Archive Errors

[lakeboy]

My wifes Outlook has so may emails in the deleted folder (2650) that it wont
allow her to delete any new emails from her inbox without permanantly
deleting them.

I went to Mailbox Clean Up, then Auto Archive to move mail from her deleted
folder to Archive. It starts to do it, then gives me the message: "Errors
occurred while archiving. Look for a detailed report in your Deleted Items
Folder".

I was unable to locate any report or document there telling me what to do.

Can you please tell me step by step how to fix this...bear in mind, I'm a
rookie.

Thanks...

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

My wifes Outlook has so may emails in the deleted folder (2650) that it wont
allow her to delete any new emails from her inbox without permanantly
deleting them.

So, empty the Deleted Items folder. It should nevber be used to store items
you want to keep.

I went to Mailbox Clean Up, then Auto Archive to move mail from her deleted
folder to Archive. It starts to do it, then gives me the message: "Errors
occurred while archiving. Look for a detailed report in your Deleted Items
Folder".

Why are you archiving Deleted Items?

 

[lakeboy]

In case she needs info from them in the future. Is that wrong or silly?

 

[Bob I]

Then deleting them in the first place is. You wouldn't store stuff in
the garbage pail you might need in the future would you?

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

In case she needs info from them in the future. Is that wrong or silly?

Absolutely wrong and silly both. Never delete something you want to keep. If
she wants to keep it, she should either leave it in its existing folder or she
should create others to which she can move items she doesn't want in Inbox but
wishes to keep.

 

[lakeboy]

I had thought Archiving was a more "long term" storage area for mail that you
thought you wouldnt need, but put in storage incase you ever do.

But OK, I got it...silly and wrong to do that. With that said, what do you
suggest I do so that she has the ability to the base problem of her inability
to delete email from her inbox?

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

I had thought Archiving was a more "long term" storage area for mail that you
thought you wouldnt need, but put in storage incase you ever do.

Yes, archiving is that. I don't see what it has to do with storing things in
Deleted Items, though. They're unrelated.

But OK, I got it...silly and wrong to do that. With that said, what do you
suggest I do so that she has the ability to the base problem of her
inability
to delete email from her inbox?

What version of Outlook? You never say and it can make a difference. Always
state your Outlook version when asking a question. Often, stating the account
type is a good idea as well.

Have her locate items she knows she doesn't need to keep (Sent Items is a good
place to look, as is Deleted Items), select them with Click/Ctrl-Click or
Shift-Click to select multiple items (like any Windows application allows you
to select multiple items), then hold Shift while pressing or clicking Delete.
This permanently deletes the items, bypassing Deleted Items. Do this in both
her default folders and he Archive folders. Once she has done this, have her
compact each of the folder sets, the "Outlook Today" or "Personal Folders" set
and the "Archive" set, by right-clicking the root, selecting Properties,
clicking Advanced, then Compact Now. Once the file has been compacted, the
folders should work properly again.

Based on your symptom description, I'd wager she's using an ANSI format PST
with a maximum size of 2GB for the Archive PST and it is approaching the
maximum size. That may also be true of the default PST. I'd close Outlook
and rename the existing Archive PST to something else, like "Archive
2009-09-01.pst" and then restart Outlook, performing another AutoArchive to
cause Outlook to create a new Archive PST that is small and had room to grow.