Empty Deleted Items Folder Problems

[msmolly]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel
Email Client: Exchange

I have two problems with deleted items. The first is that I can delete an inbox item using Entourage on my home Mac, and when I get to the office the deleted items are still in my inbox as unread. Our e-mail folks cannot seem to duplicate the problem, and as nearly as I can tell, both home and office clients are set up exactly the same way.

The second is that I have a schedule set to empty the Deleted Items folder on quit. Not only does it not empty the folder on quit, but when I run the schedule manually (Tools menu, "run schedule") it does not empty the folder. I can, however, manually empty the folder (right click, "empty deleted items").

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

I have two problems with deleted items. The first is that I can
delete an inbox item using Entourage on my home Mac, and when I get
to the office the deleted items are still in my inbox as unread. Our
e-mail folks cannot seem to duplicate the problem, and as nearly as I
can tell, both home and office clients are set up exactly the same
way.

Are you allowing time for the changes to sync back to the server? That
will usually take at least a minute.

The second is that I have a schedule set to empty the Deleted Items
folder on quit. Not only does it not empty the folder on quit, but
when I run the schedule manually (Tools menu, "run schedule") it does
not empty the folder. I can, however, manually empty the folder
(right click, "empty deleted items").

Edit your schedule again. Reselect the Deleted Items folder for your
Exchange account.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>

 

[msmolly]

(Funny, my son-in-law is William Smith...)

Yes, there is plenty of sync time....sometimes at least an hour.

But I've just discovered that I have a "Deleted Items" folder listed under "On My Computer" and another under "Exchange" - I have a suspicion that this is part of the problem, but I have no idea how to delete the ones "On My Computer" which have no content at all. I should probably post another question about deleting the extra duplicate folders.

 

[Adam Bailey]

Yes, there is plenty of sync time....sometimes at least an hour.

Can you force a refresh on the Deleted Items folder? Control-click it and
choose Synchronize Now.

But I've just discovered that I have a "Deleted Items" folder listed under
"On My Computer" and another under "Exchange" - I have a suspicion that
this is part of the problem, but I have no idea how to delete the ones "On
My Computer" which have no content at all. I should probably post another
question about deleting the extra duplicate folders.

No, this will not cause you any problems, and the On My Computer default
folders cannot be deleted. If you're not using them, just close the triangle
next to On My Computer to reduce it to one line.

 

[msmolly]

Can you force a refresh on the Deleted Items folder? Control-click it and

choose Synchronize Now.

Yes, that works, after a "timed" delay of about 3 minutes counted down on the bar at the bottom of the window. I can also immediately delete the contents of the folder with a control-click "Empty Deleted Items."

But the messages I move to Deleted Items on my home Mac are still in my inbox when I get to work, and our tech folks cannot seem to duplicate the problem. I had thought it might have something to do with the extra Deleted Items folder under "On My Computer" but you say it doesn't.

We are preparing to roll out Exchange for faculty and staff at my university, and with the implementation of Exchange Calendars will come a recommendation for Mac users to switch to Entourage, so I am trying to anticipate unusual situations non-technical end users might encounter so we can document them or fix them.

 

[Adam Bailey]

Yes, that works, after a "timed" delay of about 3 minutes counted down on
the bar at the bottom of the window.

It shouldn't take three minutes. How many items are in the Deleted Items
folder? What kind of connection do you have to the Internet? What server
settings are you using - a direct connection or a OWA URL?

But the messages I move to Deleted Items on my home Mac are still in my
inbox when I get to work, and our tech folks cannot seem to duplicate the
problem. I had thought it might have something to do with the extra
Deleted Items folder under "On My Computer" but you say it doesn't.

We are preparing to roll out Exchange for faculty and staff at my
university, and with the implementation of Exchange Calendars will come a
recommendation for Mac users to switch to Entourage, so I am trying to
anticipate unusual situations non-technical end users might encounter so
we can document them or fix them.

I would consider your problems to be atypical.

Try creating a new Identity (Entourage (menu) > Switch Identity) and re-add
your Exchange account there. Do you have the same problem?

If you are an administrator at your University, try creating a new user
account, populate it with a handful of messages, and see if you have the
problem there too.

 

[msmolly]

It shouldn't take three minutes. How many items are in the Deleted Items

folder? What kind of connection do you have to the Internet? What server
settings are you using - a direct connection or a OWA URL?

I am using an OWA URL. The Deleted Items folder contains only a few messages, because I've been testing and deleting.

Re-selecting the Deleted Items folder in my Schedules seems to have fixed the Delete On Quit problem.

I would consider your problems to be atypical.

Try creating a new Identity (Entourage (menu) > Switch Identity) and re-add
your Exchange account there. Do you have the same problem?

If you are an administrator at your University, try creating a new user
account, populate it with a handful of messages, and see if you have the
problem there too.

I cannot test the problem with deleting at home until tonight/tomorrow. Perhaps resetting the schedules on that instance of the client will solve that problem, too. Or perhaps a separate identity will help with troubleshooting. If not, I will post that again as a separate issue.

I am not an administrator, but since I work in the IT organization, I probably could get set up with a new user account if all else fails.

Thanks for your help. I assumed the problems were interrelated, but perhaps they're not.

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

I am using an OWA URL. The Deleted Items folder contains only a few
messages, because I've been testing and deleting.

Are you trying to use that OWA address internal to your network? I
always suggest connecting to a back-end server address while on the same
network as the Exchange Server. Performance should be much more reliable.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>

 

[msmolly]

Are you trying to use that OWA address internal to your network? I

always suggest connecting to a back-end server address while on the same
network as the Exchange Server. Performance should be much more reliable.

I'm not sure. The Exchange server address is (disguised for obvious reasons):
<https://owa.university.edu/exchange/[email protected]>

This is the address construct we are instructing people to use to get e-mail from Exchange.

 

[msmolly]

I brought my home laptop to work this morning and have been testing side-by-side, and have observed the following:

1. With Entourage "off" on my work laptop, I move messages on the home laptop to the trash (Deleted Items). I have scheduled "Empty Deleted Items" upon quit. I quit Entourage on the home laptop.

2. I launch Entourage on the work laptop (after waiting a few minutes). The messages I deleted on the home laptop are still in the Deleted Items folder on the work laptop.

3. I launch Entourage again on the home laptop. The Deleted Items folder appears empty when it comes up. But after Entourage completes "updating" all folders, suddenly the messages disappear on the work laptop and the Deleted Items folder is empty.

Other actions I take on the home laptop (like moving messages to other folders) also does not occur on the work laptop *until I've quit and re-launched Entourage* on the home laptop.

So somehow the initial "delete" and other actions aren't getting through to the Exchange server.

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

So somehow the initial "delete" and other actions aren't getting
through to the Exchange server.

If you've followed Adam's earlier instructions for testing and you're
still having the same issue under a new identity then the problem is not
with Entourage but with your account on the server.

You should probably contact your Exchange administrator and ask that he
provide you a new account.

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>