Outlook 2003 custom views missing

[AAAA_Dale]

Using OL 2003 with Exchange 2000 server, custom views have disappeared.
Even after creating new ones to replace the ones that have disappeared, they
too go missing after a day or so. This was an upgrade from Outlook XP which
never had the problem. No change on the Exchange side. The problem seems
to be with folders in my mailbox, but not with any Public folders- although
the Public folders don't have very many custom views. Have tested using
different computers running the OL 2003 client and get the same results-
once the views dissappear, they are missing on all computers configured with
my account. Have not done extensive testing with other accounts because
others in the office don't seem to want to invest the time in customizing
their view.
Any ideas?

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Reset the views by starting Outlook from the run command and using the
/cleanviews switch

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[AAAA_Dale]

I thought the Cleanviews switch is designed to reset them all to the default
views, which it is doing on its own. I really would prefer it kept the
custom views I create. i don't want to have to recreate thme over and over
again

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Yes, but something must have gone wrong which doesn't allow you to save your
views anymore. Complete clearing the mailbox from any view could clear the
corruption

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[AAAA_Dale]

Actually, I can save them, they just seem to disappear after a day or two.
I'm beginning to suspect our Exchange server since the views appear to be
stored there. When I create a view on one computer, it shows up on any
other computer that I use to connect to my mailbox. Do you happen to know
how the views are stored in the mailbox so that they are available to any
computer running an Outlook profile that connects to the mailbox? Maybe if
I could figure out where the views are actually stored, I could make sure
they are backed up in the future so I could re-apply them when they get
trashed again.

 

[Dale]

Roady,
I haven't heard back from you. This nagging problem has not gone away
no matter what I've tried. I'm beginning to suspect seriuos Exchange
storage problems, but can't convince our server admin to do any
significant troublshooting. No one else really cares since they don't
use custom views very often and probably wouldn't notice missing data
until it was too late.

Any ideas?
E-mail me directly if you would like- remove the obvious junk-
d<remove>ale@cim<NOSPAM>online.org

Dale

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Sorry about that; I've been away for a while.

The views are stored in the Exchange mailbox indeed. You can't manipulate
them directly there AFAIK. It the views stick after a reboot and can be used
on another computer they should stick until they get modified in some way.
Do other users have the same issue or are you alone in this? Does this also
happen on newly created mailboxes? If you haven't done so already start
Outlook with the /cleanviews switch again and recreate your mailprofile in
Control Panel-> Mail-> button Show Profiles...

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Roady [MVP] www.sparnaaij.net
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-----

 

[AAAA_Dale]

Roady,
Thanks for your help. I'm still not sure what's happening, but I tried the
Cleanviews switch again and waited for a while before I began rebuilding my
views. I have deliberately built just 3 so far- two in Calendar and one in
Contacts to see if they will stick. So far the custom views have held, so
I'm going to start rebuilding the others slowly over time to see if things
hold or not.
Sure is frustrating to have so little information or help from MS on
something like this that gives Outlook the needed flexibility to use in
day-to-day business operations. Of course I have to remember that Outlook
is really just an e-mail client trying to "grow up" in to a Contact Manager.
Maybe someday they will get it right.
If anyone from MS is "listening" it would be nice to have the ability to
back-up custom views so they can be re-applied after they get trashed. For
that matter it would be nice to know exactly where they are stored and how
so we could figure it ou on our own. But then somewhere, somebody probably
has done that, I just haven't stumbled across it yet.

Thanks again Roady,

Dale

 

[Roady [MVP]]

You're welcome!

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Roady [MVP] www.sparnaaij.net
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Tips of the month:
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