Moving mail to a folder that no longer exists bug

[Kurt Levitan]

Has anyone else seen this?
I am in an Exchange 2007 with Oulook 2007 environment.
When I click on the Move to Folder icon it shows a list of recently accessed
folders. If one of those folders has been deleted it still lets me move a
message to it and the message appears to be complety gone. Shouldn't it warn
me that the destination no longer exists?

Is there a way to clear out that list of displayed folders in the Move to
Folder function?

Thanks!
- Kurt

 

[VanguardLH]

in message

Has anyone else seen this?
I am in an Exchange 2007 with Oulook 2007 environment.
When I click on the Move to Folder icon it shows a list of recently
accessed
folders. If one of those folders has been deleted it still lets me
move a
message to it and the message appears to be complety gone.
Shouldn't it warn
me that the destination no longer exists?

Is there a way to clear out that list of displayed folders in the
Move to
Folder function?

Is the supposedly deleted folder now shown under the Deleted Items
folder? Nothing under Deleted Items has actually been deleted.
That's just another folder and everything under it still exists.

 

[Kurt Levitan]

in message



Is the supposedly deleted folder now shown under the Deleted Items
folder? Nothing under Deleted Items has actually been deleted.
That's just another folder and everything under it still exists.

No. The folder has been completely deleted. But it still shows up in the
Move to Folder list of recenlty accessed folders and it will allow you to
move a message to it even though it no longer exists.

- Kurt

 

[Kurt Levitan]

in message



Is the supposedly deleted folder now shown under the Deleted Items
folder? Nothing under Deleted Items has actually been deleted.
That's just another folder and everything under it still exists.

By the way, this does not happened on my home system which is not connected
to an Exchange 2007 server. If I try to move a message to a deleted folder
it righfully tells me that the folder does not exist.

Could this indicate some sort of syncing issue with the server?

- Kurt

 

[VanguardLH]

No. The folder has been completely deleted. But it still shows up
in the
Move to Folder list of recenlty accessed folders and it will allow
you to
move a message to it even though it no longer exists.

I don't know how you "deleted" the target folder. "If one of those
folders has been deleted ...". Just how did you delete the folders?

Maybe instead of deleting the folder, you dragged it and by accident
you dragged it to the rood node instead of to under Deleted Items.
That means the folder is now a hidden object under the root node and
to fix it means having to use something like OutlookSpy. This sounds
like a client-side problem, not an Exchange problem. Perhaps your old
mail profile got corrupted. Try creating a new one (Mail applet in
Control Panel) and configure that one to connect to your Exchange
server.

 

[Kurt Levitan]

I don't know how you "deleted" the target folder. "If one of those
folders has been deleted ...". Just how did you delete the folders?

Maybe instead of deleting the folder, you dragged it and by accident
you dragged it to the rood node instead of to under Deleted Items.
That means the folder is now a hidden object under the root node and
to fix it means having to use something like OutlookSpy. This sounds
like a client-side problem, not an Exchange problem. Perhaps your old
mail profile got corrupted. Try creating a new one (Mail applet in
Control Panel) and configure that one to connect to your Exchange
server.

I deleted it the way you would delete any Outlook item: using the delete key
(or the shift delete to bypass the deleted folder.

Try this: Create a folder in Outlook.
Now select it and press Shift Delete.
Now if you were to click the Move to folder icon you will see the folder you
just deleted still listed.
In my Exchange 2007 environment at work I can move messages to this folder
even though it no longer exists and not get an error message. The message is
then lost.
On my home system (not on Exchange) Outlook warns me that the destination
folder no longer exists.

This is happening to all of my users at work so it is not a problem with my
profile.

- Kurt

- Kurt

 

[VanguardLH]

in message

Try this: Create a folder in Outlook.
Now select it and press Shift Delete.
Now if you were to click the Move to folder icon you will see the
folder you
just deleted still listed.
In my Exchange 2007 environment at work I can move messages to this
folder
even though it no longer exists and not get an error message. The
message is
then lost.
On my home system (not on Exchange) Outlook warns me that the
destination
folder no longer exists.

This is happening to all of my users at work so it is not a problem
with my
profile.

Have you tried compacting your message store yet? Right-click on the
root folder, Properties, Advanced button, Compact Now button. Items
that are deleted are only marked for deletion. They continue to exist
within the message store but Outlook won't normally access them or
show them. Not until you compact the message store do the
delete-marked items then get physically purged from the message store.
This is what happens when you use a PST file. Not sure compacting
applies for an Exchange mailbox.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Try this: Create a folder in Outlook.
Now select it and press Shift Delete.
Now if you were to click the Move to folder icon you will see the
folder you just deleted still listed.

RIght. Perfectly normal. The folder list you see there is in an MRU (most
recently used) key in the registry and it's not tied to deletion in any way.
It simply remembers folder names you've entered. You can clear it if you
wish. http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/mru.htm

In my Exchange 2007 environment at work I can move messages to this
folder even though it no longer exists and not get an error message.
The message is then lost.

I just tested this in an Exchange 2003 environment. As long as the deleted
folder is still in Deleted Items, that's where the moved message will go.
If the Deleted Items folder has been emptied, however, you're correct, it
seems. I see what you see.

On my home system (not on Exchange) Outlook warns me that the
destination folder no longer exists.

You're using a PST at home. It behaves differently than a mailbox.

If you have a support contract with Microsoft, it might be time to open an
incident.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I just tested this in an Exchange 2003 environment. As long as the
deleted folder is still in Deleted Items, that's where the moved
message will go. If the Deleted Items folder has been emptied,
however, you're correct, it seems. I see what you see.

OK, I know what happens. When you move the mesage to a folder you've
deleted from the Exchange mailbox and have emptied from the Deleted Items
folder, the message isn't lost. Instead it still goes into the folder, but
the folder is available only in the Recover Deleted Items list maintained by
the Exchange server. If you select your Deleted Items folder, then click
Tools>Recover Deleted Items, when that process executes and puts the folder
you deleted bak in the Deleted Items folder, the moved message will be in
it. If the folder is removed from the Recover Deleted Items list, then
you'll get an error message "Folder is not available" just as for a PST, the
message will not move, and the folder name will be removed from the folder
list under Move to Folder (i.e., it will be removed from the MRU".

 

[Kurt Levitan]

OK, I know what happens. When you move the mesage to a folder you've
deleted from the Exchange mailbox and have emptied from the Deleted Items
folder, the message isn't lost. Instead it still goes into the folder, but
the folder is available only in the Recover Deleted Items list maintained by
the Exchange server. If you select your Deleted Items folder, then click
Tools>Recover Deleted Items, when that process executes and puts the folder
you deleted bak in the Deleted Items folder, the moved message will be in
it. If the folder is removed from the Recover Deleted Items list, then
you'll get an error message "Folder is not available" just as for a PST, the
message will not move, and the folder name will be removed from the folder
list under Move to Folder (i.e., it will be removed from the MRU".

Thanks! This makes a lot of sense. I will test it out when I get to the
office in the morning. Of course it is confusing for most users and it would
be nice if Outlook gave them a warning when moving mail to a deleted folder.

Also, thanks for the link on how to cleaer the MRU list. This will come in
very handy.
- Kurt