Messages Not Going To InBox

[Chris LeFebvre]

I'm using Outlook 2007 (which I upgraded from Office 2003) which I've
been using for six months. Suddenly the last couple days I noticed that
I didn't seem to have any new messages in my inbox. I logged into my
Comcast email through the web mail interface and saw that I had about
ten messages in my inbox and when I logged out and started Outlook and
send receive finished I still did not have any new messages in my inbox.
I tried logging back into the web mail and all the messages were gone.

I realize that the default pst file format only supports up to a certain
file size, I checked and the current size was 1.4gb. Still, just in
case I created a new pst file with the latest format and copied the
contents of the old file to the new, shut down Outlook and renamed the
files and started Outlook up and hit send / receive and apparently I
still have the same problem.

Does anyone have any idea what could be going on here?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

I'm using Outlook 2007 (which I upgraded from Office 2003) which I've been
using for six months. Suddenly the last couple days I noticed that I didn't
seem to have any new messages in my inbox. I logged into my Comcast email
through the web mail interface and saw that I had about ten messages in my
inbox and when I logged out and started Outlook and send receive finished I
still did not have any new messages in my inbox. I tried logging back into
the web mail and all the messages were gone.

What view are you using? Does your "Unread Mail" search folder show them? Do
you have any rules? Are they in your Junk E-mail folder? Do you scan
incoming messages with an anti-virus or -spam program?

I realize that the default pst file format only supports up to a certain
file size, I checked and the current size was 1.4gb.

A Unicode PST can hold one terabyte, with the default maximum size of 20GB.
Only if you're using an old format ANSI PST are you limited to 2GB.

Still, just in case I created a new pst file with the latest format and
copied the contents of the old file to the new, shut down Outlook and
renamed the files and started Outlook up and hit send / receive and
apparently I still have the same problem.

By doing what you describe, you've probably corrupted your mail profile. You
cannot simply rename PSTs when they're connected with a mail profile.

 

[Chris LeFebvre]

Brian,

I'm using the "Messages" view, same as I have since I upgraded from
2003. The "Unread Mail" search does not show any of the new messages,
however please see the following. I have at least twenty rules to move
messages from various mailing lists (and I have more than one email
account) that I'm subscribed to folders in separate Pst files
specifically created for them, i.e.: Firebird Digests, KDE Digests,
MySql Digests, Netbeans Digests, VNC, etc and some rules to move emails
from my various email accounts to specific folders. They are not in my
Junk E-Mail Folder and I use ESet NOD32 anti-virus but not their
anti-spam enabled version so just the Outlook Junk EMail filters. EMails
that are coming to most of the mailing lists (and my other email
account) do seem to be appearing in their respective folders but there
are no emails more recent than the 20th in my default InBox.

By doing what you describe, you've probably corrupted your mail
profile. You cannot simply rename PSTs when they're connected with a
mail profile.

Seriously, how can Outlook or the profile tell the difference between
one file called outlook.pst and another. If I created a 2nd pst file
(lets say "Personal Folders1.pst" for example) using the latest pst
format (not the 97-2002 format) and created within the new file the
exact same folder structure as the old pst file and copied all the data
from the old file to the new, then closed the new pst file, closed
outlook, renamed the old "outlook.pst" to "outlook.pst.bad" and the new
file from whatever name it was created with to "outlook.pst" how can
Outlook or the profile tell the difference? In the past, on other
computers in different situations I've used this exact technique to
replace corrupt or damaged Pst files that ScanPst couldn't fix with no
negative side effects.

So the problem existed before I did this as well as after and I'm not
getting any error messages it's just that messages being received that
aren't automatically moved to folders in my auxiliary Pst files just
never show up in the InBox of my default Pst file. I've run ScanPst
against the old as well as the new pst file and it does not find any
errors but there are messages that should be in the InBox but are not.

- Chris

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

I use ESet NOD32 anti-virus

If you have it configured to scan mail, uninstall it and reinstall it without
the mail scanner.

Seriously, how can Outlook or the profile tell the difference between
one file called outlook.pst and another.

The mail profile contains very specific information that becomes erroneous
when you swap files. Files are not interchangeable.

If I created a 2nd pst file
(lets say "Personal Folders1.pst" for example) using the latest pst
format (not the 97-2002 format) and created within the new file the
exact same folder structure as the old pst file and copied all the data
from the old file to the new, then closed the new pst file, closed
outlook, renamed the old "outlook.pst" to "outlook.pst.bad" and the new
file from whatever name it was created with to "outlook.pst" how can
Outlook or the profile tell the difference? In the past, on other
computers in different situations I've used this exact technique to
replace corrupt or damaged Pst files that ScanPst couldn't fix with no
negative side effects.

The profile contains more information than just the PST's name. I don't know
enough of Outlook's internals to state exactly why manipulating files in a
profile causes problems, but it does. I've seen the outcome all too often.

So the problem existed before I did this as well as after and I'm not
getting any error messages it's just that messages being received that
aren't automatically moved to folders in my auxiliary Pst files just never
show up in the InBox of my default Pst file. I've run ScanPst against the
old as well as the new pst file and it does not find any errors but there
are messages that should be in the InBox but are not.

Have you tried searching for test you know exists in one of those messages
using, say, WIndows Desktop Search or Advanced FInd in Outlook?

 

[wangdong]

Try to scan your pst file with scanpst.exe. Or you can try a 3rd part
pst-recover tool called Advanced Outlook Repair. You can download a
free demo version at http://www.datanumen.com/aor/aor.exe . I think
it is a useful repair tool for you. It is easy to recover your PST
file by using its wizard. It is a powerful tool to recover messages,
folders and other objects from corrupt or damaged Microsoft Outlook
PST files.

Detailed information about Advanced Outlook Repair can be found at
http://www.datanumen.com/aor/

Wangdong