Archiving is off, auto delete is off; where do my messages go?

[Guest]

Messages from my sent folder keep disappearing, and I can't find them. It
seems to keep only one week's worth of messages before they disapper. Auto
archive and delete have been turned off since I switched from Outlook Express
a few weeks ago, but messages in my sent folder of Outlook 2003 keep
disappearing.

Where do my messages go, and how do I get them back? As far as I can tell,
there is no Archive folder, and I haven't manually deleted any of them. No
one else has access to this computer, and I don't believe in magic or ghosts,
but something is fishy in Outlook.

Ron

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

Do you have a view set to only show you the last seven days? (See View >
Arrange By > Current View)

 

[Guest]

Hi, Neo,

No, it's set to show Messages (the first entry); I assume that means all
messages.

Ron

 

[Guest]

Hello, Neo,

No, the 7-day option is not set; I have Messages (the first option) checked.
I assume that means all. Any other possibilities?

Ron

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

What type of mail account do you have? (POP3/IMAP/Exchange)

Also, when you check the View > Arrange By setting, where you in the Sent
Items folder when you checked it? Reason I ask is that every folder can
have a different view. Or better yet, you can start Outlook with the
/cleanviews command line switch if you don't use any custom views and you
want to rule this scenario out where one of the built-in views have been
accidentally modified.

 

[Guest]

Hello, again,

I have (4) POP3 accounts that I monitor using Outlook 2003, and (1) Hotmail
account.

As far as the setting for the folder is concerned, I was in the Sent Items
folder to confirm the setting for you. 2003 must have installed itself that
way, because don't recall having made any changes in the vie menu.

You'll have to forgive my shortcomings, but where would I set the
/cleanviews switch, in the win.ini file? Of course, will that help me find
what's missing?

Thanks,

Ron

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

* If Outlook is running select File > Exit
* Select Start > Run.
* Type: outlook.exe /cleanviews
* OK button

 

[Guest]

Hi, Neo,

I opened Outlook with the Cleanviews switch, and that did not make any
difference, either. Does this mean that the the sent emails are gone forever?

Ron

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

At this point, I'm wondering if autoarchive is really off. You did turn it
off via Tools > Options > Other tab > Auto Archive button and unchecked to
box at the top about running every XX days.

The other thing you could do is check your hard drive for all *.PST files,
just to make sure that they didn't get moved somewhere you didn't expect.

 

[Guest]

Hi, Neo,

Thanks for your continued help. I again verified that Auto Archive is off.
All of the options on that tab are dimmed, and Auto Archive is unchecked.
That's how I set after the first few items disappeared last week. I'm moving
critical emails to other folders that I created, but it's a pain when it
involves active subjects.

Oddly, I haven't been able to find a PST file. This time, I even checked the
View Hidden Folders and Files option, but even that search indicates that no
*.PST file exist on this computer; is that possible? I'm about to pull my
hair out!

Ron

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

You have to have PST files when working with POP3/Hotmail. The PST files
are generally stored under \documents and settings\<userid>\local
settings\application data\microsoft\outlook.

 

[dvince]

Oddly enough Ronnie-Bird I'm having this exact problem here today.

This morning when the computer was turned on, there were emails dating
back to September 1st in the sent items folder and now 4 hours later,
there are only emails dating back to September 5th, and we haven't
deleted any of them manually. AutoArchiving is turned off and no one
has access to this system.

We are not using exchange, only one POP3 account. We did recently
switch from Outlook Express to Outlook 2003 for more functionality, but
my users are starting to question if this is a feature

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

This just occurred to me. Since you mentioned you have POP3 and Hotmail in
the same profile, what set of folders are items missing out of? (Is it the
PST file for the POP3 accounts or Hotmail.)