Member Avatar for james.schlup.33

I am having some wierd issues on one of the email accounts for a customer I manage. Recently his exchange account when accessed in outlook 2003 will start deleting all email messages in the inbox. I had to create another folder and have all message routed to that on to save all of his incoming emails. I have already scanned for viruses using AVG. None were found. I have disabled all redirect rules except for the ont to save the emails. Whats most wierd is that it will only delete email while being accessed by Outlook on any computer. If accessed through web app or by phone will not remove any emails. So i believe it has something to do with settings that the user changed under thier outlook account.

This user does tend to play with alot of settings, so i was wondering if anyone knows of settings in outlook that could cause such behavior. I myself do not really use outlook that much, tend to use phone or web app as those are always readily available for me so i am having to do alot of searching through settings and i have yet been unable to find documentation on outlook. Any help would be much appreciated.

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Dani AI

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Short expert checklist and next steps based on the suggestions from and . The symptoms described (mail behaves differently when classic Outlook is running vs. web/phone access) commonly point to client-side actions — especially Outlook rules that only run when the desktop client is active. Client-only rules use Outlook-specific actions and don’t execute on the server. (support.microsoft.com)

Quick diagnostic checklist:

  • Confirm account type (POP vs Exchange/IMAP) and any other devices using POP3; POP3 clients can remove mail from the server when they download it.
  • Open Tools → Rules and Alerts in Outlook and inspect every rule for actions that move mail to a “specified” folder or to a local data file. Export the rule set first as a backup (Rules and Alerts → Options → Export Rules). (support.microsoft.com)
  • Verify Outlook data files (.pst/.ost) referenced by rules or profile. PSTs are stored under the user profile app data area by default (for older Outlook/Windows locations see common PST locations). (outlook-tips.net)
  • Test Outlook without add‑ins by starting it in Safe Mode (Outlook.exe /safe) to rule out third‑party extensions changing message handling. (support.microsoft.com)

Recovery and prevention notes:

  • If items were removed or moved, Exchange admins can search the mailbox and recover purged/deleted items (Recover Deleted Items / server-side recovery tools) if retention is enabled. Coordinate with the Exchange admin if server-side recovery is needed. (learn.microsoft.com)
  • Prevent recurrence by: converting needed rules to server-side rules when possible, avoiding routing live mail into local PSTs, and exporting/backing up rules and PSTs before profile or OS changes.

Document the exact client, Outlook profile, and time window when the behavior occurs — that information helps correlate client events with server logs when troubleshooting.

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Member Avatar for JorgeM

It sounds like a POP3 configuration scenario where you configure a POP3 client to delete messages from the server when downloading them to the client.

If this user has Outlook connected to Exchange, the messages would be delivered to the inbox. If this user had another client using POP3, that client may be download the messages and deleting them from the inbox.

Member Avatar for james.schlup.33

I checked those settings and they were ok. Also ran a query on the server looking for emails on the account and all the emails are still on server just not viewable after outlook had been opened, also to clarify the emails were not opened just outlook was opened for a period of time and the messages disappeared, not able to recognise they are there on any other email application.

Member Avatar for Reverend Jim

Are there any rules being applied by Outlook that might be automatically moving the messages to other folders? Possibly junk mail filters?

Member Avatar for james.schlup.33

Yes thank you it was rules settings. The user had rules setup to move items out of inbox into a .pst file on the desktop then delete them from so had a recent computer upgrade so the .pst file did not exist. So outlook was moving these files to literally nowhere, I'm surprised it didn't throw a "cannot find dest file error" that would have been very helpful.

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