Outlook 2003 makes me want to go postal at Microsoft!

[Charles]

Here's my story, maybe someone can tell me what I did wrong or if there are
known bugs or something.

I bought Office 2003 to upgrade my older Office XP or whatever it's called.
The install went fine and everything seemed to be working until I noticed
that the option to read news was gone from Internet Explorer. After a while I
found the convoluted way of adding it to Outlook 2003 by customizing the
toolbar and dragging "news" from the "go submenu and all that. When I first
did this I accidentally put news on the main toolbar and I decided I wanted
it under "go" instead. So I went back to "customize" and dragged "news" into
the "go" submenu.

At that point, "news" disappeared. It didn't actually end up in "go", and it
also wasn't available from the customize menus. It still isn't to this day.
So I was totally screwed and couldn't even post on newsgroups to help find a
solution. So, after searching around to no avail, I saw "detect and
repair" under the "help" menu. I selected it, and off it went. It made me
close everything and then it got to an agonizingly slow progress bar. After a
while I decided to just cancel it. Well, after that, when I opened outlook
again, it was like I had never had E-mail before. It asked me for a profile
name and all my mail, addresses, preferences, rules, etc etc were totally
gone. I nearly fell off my chair.

Thankfully, I had a fairly recent mail backup, but it's still fairly
excruciating having to enter all the server info and passwords, mail
filtering rules, spam lists, etc. Plus all my addresses are gone. On top of
all that, I still can't read newsgroups. Well, I can't through any microsoft
product. The option reappeared on the IE menus, but when I select it, nothing
happens. Must be that Outlook express newsreader got blown away too?

This whole thing is totally frustrating. I thought MS would be a little more
careful when it comes to blowing away people's entire E-mail database.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

You should have read the many posts in this group. This is a common problem
that is easily solved. The only real "damage" was from what you did to try
to fix it.

You have lost no data. Detect and Repair (which solves very few problems)
simply created a new Outlook profile. All you need to do is configure your
new profile to use your previous Outlook data file, which still exists on
your hard drive.

You will find the fix for the News command in over a thousand posts in this
group. To get the News command back, go key to the Programs tab in Control
Panel |Internet Options and change the default newsreader to Outlook
Express. If
OE prompts you to make it your default newsreader the next time you launch
it, clear the "Always perform this check..." box and then click the No
button.

 

[Charles]

Thanks for the reply. I did try to surf for a solution, but it's hard to find
distinguishing keywords to get through all the chaff. Shouldn't MS consider
this to be a bug that they seemingly erase your data when you select a menu
item? The data file may be on my computer someplace, but they seem to be
trying as hard as they can to hide it. I think it might be under "documents
and settings" someplace, but the folders are all hidden? I can't see "local
settings" at all. What's the trick?

You should have read the many posts in this group. This is a common problem
that is easily solved. The only real "damage" was from what you did to try
to fix it.

You have lost no data. Detect and Repair (which solves very few problems)
simply created a new Outlook profile. All you need to do is configure your
new profile to use your previous Outlook data file, which still exists on
your hard drive.

You will find the fix for the News command in over a thousand posts in this
group. To get the News command back, go key to the Programs tab in Control
Panel |Internet Options and change the default newsreader to Outlook
Express. If
OE prompts you to make it your default newsreader the next time you launch
it, clear the "Always perform this check..." box and then click the No
button.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Here's my story, maybe someone can tell me what I did wrong or if there
are
known bugs or something.

I bought Office 2003 to upgrade my older Office XP or whatever it's
called.
The install went fine and everything seemed to be working until I noticed
that the option to read news was gone from Internet Explorer. After a
while I
found the convoluted way of adding it to Outlook 2003 by customizing the
toolbar and dragging "news" from the "go submenu and all that. When I
first
did this I accidentally put news on the main toolbar and I decided I
wanted
it under "go" instead. So I went back to "customize" and dragged "news"
into
the "go" submenu.

At that point, "news" disappeared. It didn't actually end up in "go", and
it
also wasn't available from the customize menus. It still isn't to this
day.
So I was totally screwed and couldn't even post on newsgroups to help find
a
solution. So, after searching around to no avail, I saw "detect and
repair" under the "help" menu. I selected it, and off it went. It made me
close everything and then it got to an agonizingly slow progress bar.
After a
while I decided to just cancel it. Well, after that, when I opened outlook
again, it was like I had never had E-mail before. It asked me for a
profile
name and all my mail, addresses, preferences, rules, etc etc were totally
gone. I nearly fell off my chair.

Thankfully, I had a fairly recent mail backup, but it's still fairly
excruciating having to enter all the server info and passwords, mail
filtering rules, spam lists, etc. Plus all my addresses are gone. On top
of
all that, I still can't read newsgroups. Well, I can't through any
microsoft
product. The option reappeared on the IE menus, but when I select it,
nothing
happens. Must be that Outlook express newsreader got blown away too?

