Outlook 2003 Forms Cache Problem

[Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]]

We use a custom contacts form published to an organizational forms library
to access contacts in a public folder (Exchange 2003 SP2). One user logs
into his mailbox in Outlook 2003 in the morning and goes to open a contact.
He gets an error "The form you selected could not be displayed. An error
occurred registering the form in the OLE registry," and can only open a
contact using the custom form if he reboots. Restarting Outlook or logging
out and back in will not solve it. (PC is left on overnight for remote
access).

There are about 28 client PCs running XP SP2 and Outlook 2003 SP2, all fully
patched, and this is only happening on one PC. I have done all the
documented fixes for forms cache problems that I can find, including
removing the cached copy of the form, clearing the cache, making sure
Outlook is not running in the background, renaming frmcache.dat and
userclass.dat, and configuring the ForceFormReload registry key. As nearly
as I can tell, there's nothing unusual going on here - there are not
multiple copies of the form cached, it's not one-off, or anything like that.
I can't tell any difference between this user profile and any other, except
that this is the only one where I've had this issue. I have had other forms
cache issues occasionally, but they've always been solved by simply clearing
the cache.

Is there anything else I should be trying to solve this?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

I didn't see two standard troubleshooting techniques on your list:

-- Run Help | Detect and Repair
-- Try a new mail profile

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]]

Will do. Thanks!


I didn't see two standard troubleshooting techniques on your list:

-- Run Help | Detect and Repair
-- Try a new mail profile

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]]

I tried Detect and Repair and a new mail profile, but neither helped. He
still has to reboot every morning in order to get Outlook to display
contacts in the custom form. Is there anything else that can be tried for
this?

Thanks for the assistance.


I didn't see two standard troubleshooting techniques on your list:

-- Run Help | Detect and Repair
-- Try a new mail profile

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

It's an outside shot, but I wonder what would happen if the user had a copy of that form in their own Personal Forms library.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]]

Thanks - that has worked for one day so far (which is one day better than
anything else has worked), so hopefully it's the solution.


It's an outside shot, but I wonder what would happen if the user had a copy
of that form in their own Personal Forms library.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Dave Nickason [SBS MVP]]

Last update on this one in case people are googling, er, finding in MS
Search.

Turns out that adding the form to the personal library only worked for a
day. Then, the error came back, and the user started reporting other issues
that seemed to relate to OLE - sometimes can't copy or paste, for example.
There was a fairly old version of a clipboard utility (Clipmate) installed
on that PC, so we updated it to the current version. No problem with the
Outlook form or clipboard for almost a week. It's been a daily thing until
now, so I'm thinking that fixed it.

This is specific to the error about an error registering the form in the OLE
registry. We've had other forms cache issues, but they were easily fixed
with the conventional steps in the KB.