please, shed light on the following issue?



Environment: W2k Professional, Exchange 2000, Outlook 2000



Problem: When switching to a public folder (only this particular public
folder - other public folders are fine) I get the error message: "Unable to
display the folder." and am unable to see any items in this folder.



Findings: I believe the hidden item(s) that define custom views in the
folder became corrupted. I can open "View / Current View / Define Views.",
as another user, and review settings of all custom views but three of them.
Selecting (in View / Current View / Define Views.) one of these three
corrupt views terminates Outlook. Selecting means simply changing the focus
to these views without even trying to view their settings.



Questions:

1) Is it possible to programmatically (or by others means) delete
certain views from a public folder? Can I delete just these three "bad"
views? Please remember that I cannot delete them using GUI since selecting
them immediately terminates Outlook.

2) Is it possible to programmatically (or by others means) delete all
views in just one public folder? Could I then recreate custom views in this
folder?



Thank you for your help,



Michael

 

[Michael]

Replying to myself...



Outlook has a Command-Line Switch that allows for restoration of default
views. Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 197180 - defines it as:



/CleanViews Restores default views.



The follow up question is:



Will this command-line switch restore default views just in my mailbox
folders or attempt to restore default views in public folders as well? What
about public folders that I do not have access rights to?



Could anyone help?



Thanks!



Michael

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Very interesting question! I ran a test and, yes, /cleanviews removed a
custom view that I had created on a public folder "on this folder visible to
everyone." It did not remove custom views on folders where I was not the
owner.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

I would use Outlook Spy (http://www.dimastr.com/) or Mdbvu32.exe to remove
each hidden <view name> IPM.Microsoft.FolderDesign.NamedView item from the
folder.

 

[Michael]

Sue,



Thank you very much for running the test. I do not have a test environment
and was afraid to try it out due to a large number of public folders and
views defined in them.



I will set up a new Windows 2000 user, create a new mailbox, restrict user's
access to the "corrupt" public folder, give the user ownership of this
folder, and let the /CleanViews option remove the corrupt views. I should
then be able to recreate custom views just in this folder.



This should take care of my issue. I was hoping for Microsoft Outlook
developers watching this group to confirm the approach.



Thank you again for your time!



Michael