Messages saved to Deleted Items instead of Drafts

[Gene]

I am using Outlook 2003 SP2 (Office 2003 Pro) in Windows XP Pro SP2, with
all available patches to Windows and Office. If I start a message or a Reply
and click the Save icon, the saved message is "saved" to the Deleted Items
folder instead of the Drafts folder. If I close the message (as one would do
if one were planning to continue later) and empty the Deleted Items folder
the message is lost.

If I go to Tools, Options, Preferences, E-mail Options..., Advanced E-mail
Options..., "Save unsent items in:" has "Drafts" selected, so it should save
them in the Drafts folder.

The "Why didn't I think of that?" answer is to never empty the Deleted Items
folder, but surely there is a fix for this. I have searched the Microsoft
Knowledge Base and found nothing.

Thanks,
Gene

 

[Guest]

Try starting Outlook once with the /ResetFolders switch. If you need help
using Outlook command line switches, look here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;296192

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please reply
only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***

 

[Gene]

Dear Jocelyn,

Thank you for the suggestion. I was nervous about doing this, not knowing
what it might do to the add-ins I have in Outlook (Cloudmark Deskbar, You
Perform, and Lookout), so before starting Outlook with the /ResetFolders
switch I did another test this morning. Lo, and behold! I started a new
message, saved it, closed it, and it was actually there in my Drafts folder
waiting for me.

Perhaps just closing Outlook last night and restarting it today did
something. I have done nothing else since posting my question. In any case,
thanks for the help.

Sincerely,
Gene


"Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]"

 

[Gene]

Dear Jocelyn,

On Nov 3 I responded to your suggestion, letting you know Outlook had
apparently fixed itself. Today it resumed its old behavior, saving draft
messages in the Deleted Items folder. So I ran the command you suggested and
it has fixed the problem. Thank you for your help.

When I attempted to run the command from Start | Run I received a Windows
error message saying "Windows cannot find 'C:\Program'. Be sure you
typed...." It was behaving as if it could not deal with names longer than 8
letters. I then ran the command as C:\Progra~1\Microsoft Office.... and it
hung up on Microsoft. So I tried to run it as
C:\Progra~1\Micros~7\Office11\Outlook.exe, since Microsoft Office is the
seventh Microsoft folder inside Program Files. Well, I got a much longer
error message this time and knew it was not going to work, so I opened a
command window and used the cd command to work my way to the Office folder
where I then ran the command.

Do you know why the Run dialog box would not run commands that have folders
with more than 8 letters? I searched the MS KB and found no answers.

Thanks again,
Gene


"Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]"

 

[Gene]

Dear Jocelyn,

I have noticed that Outlook launches must more quickly than before. It seems
something has been "cleaned up" to allow it to start up faster. Do you know
what this might be? Also, I could find nothing that tells me what changes
the /ResetFolders switch makes to Outlook except for the single line
"Restores missing folders for the default delivery", provided in the link
you gave me. Does this change any settings I have made to Outlook?

Thanks,
Gene

Dear Jocelyn,

On Nov 3 I responded to your suggestion, letting you know Outlook had
apparently fixed itself. Today it resumed its old behavior, saving draft
messages in the Deleted Items folder. So I ran the command you suggested
and it has fixed the problem. Thank you for your help.

When I attempted to run the command from Start | Run I received a Windows
error message saying "Windows cannot find 'C:\Program'. Be sure you
typed...." It was behaving as if it could not deal with names longer than
8 letters. I then ran the command as C:\Progra~1\Microsoft Office.... and
it hung up on Microsoft. So I tried to run it as
C:\Progra~1\Micros~7\Office11\Outlook.exe, since Microsoft Office is the
seventh Microsoft folder inside Program Files. Well, I got a much longer
error message this time and knew it was not going to work, so I opened a
command window and used the cd command to work my way to the Office folder
where I then ran the command.

Do you know why the Run dialog box would not run commands that have
folders with more than 8 letters? I searched the MS KB and found no
answers.

Thanks again,
Gene


"Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]"

Try starting Outlook once with the /ResetFolders switch. If you need
help
using Outlook command line switches, look here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;296192

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please
reply
only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***

 

[Guest]

If your file path had spaces in it (most likely -- "Program Files" being two
words), you would need to enclose the entire file path in quotation marks in
order for Windows to look at the whole thing -- otherwise it stops when it
finds the first space.