This whole thing is totally frustrating. I thought MS would be a little
more
careful when it comes to blowing away people's entire E-mail database.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Hardly a bug. Your data was not erased. You ran Detect and Repair without
realizing you would get a new profile. PST files are hidden, in part to
protect users from erasing their data.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Thanks for the reply. I did try to surf for a solution, but it's hard to
find
distinguishing keywords to get through all the chaff. Shouldn't MS
consider
this to be a bug that they seemingly erase your data when you select a
menu
item? The data file may be on my computer someplace, but they seem to be
trying as hard as they can to hide it. I think it might be under
"documents
and settings" someplace, but the folders are all hidden? I can't see
"local
settings" at all. What's the trick?

You should have read the many posts in this group. This is a common
problem
that is easily solved. The only real "damage" was from what you did to try
to fix it.

You have lost no data. Detect and Repair (which solves very few problems)
simply created a new Outlook profile. All you need to do is configure your
new profile to use your previous Outlook data file, which still exists on
your hard drive.

You will find the fix for the News command in over a thousand posts in
this
group. To get the News command back, go key to the Programs tab in Control
Panel |Internet Options and change the default newsreader to Outlook
Express. If
OE prompts you to make it your default newsreader the next time you launch
it, clear the "Always perform this check..." box and then click the No
button.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Here's my story, maybe someone can tell me what I did wrong or if there
are
known bugs or something.

I bought Office 2003 to upgrade my older Office XP or whatever it's
called.
The install went fine and everything seemed to be working until I
noticed
that the option to read news was gone from Internet Explorer. After a
while I
found the convoluted way of adding it to Outlook 2003 by customizing the
toolbar and dragging "news" from the "go submenu and all that. When I
first
did this I accidentally put news on the main toolbar and I decided I
wanted
it under "go" instead. So I went back to "customize" and dragged "news"
into
the "go" submenu.

At that point, "news" disappeared. It didn't actually end up in "go",
and
it
also wasn't available from the customize menus. It still isn't to this
day.
So I was totally screwed and couldn't even post on newsgroups to help
find
a
solution. So, after searching around to no avail, I saw "detect and
repair" under the "help" menu. I selected it, and off it went. It made
me
close everything and then it got to an agonizingly slow progress bar.
After a
while I decided to just cancel it. Well, after that, when I opened
outlook
again, it was like I had never had E-mail before. It asked me for a
profile
name and all my mail, addresses, preferences, rules, etc etc were
totally
gone. I nearly fell off my chair.

Thankfully, I had a fairly recent mail backup, but it's still fairly
excruciating having to enter all the server info and passwords, mail
filtering rules, spam lists, etc. Plus all my addresses are gone. On top
of
all that, I still can't read newsgroups. Well, I can't through any
microsoft
product. The option reappeared on the IE menus, but when I select it,
nothing
happens. Must be that Outlook express newsreader got blown away too?

This whole thing is totally frustrating. I thought MS would be a little
more
careful when it comes to blowing away people's entire E-mail database.

 

[Charles]

You're kidding, right? "Detect and repair" hardly implies "take all your data
and move it to a hidden location, then completely reset the program". Moving
data to a hidden location is approximately the same as erasing it. Actually,
one could argue that most actual file deletions are simply movement of data
to hidden locations, since they can be recovered.

I think it's a bug. If they have some reason for doing this, they ought to at
least warn you, "Hey, you are about to move all your data to a hidden
location, and you will quite possibly never see it again. Are you sure you
want to continue?".

Hardly a bug. Your data was not erased. You ran Detect and Repair without
realizing you would get a new profile. PST files are hidden, in part to
protect users from erasing their data.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Thanks for the reply. I did try to surf for a solution, but it's hard to
find
distinguishing keywords to get through all the chaff. Shouldn't MS
consider
this to be a bug that they seemingly erase your data when you select a
menu
item? The data file may be on my computer someplace, but they seem to be
trying as hard as they can to hide it. I think it might be under
"documents
and settings" someplace, but the folders are all hidden? I can't see
"local
settings" at all. What's the trick?

You should have read the many posts in this group. This is a common
problem
that is easily solved. The only real "damage" was from what you did to try
to fix it.

You have lost no data. Detect and Repair (which solves very few problems)
simply created a new Outlook profile. All you need to do is configure your
new profile to use your previous Outlook data file, which still exists on
your hard drive.

You will find the fix for the News command in over a thousand posts in
this
group. To get the News command back, go key to the Programs tab in Control
Panel |Internet Options and change the default newsreader to Outlook
Express. If
OE prompts you to make it your default newsreader the next time you launch
it, clear the "Always perform this check..." box and then click the No
button.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Here's my story, maybe someone can tell me what I did wrong or if there
are
known bugs or something.

