D
daileyplanet
I've been trying to find a solution to this issue for days. I really hope I
can find solutions here. Apology in advance for the diatribe below, but I
know no other way of being specific enough to explain this bizarre behavior
so you will be able to diagnose it properly.
I installed updates for Office 2003 (specifically to troubleshoot Outlook
2003 not working with a Gmail account), along with some WinXP Pro updates to
get me up to XP v2002 sp3 and Office 2003 sp3. Since then, I can no longer
view inbound email content from the reading pane, nor when I open the emails.
Even emails that were sent months before the updates were installed have the
same behavior as described below.
Inbox:
The header info (To:, CC:, subject, date, etc.) show up fine as usual. But
the body of the emails do not load on the screen. It's as if the body is a
"hole" and I can see through it to the screen/app behind it (or any dialogs
that open in front of the email). But when I move the email around the
screen, the "image" of the screen/app does not change - almost like a screen
snapshot. This also happens with the reading pane. However, if I REPLY or
FORWARD the same emails, they open fine and then I can read the content by
looking at the original thread below in the reply or forward. (By the way,
the AutoPreview does work as usual in the Inbox.) NOTE: There are some
emails like out-of-office autoreplies when the reading pane goes/stays gray
and states, "This item cannot be displayed in the Reading Pane. Open the
item to read its contents." The screen "snapshot" effect does not happen in
these cases, and I get an error when I try to open saying "Can't open this
item." I do still have to reply or forward these in order to see their
content like all the other emails.
Calendar and Contacts:
For these, I cannot enter anything in the Notes section of existing appts or
contact records. (I won't even have a typing cursor when I mouse over that
area.) But when I change any OTHER field in the record, Outlook will allow
me to save the updated item. However, NEW appts or contacts will not save at
all, and any updates to existing records via sync with my mobile phone's
Contacts and Calendars do not get amended to the existing items. For
example, I have notes in a contact record on my phone. When I sync, those
updates do not come over to the Outlook contact record, where they have in
the past, before the update to 2003 sp3.
I have tried closing Outlook and turning off my McAfee Internet Security
email scanning protection, as well as another PC Tools Spyware Doctor app
just to be safe. Neither has any effect (and both were installed and active
and Outlook was working just fine before the sp3 updates were installed).
Finally, to make matters worse, since this is a machine from a previous job,
the IT folks there did not have the System Restore feature turned on (Lord
knows why - it seems like a great safety to have on at all times!) so simply
rolling back to before the updates were installed is not an option that I can
see since no restore points were established until after the updates.
Everything I can figure out is that this is something that has happened
based on these sp3 updates being installed, since it was all fine up until
they were installed. I will say though that Gmail is working now . . . but
at what price since I'm now having all these issues??
I do hope that this is making sense with someone out there that has a
solution. Thank you very, very much for sticking with this long post until
the end. I look forward to any and all insight you may have. Thank you
again!!
can find solutions here. Apology in advance for the diatribe below, but I
know no other way of being specific enough to explain this bizarre behavior
so you will be able to diagnose it properly.
I installed updates for Office 2003 (specifically to troubleshoot Outlook
2003 not working with a Gmail account), along with some WinXP Pro updates to
get me up to XP v2002 sp3 and Office 2003 sp3. Since then, I can no longer
view inbound email content from the reading pane, nor when I open the emails.
Even emails that were sent months before the updates were installed have the
same behavior as described below.
Inbox:
The header info (To:, CC:, subject, date, etc.) show up fine as usual. But
the body of the emails do not load on the screen. It's as if the body is a
"hole" and I can see through it to the screen/app behind it (or any dialogs
that open in front of the email). But when I move the email around the
screen, the "image" of the screen/app does not change - almost like a screen
snapshot. This also happens with the reading pane. However, if I REPLY or
FORWARD the same emails, they open fine and then I can read the content by
looking at the original thread below in the reply or forward. (By the way,
the AutoPreview does work as usual in the Inbox.) NOTE: There are some
emails like out-of-office autoreplies when the reading pane goes/stays gray
and states, "This item cannot be displayed in the Reading Pane. Open the
item to read its contents." The screen "snapshot" effect does not happen in
these cases, and I get an error when I try to open saying "Can't open this
item." I do still have to reply or forward these in order to see their
content like all the other emails.
Calendar and Contacts:
For these, I cannot enter anything in the Notes section of existing appts or
contact records. (I won't even have a typing cursor when I mouse over that
area.) But when I change any OTHER field in the record, Outlook will allow
me to save the updated item. However, NEW appts or contacts will not save at
all, and any updates to existing records via sync with my mobile phone's
Contacts and Calendars do not get amended to the existing items. For
example, I have notes in a contact record on my phone. When I sync, those
updates do not come over to the Outlook contact record, where they have in
the past, before the update to 2003 sp3.
I have tried closing Outlook and turning off my McAfee Internet Security
email scanning protection, as well as another PC Tools Spyware Doctor app
just to be safe. Neither has any effect (and both were installed and active
and Outlook was working just fine before the sp3 updates were installed).
Finally, to make matters worse, since this is a machine from a previous job,
the IT folks there did not have the System Restore feature turned on (Lord
knows why - it seems like a great safety to have on at all times!) so simply
rolling back to before the updates were installed is not an option that I can
see since no restore points were established until after the updates.
Everything I can figure out is that this is something that has happened
based on these sp3 updates being installed, since it was all fine up until
they were installed. I will say though that Gmail is working now . . . but
at what price since I'm now having all these issues??
I do hope that this is making sense with someone out there that has a
solution. Thank you very, very much for sticking with this long post until
the end. I look forward to any and all insight you may have. Thank you
again!!