It's a ghost of your folder. You can try closing it using File, Data File
management but if that fails, the easiest way to fix it is to create a new
profile using control panel, mail. You can try to edit the registry to
remove the ghost, but it takes guess work and can result in a bad profile,
requiring you to create a new one.
To remove ghosts:
Each pst has two different keys in the profile at
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows
Messaging Subsystem\Profiles. The ghost only has one. You need to find the
key for the ghost and remove it. With 1 ghost, you have a 50-50 chance of
deleting the right key.
Diane, I think I have figured out a trick to solve this problem. I
created a new profile but gave it a unique name. Then, in the registry I
deleted all the entries that didn't have the new name.
*** Please read the notes at the bottom before executing any of these
steps ***
First, create a new .PST file:
* {'File / New / Outlook Data File' | Choose the type of data file you
want to create | [OK]}
* Store it in the standard location, '?:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME
\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook', with a unique
filename.
* Outlook will then pop up the 'Create Microsoft Personal Folders'
dialog box. In the 'Name:' field enter the same unique name you used for
the filename. This is the name that Outlook stores internally in the .PST
file and is used as the name that is displayed in the folder list. It is
also used as the name that gets put in the registry. If you just leave
this name as 'Personal Folders' then you will end up with even more
redundantly named entries in the registry.
* Set any of the other settings you want (I just leave them at their
defaults) and click [OK].
* Outlook will create the new .PST file and it will be opened and appear
in your folder list.
Notice that the current default profile has an icon that looks like a
piece of paper with a clock and a house on it. The new profile has an
icon that looks like a box with three file folders in it. Also notice
that, if you right-click on these you can close the new .PST file but you
can't close the default one.
Second, Move all your stuff to the new .PST file. This is a boring and
tedious process. Use the folder view (the little folder icon at the
bottom of the navigation pane) to see all of them at once. You will be
able to just drag and drop some of the folder types but others you will
have to create the main folder by hand and then crag and drop the
contents. This seems like an inconsistency in the design to me but I'm
sure someone has a spin to put on it.
Third, Set the new .PST file as your default profile. {'Tools / E-Mail
Accounts | (x) View or change existing e-mail accounts | [Next] | Deliver
new e-mail to the following location: [v] = 'your new, uniquely named
..PST file' | [Finish]}. You will notice that the icons and sort order for
the two profiles have switched. If you had just created a new profile
using the default file and internal names it would have been very
difficult to tell these apart.
Fourth, Right-click on the old profile and close it. You will probably
still see the ghost in the Navigation Pane at this point. Exit Outlook.
Fifth, Edit the registry keys at 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft
\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles' as you
described and delete all of the entries that aren't your new, unique
name.
Sixth, Open Outlook. The ghosts should exorcized.
Notes:
* I don't know if this is the result of moving all of the contacts to a
new profile or just because because I switched from Outlook 2000 to
Outlook 2003 but all the contact links are hosed up. I think they are
trying to point to the old profile. This indicates to me that they store
an absolute path to the linked contact rather than a relative path as one
would expect.
* All of the rules that point to a folder will get messed up. You will
have to go through them and set them all to point to their correct folder
in your new profile.
* Perhaps this could also be accomplished by simply changing the internal
name for the existing default profile. {Right-click on the default
profile / Properties for... | <General> | [Advanced] | Name: = 'a unique
name' | [OK] | [OK]} then deleting the ghost entries from the registry
but I haven't tried that technique so I couldn't say.
P.S. I have used Grant's Concise GUI Notation System to describe how to
navigate through all the darn menus, tabs, and buttons. I will post more
information on this system later. Till then, you can pretty easily
decipher the meaning if you look at the dialog boxes as you go.
The problem, of course, is that no such PST file exists.