I bought Office 2003 to upgrade my older Office XP or whatever it's
called.
The install went fine and everything seemed to be working until I
noticed
that the option to read news was gone from Internet Explorer. After a
while I
found the convoluted way of adding it to Outlook 2003 by customizing the
toolbar and dragging "news" from the "go submenu and all that. When I
first
did this I accidentally put news on the main toolbar and I decided I
wanted
it under "go" instead. So I went back to "customize" and dragged "news"
into
the "go" submenu.

At that point, "news" disappeared. It didn't actually end up in "go",
and
it
also wasn't available from the customize menus. It still isn't to this
day.
So I was totally screwed and couldn't even post on newsgroups to help
find
a
solution. So, after searching around to no avail, I saw "detect and
repair" under the "help" menu. I selected it, and off it went. It made
me
close everything and then it got to an agonizingly slow progress bar.
After a
while I decided to just cancel it. Well, after that, when I opened
outlook
again, it was like I had never had E-mail before. It asked me for a
profile
name and all my mail, addresses, preferences, rules, etc etc were
totally
gone. I nearly fell off my chair.

Thankfully, I had a fairly recent mail backup, but it's still fairly
excruciating having to enter all the server info and passwords, mail
filtering rules, spam lists, etc. Plus all my addresses are gone. On top
of
all that, I still can't read newsgroups. Well, I can't through any
microsoft
product. The option reappeared on the IE menus, but when I select it,
nothing
happens. Must be that Outlook express newsreader got blown away too?

This whole thing is totally frustrating. I thought MS would be a little
more
careful when it comes to blowing away people's entire E-mail database.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Thanks for the reply. I did try to surf for a solution, but it's hard
to find distinguishing keywords to get through all the chaff.

A search string of "missing news button" would have worked.

Shouldn't MS consider this to be a bug that they seemingly erase your
data when you select a menu item? The data file may be on my computer
someplace, but they seem to be trying as hard as they can to hide it.
I think it might be under "documents and settings" someplace, but the
folders are all hidden? I can't see "local settings" at all. What's
the trick?

C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings (%UserProfile%\Local
Settings), C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Application
Data (%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data), and C:\Documents and
Settings\Username\Application Data (%AppData%) are three of the usually
hidden folders. You can see them by enabling the "Show hidden files and
folders" option in Folder Options>View on the Windows Explorer Tools menu or
you can simply enter

%UserProfile%\Local Settings

%UserProfile%\Local Settings\Application Data

or

%AppData%

in the Explorer address bar to be able to browse those folders withou
changing anything.

 

[Brian Tillman]

You're kidding, right? "Detect and repair" hardly implies "take all
your data and move it to a hidden location, then completely reset the
program".

None of your data was moved anywhere. It was in the hidden folder from the
very beginning.

Moving data to a hidden location is approximately the same
as erasing it. Actually, one could argue that most actual file
deletions are simply movement of data to hidden locations, since they
can be recovered.
Hardly.

I think it's a bug. If they have some reason for doing this, they
ought to at least warn you, "Hey, you are about to move all your data
to a hidden location, and you will quite possibly never see it again.
Are you sure you want to continue?".

Again, no data was moved anywhere.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Not a bug at all. FWIW, I've never seen anyone who has run into this
problem. It pays to research what you're doing. Detect and Repair was in no
way a solution for this problem. Just clicking on Detect and Repair without
realizing what it does and that a new profile might be one of the repair
procedures is what caused your trouble.
This was a well documented problem with a very simple solution.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

You're kidding, right? "Detect and repair" hardly implies "take all your
data
and move it to a hidden location, then completely reset the program".
Moving
data to a hidden location is approximately the same as erasing it.
Actually,
one could argue that most actual file deletions are simply movement of
data
to hidden locations, since they can be recovered.

I think it's a bug. If they have some reason for doing this, they ought to
at
least warn you, "Hey, you are about to move all your data to a hidden
location, and you will quite possibly never see it again. Are you sure you
want to continue?".

Hardly a bug. Your data was not erased. You ran Detect and Repair without
realizing you would get a new profile. PST files are hidden, in part to
protect users from erasing their data.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Thanks for the reply. I did try to surf for a solution, but it's hard to
find
distinguishing keywords to get through all the chaff. Shouldn't MS
consider
this to be a bug that they seemingly erase your data when you select a
menu
item? The data file may be on my computer someplace, but they seem to be
trying as hard as they can to hide it. I think it might be under
"documents
and settings" someplace, but the folders are all hidden? I can't see
"local
settings" at all. What's the trick?

On 4/19/2005 8:37:32 PM, "Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:
You should have read the many posts in this group. This is a common
problem
that is easily solved. The only real "damage" was from what you did to
try
to fix it.

