Member Avatar for kilowatt

A user accidentally trashed the Windows XP registry and parts of XP folders on his workstation (don't ask!). This required a re-installation of XP and all software including MS Office 2003.
Fortunately all data survived intact and I was able to recover the user's "outlook.pst" database file. The "Test Account Settings" process functions correctly and appears to send and receive emails. The Deliver New Emails location is set to the "outlook.pst" file.
However, Outlook will send emails but does not keep copies in the Sent Items folder. It also appears to be reading the user's POP3 mail box on the hosting provider's server, but no new mail entries appear in the Inbox and mail remains on the server.
File permissions for "outlook.pst" definitely allow reading and writing, as modifications to Outlook address folders are correctly stored. The problem is only with sending and receiving new emails.
Where to from here???

Andy

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Briefly for (and following ’s Mail-applet suggestion): when Outlook can send but sent copies don’t appear and incoming POP mail remains on the server, the usual culprits are (a) Outlook delivering to a different profile/PST than the recovered file, (b) view/rule settings that hide or move incoming items, or (c) a subtly damaged PST/profile. The following focused checks will quickly isolate which of those is happening.

Next logical checks:

  • Verify which Personal Folders file is the default delivery store and which profile is active: use Control Panel -> Mail -> Show Profiles (create a new test profile if needed) and in Outlook use the account/data-file settings to confirm the recovered .pst is actually the default delivery location.
  • Confirm Sent Items option: Tools -> Options -> Preferences -> E-mail Options -> ensure “Save copies of messages in Sent Items folder” is enabled.
  • Check Send/Receive and offline state: File -> Work Offline should be unchecked; Tools -> Send/Receive -> Define Send/Receive Groups -> Edit to ensure the account is included for Receive.
  • Look for hidden rules or filters: Tools -> Rules and Alerts and View -> Current View (or Customize Current View -> Filter) to ensure no rule/filter is moving or hiding messages.

If those don’t fix it:

  • Back up the recovered PST, then run the Inbox Repair tool (scanpst.exe) against it.
  • Temporarily disable any AV/mail-scanning hooks and retest.
  • Create a brand‑new empty PST (File -> New -> Outlook Data File), set it as the default delivery file and test download. If mail arrives in the new PST then the recovered file is suspect — import mail into the new store once confirmed healthy.
  • If a new profile + new PST fixes things, keep the new profile and import the old data rather than forcing the recovered profile.

Cautions: always keep a backup copy of the original PST before running repairs or imports. If the hosting provider logs show no POP connections, ask them to run a connection/log check while a test retrieval is attempted.

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Member Avatar for jbennet

did you register it through "mail" in control panel?

Member Avatar for kilowatt

did you register it through "mail" in control panel?

Does the Mail applet offer functionality not present in Outlook's own configuration panels?
I'll give it a try when that workstation is next running.
I'm off site and can't get to it via VNC in the middle of the night :-) .

Andy

Member Avatar for kilowatt

did you register it through "mail" in control panel?

On checking, it seems that the mail applet doesn't do anything that isn't available from within Outlook 2003. So - no progress.

Andy

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