Can't delete message from folder Inbox

  • Thread starter Thread starter Alezito [MS MVP]
  • Start date Start date
This happened to me today - I tried everything (including "mark as read",
which didn't work). Finally, I highlighted all of the junk email links, then
right-clicked on the "junk email" icon at the left menu, and selected: "Empty
Junk Email Folder." It only deleted the mails one at a time, so I kept
having to do that with each one - but it worked! -
 
I'm severely frustrated right now. I've spent three hours on the phone today
with Dell and Microsoft as they argued over who should fix my email issues -
the same ones detailed here. No one can come up with anything except that i
should pay $70 to have someone 'diagnose" the problem. I just bought the
computer two months ago, so forget that.

My Outbox has a stuck message also ... I tried changing the message store,
but it doesn't seem to work. I can't delete the stinking email, which is
backing up all my other emails. Dell can't fix it, Microsoft can't fix it,
my ISP can't fix it. So i ask you, WHAT DO I DO NOW? I'm not exactly a
computer whiz, but i can hold my own. But on this, I'm way over my head.

So far, I'm NOT a Vista fan. I'm really rethinking my decision not to buy a
Mac. I just wonder - with all of these posts, not to mention the thousands
of people who don't even know this community exists, why the heck isn't there
a patch?

Seems like a simple solution ...
 
Kathrine said:
I'm severely frustrated right now. I've spent three hours on the phone
today
with Dell and Microsoft as they argued over who should fix my email
issues -
the same ones detailed here. No one can come up with anything except that
i
should pay $70 to have someone 'diagnose" the problem. I just bought the
computer two months ago, so forget that.

My Outbox has a stuck message also ... I tried changing the message store,
but it doesn't seem to work. I can't delete the stinking email, which is
backing up all my other emails. Dell can't fix it, Microsoft can't fix
it,
my ISP can't fix it. So i ask you, WHAT DO I DO NOW? I'm not exactly a
computer whiz, but i can hold my own. But on this, I'm way over my head.

So far, I'm NOT a Vista fan. I'm really rethinking my decision not to buy
a
Mac. I just wonder - with all of these posts, not to mention the
thousands
of people who don't even know this community exists, why the heck isn't
there
a patch?
Click to expand...

I don't think you'll see a fix from Microsoft any time soon. My current
theory, and it's only a theory, is that an anti-virus is causing the problem
by deleting messages as they are saved to the hard drive even though email
scanning is turned off.

Have you tried marking the message as read and then deleting it? That's
what I've been doing and so far it has always worked. Other things:

Try repairing the database with WMUtil from www.oehelp.com

There are two copies of WindowsMail.MSMessageStore, One in
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Microsoft\Windows Mail
and one in
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Microsoft\Windows Mail\Backup\New
If you delete both of these the database will be rebuilt. However, while no
messages should be lost, some may be downloaded again and you may lose some
record of which have been read. I recommend that you only do this when they
are causing you trouble, like when they are in the Outbox. Otherwise I now
just mark them as read and ignore them.

If none of those fixes work for you or you're afraid to try them, use a
different program like Thunderbird, which is free.
 
Have read all below and still confused/annoyed/frustrated. I have a single
message in my Outbox that I cannot delete and as a consequence I can send no
emails. I have only had Vista for 3 days & can no longer communicate wth the
outside world! Is this a problem with Vista or with Outlook? None of your
suggestons work and I cannot just ignore it as I cannt send emails. How do I
get round it without wiping my whole drive -I am not willing to do this as it
sounds like this is just going to re-occur continuously. Is the only solution
to dump Vista and go back to good old XP? If so how do I go about getting a
refund?

Peter Goodchild
 
This is the latest we can come up with. The issue is a bug in Windows Mail.

First thing is to remove McAfee or Norton AV and antispam from the computer
if they exist. You may need to visit their website to fully uninstall the
product (for Norton see here:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039.
Then get something less invasive. There are a number of free
antivirus programs, but with any you have to disable email scanning. See
www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

You can also try compacting and repairing the database using my WMUtil
program (www.oehelp.com/WMUtil/).

After that, the only solution so far is to wipe out the database. So go to
Tools | Options | Advanced | Maintenance | Store Folder to find the message
store location. Then move everything under that Windows Mail directory to
another directory, so that the Windows Mail directory is completely empty.
Then restart WinMail and it will open fresh with nothing
in the database. You can then add your accounts and if they work correctly
then you can use File | Import | Messages and choose WinMail format and
point to the directory to which you moved the files.

steve
 
Peter G said:
Have read all below and still confused/annoyed/frustrated. I have a single
message in my Outbox that I cannot delete and as a consequence I can send
no
emails. I have only had Vista for 3 days & can no longer communicate wth
the
outside world! Is this a problem with Vista or with Outlook? None of your
suggestons work and I cannot just ignore it as I cannt send emails. How do
I
get round it without wiping my whole drive -I am not willing to do this as
it
sounds like this is just going to re-occur continuously. Is the only
solution
to dump Vista and go back to good old XP? If so how do I go about getting
a
refund?
Click to expand...