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please reply
only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***

Dear Jocelyn,

On Nov 3 I responded to your suggestion, letting you know Outlook had
apparently fixed itself. Today it resumed its old behavior, saving draft
messages in the Deleted Items folder. So I ran the command you suggested and
it has fixed the problem. Thank you for your help.

When I attempted to run the command from Start | Run I received a Windows
error message saying "Windows cannot find 'C:\Program'. Be sure you
typed...." It was behaving as if it could not deal with names longer than 8
letters. I then ran the command as C:\Progra~1\Microsoft Office.... and it
hung up on Microsoft. So I tried to run it as
C:\Progra~1\Micros~7\Office11\Outlook.exe, since Microsoft Office is the
seventh Microsoft folder inside Program Files. Well, I got a much longer
error message this time and knew it was not going to work, so I opened a
command window and used the cd command to work my way to the Office folder
where I then ran the command.

Do you know why the Run dialog box would not run commands that have folders
with more than 8 letters? I searched the MS KB and found no answers.

Thanks again,
Gene


"Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]"

Try starting Outlook once with the /ResetFolders switch. If you need help
using Outlook command line switches, look here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;296192

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please
reply
only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***

 

[Guest]

I'm not sure what else might have gotten "cleaned up" when you ran
/ResetFolders, except that maybe Outlook was having a tough time working with
corrupt or missing folders before, so it took longer to find what it was
looking for. Basically all /ResetFolders does is reset the default folders
to factory settings as far as what their names are, what their functions are,
and where they are supposed to be. I don't think it ever messes with your
data or your view settings or that kind of thing.

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please reply
only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***

Dear Jocelyn,

I have noticed that Outlook launches must more quickly than before. It seems
something has been "cleaned up" to allow it to start up faster. Do you know
what this might be? Also, I could find nothing that tells me what changes
the /ResetFolders switch makes to Outlook except for the single line
"Restores missing folders for the default delivery", provided in the link
you gave me. Does this change any settings I have made to Outlook?

Thanks,
Gene

Dear Jocelyn,

On Nov 3 I responded to your suggestion, letting you know Outlook had
apparently fixed itself. Today it resumed its old behavior, saving draft
messages in the Deleted Items folder. So I ran the command you suggested
and it has fixed the problem. Thank you for your help.

When I attempted to run the command from Start | Run I received a Windows
error message saying "Windows cannot find 'C:\Program'. Be sure you
typed...." It was behaving as if it could not deal with names longer than
8 letters. I then ran the command as C:\Progra~1\Microsoft Office.... and
it hung up on Microsoft. So I tried to run it as
C:\Progra~1\Micros~7\Office11\Outlook.exe, since Microsoft Office is the
seventh Microsoft folder inside Program Files. Well, I got a much longer
error message this time and knew it was not going to work, so I opened a
command window and used the cd command to work my way to the Office folder
where I then ran the command.

Do you know why the Run dialog box would not run commands that have
folders with more than 8 letters? I searched the MS KB and found no
answers.

Thanks again,
Gene


"Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]"

Try starting Outlook once with the /ResetFolders switch. If you need
help
using Outlook command line switches, look here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;296192

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please
reply
only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***


:

I am using Outlook 2003 SP2 (Office 2003 Pro) in Windows XP Pro SP2,
with
all available patches to Windows and Office. If I start a message or a
Reply
and click the Save icon, the saved message is "saved" to the Deleted
Items
folder instead of the Drafts folder. If I close the message (as one
would do
if one were planning to continue later) and empty the Deleted Items
folder
the message is lost.

If I go to Tools, Options, Preferences, E-mail Options..., Advanced
E-mail
Options..., "Save unsent items in:" has "Drafts" selected, so it should
save
them in the Drafts folder.

The "Why didn't I think of that?" answer is to never empty the Deleted
Items
folder, but surely there is a fix for this. I have searched the
Microsoft
Knowledge Base and found nothing.

Thanks,
Gene

 

[Brian Tillman]

When I attempted to run the command from Start | Run I received a
Windows error message saying "Windows cannot find 'C:\Program'. Be
sure you typed...." It was behaving as if it could not deal with
names longer than 8 letters.

That's probably because you didn't enclose it in quotes.

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\Outlook.exe" /ResetFolders

 

[Gene]

That's probably because you didn't enclose it in quotes.

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\Outlook.exe" /ResetFolders

Well! That's a good rule to know. Thanks very much.

Happy New Year,
Gene