Inbox view shows Sender in From field for every message (Outlook 2003)

[it]

I seem to be having some problems with Outlook 2003 on one of my
client's workstations. If anyone can help resolve this situaton I
would be very grateful!

Something has been altered in the view configuration so that when you
look at the list of messages in the Inbox in Outlook, each and every
message shows the user's (the Recipient) name where normally you would
see the sender's details! So for example if the user's name is John
Doe, and Bob Smith sends him an email message, the message shows in
the Inbox as having come from John Doe.

The reading pane is activated on the right, and shows the correct
details for the sender of the message (in the example cited above it
would show as being from Bob Smith).

If the user logs on to another computer on the domain then Outlook
displays the Inbox in the correct and proper fashion. So this leads us
to the conclusion that something has been changed in the settings of
the user's own installation of Outlook.

I have checked my own Outlook 2003 view settings against the user's
settings but cannot seem to find a resolution at this time. Right-
click on the Inbox headers and the view is set to show Date and Show
in Groups and then if you go to Custom and Sort, it is set to Received
(Descending).

Help?!

TIA

Simon

 

[K. Orland]

Could be a toolbar corruption issue. Close outlook and rename the outcmd.dat
file. Then open Outlook again. This will of course reset all toolbars to
default, any customizations will be lost.

The outcmd.dat file is in a hidden folder, you have to be viewing hidden
files and folders in order to find it.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Something has been altered in the view configuration so that when you
look at the list of messages in the Inbox in Outlook, each and every
message shows the user's (the Recipient) name where normally you would
see the sender's details! So for example if the user's name is John
Doe, and Bob Smith sends him an email message, the message shows in
the Inbox as having come from John Doe.

Reset the view to its default. View>Arrange By>Current View>Customize
Curent View>Reset Current View

 

[it]

Thank you both, for your prompt replies!

Unfortunately, I have tried both of these suggestions and it has not
worked to resolve the issue. I found the outcmd.dat file in the user's
hidden Application Data folder (Documents and Settings > Application
Data > Microsoft > Outlook), renamed this but no joy, even after
rebooting the machine.

I suppose I could run a Detect & Repair on Outlook?

 

[Brian Tillman]

Unfortunately, I have tried both of these suggestions and it has not
worked to resolve the issue. I

Start Outlook once with the /cleanviews command switch.

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Please welcome one of our newest Outlook MVPs, Kathleen Orland.

Glad to see you here and welcome to the flock.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, K. Orland asked:

| Could be a toolbar corruption issue. Close outlook and rename the
| outcmd.dat file. Then open Outlook again. This will of course reset
| all toolbars to default, any customizations will be lost.
|
| The outcmd.dat file is in a hidden folder, you have to be viewing
| hidden files and folders in order to find it.
|
|
|| I seem to be having some problems with Outlook 2003 on one of my
|| client's workstations. If anyone can help resolve this situaton I
|| would be very grateful!
||
|| Something has been altered in the view configuration so that when you
|| look at the list of messages in the Inbox in Outlook, each and every
|| message shows the user's (the Recipient) name where normally you
|| would see the sender's details! So for example if the user's name is
|| John Doe, and Bob Smith sends him an email message, the message
|| shows in the Inbox as having come from John Doe.
||
|| The reading pane is activated on the right, and shows the correct
|| details for the sender of the message (in the example cited above it
|| would show as being from Bob Smith).
||
|| If the user logs on to another computer on the domain then Outlook
|| displays the Inbox in the correct and proper fashion. So this leads
|| us to the conclusion that something has been changed in the settings
|| of the user's own installation of Outlook.
||
|| I have checked my own Outlook 2003 view settings against the user's
|| settings but cannot seem to find a resolution at this time. Right-
|| click on the Inbox headers and the view is set to show Date and Show
|| in Groups and then if you go to Custom and Sort, it is set to
|| Received (Descending).
||
|| Help?!
||
|| TIA
||
|| Simon

 

[it]

You know I thought I had posted a reply to this thread about a
fortnight ago but it appears I didn't add it in after all!

I found a resolution to the problem, more by luck than judgement, but
here is what had happened:

In Outlook 2003, if you go to View > Arrange By > Current View, there
are several different options on how the messages are displayed.
Somehow, the user had managed to select "Sent To" in this list and so
every email message showed with her name instead of who it was From.
Because this particular user had received no emails that had been sent
to multiple recipients, it was not immediately obvious what had
happened!

To fix the problem, the Current View must be set to "Messages" and not
"Sent To". D'oh!

Thank you all for your help in this matter.

Simon