You have lost no data. Detect and Repair (which solves very few
problems)
simply created a new Outlook profile. All you need to do is configure
your
new profile to use your previous Outlook data file, which still exists
on
your hard drive.

You will find the fix for the News command in over a thousand posts in
this
group. To get the News command back, go key to the Programs tab in
Control
Panel |Internet Options and change the default newsreader to Outlook
Express. If
OE prompts you to make it your default newsreader the next time you
launch
it, clear the "Always perform this check..." box and then click the No
button.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Here's my story, maybe someone can tell me what I did wrong or if
there
are
known bugs or something.

I bought Office 2003 to upgrade my older Office XP or whatever it's
called.
The install went fine and everything seemed to be working until I
noticed
that the option to read news was gone from Internet Explorer. After a
while I
found the convoluted way of adding it to Outlook 2003 by customizing
the
toolbar and dragging "news" from the "go submenu and all that. When I
first
did this I accidentally put news on the main toolbar and I decided I
wanted
it under "go" instead. So I went back to "customize" and dragged
"news"
into
the "go" submenu.

At that point, "news" disappeared. It didn't actually end up in "go",
and
it
also wasn't available from the customize menus. It still isn't to this
day.
So I was totally screwed and couldn't even post on newsgroups to help
find
a
solution. So, after searching around to no avail, I saw "detect and
repair" under the "help" menu. I selected it, and off it went. It made
me
close everything and then it got to an agonizingly slow progress bar.
After a
while I decided to just cancel it. Well, after that, when I opened
outlook
again, it was like I had never had E-mail before. It asked me for a
profile
name and all my mail, addresses, preferences, rules, etc etc were
totally
gone. I nearly fell off my chair.

Thankfully, I had a fairly recent mail backup, but it's still fairly
excruciating having to enter all the server info and passwords, mail
filtering rules, spam lists, etc. Plus all my addresses are gone. On
top
of
all that, I still can't read newsgroups. Well, I can't through any
microsoft
product. The option reappeared on the IE menus, but when I select it,
nothing
happens. Must be that Outlook express newsreader got blown away too?

This whole thing is totally frustrating. I thought MS would be a
little
more
careful when it comes to blowing away people's entire E-mail database.

 

[Charles]

Thanks for the help, and I mean no offense, but you guys are kind of off in
your own software expert world. Most people who use this program are not
Windows hackers. I'm really no slouch as this kind of thing goes, but I don't
expect major catastrophic changes without at least some warning. If I'm
developing software for MS, I'd really make sure that no first tier commands,
especially under the help menu, have an effect like this. For some reason, MS
went out of their way to hide the data files. Given that, they should be
careful before suddenly switching to a new data file without warning. 99.9%
of users of Outlook have no idea where the data files are, so if they start
using a new one, the old one, practically speaking, is gone.

I used to use repair on IE all the time. It didn't blow away my profiles or
my favorites.

Regarding the notion that the news problem is "well documented", please give
me a Google query that would have shown the solution. I couldn't find
anything. I'm not trying to be sarcastic, it's just that I tried and found
nothing.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Thanks for the help, and I mean no offense, but you guys are kind of
off in your own software expert world. Most people who use this
program are not Windows hackers. I'm really no slouch as this kind of
thing goes, but I don't expect major catastrophic changes without at
least some warning.

I've run Detect and Repair many times and have never lost my profile.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Regarding the notion that the news problem is "well documented",
please give me a Google query that would have shown the solution. I
couldn't find anything. I'm not trying to be sarcastic, it's just
that I tried and found nothing.

I told you what string to use.
http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?q=group:microsoft.public.outlook.*++missing++news++button

 

[Charles]

I've run Detect and Repair many times and have never lost my profile.

Okay, so what happened to me is bug-like behavior then, no?

 

[Brian Tillman]

Okay, so what happened to me is bug-like behavior then, no?

It's hard to say because we don't know exactly what you did and what you had
before you did it. It could be a side effect of the way you changed things
or perhaps you enter a different choice than I at some point in the process.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Probably not a bug. I imagine it would certainly seem so to you because what
happened was not what you expected to happen. But what happened was not
incorrect or unintended, and the program is behaving as designed. Under the
right set of circumstances Detect and Repair might create a new profile (if
your profile was corrupt beyond repair, for example, by your having done an
in place upgrade of Outlook). In that case you would have a new empty PST
file in this new profile. But your old data is still where it always was and
there is plenty of documentation on how to configure a new profile to use
your old data.

Outlook is extremely finicky about its connections to its data files, and it
is very easy to disrupt that connection. But it is also very easy to restore
it and your data is always safe. Were that not the case I would consider it
a bug. Going "postal at Microsoft" won't help. Becoming more familiar with
Detect and Repair and with Outlook data migration will. So will looking for
the correct solution to a problem. The good news is that this information is
readily available and it's pretty easy to recover from any missteps. We can
help.