Try repairing the database with WMUtil from www.oehelp.com

There are two copies of WindowsMail.MSMessageStore, One in
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Microsoft\Windows Mail
and one in
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Microsoft\Windows Mail\Backup\New
If you delete both of these the database will be rebuilt. However, while no
messages should be lost, some may be downloaded again and you may lose some
record of which have been read. I recommend that you only do this when they
are causing you trouble, like when they are in the Outbox. Otherwise I now
just mark them as read and ignore them.
 
I tried to delete the massages from my deleted folder by doing as you
sugested marked as read but unfourtunately it didn't work thus far.I am still
helpless and looking for somebody to come up with a new suggestion.
 
neco said:
I tried to delete the massages from my deleted folder by doing as you
sugested marked as read but unfourtunately it didn't work thus far.I am
still
helpless and looking for somebody to come up with a new suggestion.
Click to expand...

I would just ignore them then, but if they bother you that much:

There are two copies of WindowsMail.MSMessageStore, One in
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Microsoft\Windows Mail
and one in
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Microsoft\Windows Mail\Backup\New
If you delete both of these the database will be rebuilt. However, while no
messages should be lost, some may be downloaded again and you may lose some
record of which have been read. I recommend that you only do this when they
are causing you trouble, like when they are in the Outbox. Otherwise I now
just mark them as read and ignore them.
 
This should solve the problem! Very easy!

Left click once on the deleted items folder thats in the column on the left
side of the windows mail page, then right click on it once, then left click
on: empty "deleted items" folder, do the same thing if its the Junk E-mail
folder thats givin you the problem!(left click once on the Junk E-mail then
right click once, then left click the empty "junk E-mail" folder)

- jthom11
 
jthom11 said:
This should solve the problem! Very easy!

Left click once on the deleted items folder thats in the column on the
left
side of the windows mail page, then right click on it once, then left
click
on: empty "deleted items" folder, do the same thing if its the Junk E-mail
folder thats givin you the problem!(left click once on the Junk E-mail
then
right click once, then left click the empty "junk E-mail" folder)

- jthom11
Click to expand...


You sure are persistent with your advice on how to empty Junk and Deleted
items folders "jthom11", maybe you are correct, since Alezito did not say
where the message was stuck?
 
Frank's tip of deleting the .MSMessageStore files worked for my problem. I
just made sure I emptied everything out of the inbox except the email that
wouldn't delete, then deleted those two files. When I opened Windows Mail
again, the inbox was clean, but my sort folders were gone (the ones I had
created myself). As I sat there going 'uh-oh', they suddenly started
reappearing one by one until they were all back. They showed up in a new
folder marked 'recovered messages'. Once it was all done, I did some folder
juggling to get things back the way they were. It was a bit tedious as there
doesn't seem to be a way to shift+click and select all the folders, you can
only move them one at a time, but I got it done, and the inbox is now back to
normal. Thanks, Frank!

Mike
 
Has the problem of deleting or moving an e-mail that simply will not go away
been resolved?

I have an e-mail that will not delete because of an unknown error.

Because it is stuck in my outbox and am not able to send any e-mails and I
have had to switch to another e-mail program and I really would like to
return to Windows Mail.

Thanks for any advice, BTW I have tried everything that I have saw here and
NOTHING works.

GR
 
Unfortunately this is a common bug with Windows Mail,
and no permanent fix has been released.
Once you get a 'ghost' email stuck in the Outbox, and
it won't let you send anything, your options are quite limited.
If you don't feel comfortable doing the database deletion/regeneration
method that has been posted here numerous times, then your
only remaining option is to install and use a different email program.
Mozilla Thunderbird is free:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/

Gary VanderMolen
 
I also have the same problem with deleating emails from my in box and
deleated file box.
This is very aggravating not being able to deleate these emails.
What is the solution to this problem, does anybody know? I am very surprised
that MS really dropped the ball on this one after all, How many email
programs had they made in the past without problems such as this.,,,,,Anyway
,,, If anybody has a solutions, please share...

Thanks
 
First thing is to remove McAfee or Norton AV and antispam from the computer
if they exist. You may need to visit their website to fully uninstall the
product (for Norton see here:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039.
Then get something less invasive. There are a number of free antivirus
programs, but with any you have to disable email scanning. See
www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

You can also try compacting and repairing the database using my WMUtil
program (www.oehelp.com/WMUtil/).

After that, the only solution so far is to wipe out the database. So go to
Tools | Options | Advanced | Maintenance | Store Folder to find the message
store location. Then move everything under that Windows Mail directory to
another directory, so that the Windows Mail directory is completely empty.
Then restart WinMail and it will open fresh with nothing
in the database. You can then add your accounts and if they work correctly
then you can import messages from the directory to which you moved the files
back into WinMail (see www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx#wm2wm).

steve
 
Believe it or not, the best thing to do for the Inbox is mark them as read
and ignore them.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
http://www.fjsmjs.com


"Dissapointed with Vista Email" <Dissapointed with Vista Email
@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
 
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