Outlook 2007 "sent" mail NOT being received

Discussion in 'Software' started by SimpleTim, Apr 9, 2013.

  1. SimpleTim

    SimpleTim Private E-2

    So, I set up a Windows 7 pc for my boss (who has been using XP since it came out) and to not completely lose him I installed Outlook 2007. Everything transferred over fine. The problem I am running into is that when he sends emails some of them are not reaching the recipients.

    It is completely random and they are not getting hung up in the outbox they are indeed in the "sent" folder. I ran scanpst to no avail.

    Any advice? Like I said the bulk of messages are going through it is just random ones that are not. It is indiscriminate whether there are attachments or who the recipient is.
     
  2. jconstan

    jconstan MajorGeek

    If you resend one of the ones that fail, does it get to the recipient?

    Do you get a bounce to any messages?
     
  3. SimpleTim

    SimpleTim Private E-2

    They go through to me. It is completely random.

    Also, if I resend they typically go through to the recipient. There are no bounceback messages.
     
  4. jconstan

    jconstan MajorGeek

    Are the emails that fail typically emails to a group of individuals? Or, a single addressee?
     
  5. SimpleTim

    SimpleTim Private E-2

    That's the thing, I can not identify one common thread among the messages that are not being received. There does not appear to be a pattern. I have tried sending to one recipient and multiple and they go through about 80% of the time. I have tried the same with attachments and again they go through about 80% of the time regardless of how many people it is being sent to.

    I am going to try uninstalling and reinstalling here shortly. I was trying to avoid that because it's practically impossible to get him off his laptop for more than 10 minutes and I don't really want to be here past quitting time ;)
     
  6. jconstan

    jconstan MajorGeek

    Well you can be sure of one thing....there is a pattern. You just need to find it.

    So, are you saying that if you send a message to yourself 10 times it will possibly fail twice?
     
  7. SimpleTim

    SimpleTim Private E-2


    Well, I pulled a string and now the entire sweater has unraveled. So, I was working on his computer this morning and was sending test messages and once again about 8-9/10 are making it through but still some were failing.

    Then outlook froze and locked up the computer so I force closed it. Now the pst file is corrupt and will not open and scanpst can not seem to repair it. Are there any programs that aren't terribly expensive that anyone would recommend to repair it? I am pulling my hair out.

    I do not think there is much that can be resolved over the forum. Probably just going to bite the bullet and call in an outside contractor just so I can wash my hands of this whole mess. My boss is going to kill me. Thanks for all the advice but this has gotten a lot worse.
     
  8. Earthling

    Earthling Interplanetary Geek

    It doesn't help you, not in your present predicament anyway, but I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that email clients, particularly of the POP3 variety, and even more particularly of the Outlook variety are rapidly being made redundant by completely reliable, maintenance free online email services you can use on any machine anywhere in the world, and which require nothing more than a working internet connection. I'm not yet completely convinced that the rest of Office et al will also disappear into the Cloud but Outlook certainly will. My wife will probably be the last to leave, putting the Outlook lights out :-D
     
  9. SimpleTim

    SimpleTim Private E-2

    Well, through everything it appears that his pst became corrupted so luckily before I had moved it over to his new computer I saved a backup of his old pst form about a month ago.

    Long story short he lost about a month of email.

    Thanks for all the incites. I wish he would move to the cloud or something new but I suppose some people will never trust new technology. rolleyes
     
  10. AtlBo

    AtlBo Major Geek Extraordinaire

    SimpleTim...Sorry your boss lost his mail

    Just a word in defense of Outlook.

    Earthling, online mail is nice for some individuals, but I don't think PC based clients are ever going to disappear. There will be better PC security for single machines in the future, and the security minded will opt to keep their own mail on their PC. I keep mine here now, although it is online too.

    By the way SimpleTim, did your boss not keep regular backups of his mail? I think that if a person's e-mail is important enough from a security viewpoint to keep on a PC, the individual should take steps to make sure the mail is backed up. I am sure there are options for this (I doubt free) on the internet.

    As for Office Outlook, I have 2007, and I have always had success with the program. Eventually, I am certain I will go for a more security based option and keep the mail only here on the PC. For simple things (not that they aren't important), the cloud will do for some users, but for items requiring protection from compromise, I won't be using a cloud myself. Doing so adds an unnecessary step in the security loop...a big no no in security terms...
     
  11. collinsl

    collinsl MajorGeek

    How would you access your previous email without an internet connection?

    Having Thunderbird installed on my laptop has helped me many times when I have had internet outages and have needed my account numbers for the ISP to report the failure.
     
  12. SimpleTim

    SimpleTim Private E-2

    Well, that's the thing I guess I should never assume anything I was hired about 8 months ago as an office manager and hadn't really given much thought to it. For whatever reason I had assumed it was being backed up with our server backups that run nightly. I wrong in that assumption. I have encouraged him to begin archiving but I doubt he will do it so I am going to export his pst onto a thumb drive of mine on a weekly basis.

    I really don't have a whole lot of experience rectifying issues like these. Oh well. Plus, the big thing is that his pst is over 10gbs so every time I move it or try to do anything with it in outlook it takes a real long time.

    Thanks again for all the help everyone. I was actually able to move the pst onto my computer where it appears to be working ok so I am just going to grab the emails from my end and let him sort through it and hope it doesn't happen again.
     
  13. Earthling

    Earthling Interplanetary Geek

    Well if you are nearly always in the same place with access to your PC then fine. But if you are on the move a POP3 account on a machine at home isn't going to be of much use at all. I use Thunderbird and IMAP myself, works just fine but I do sometimes wonder why I still use it. Everything I need is accessible online, my mail, my contacts, my calendar. Have you ever tried publishing your Outlook calendar btw? There are better ways available, and I just don't see security as an issue at all. I trust the online servers more than I trust my own PC not to have a problem just when I don't need one, though I would never use my ISP as my email provider.

    @collinsl - I use my mobile phone when the internet isn't available. With IMAP accounts there really isn't a problem.
     
  14. AtlBo

    AtlBo Major Geek Extraordinaire

    You're a good employee SimpleTim...:major

    Good points all Earthling as you always seem to have.

    Well, looking at it idealistically, I hope there will be a way to register devices for linking to mail, so that it can be held on one partcicular server and kept there for a specific amount of time. Some sort of pointed security measures for mail. Honestly, I am certain the demand for secure mail will eventually create something along these lines.

    I guess I would say the whole e-mail system needs a retooling. Not to do away with online mail or anything...not at all...just super secure accounts too. I do think the security advantage is in keeping mail on a PC/laptop in the ideal sense, etc...although I do understand your points...
     
  15. SimpleTim

    SimpleTim Private E-2

    Haha, I wish my boss saw it that way. So, even after all that fuss of uninstalling, re-installing, moving pst's the root problem still persists; it says that the mail items are sent and they are not sent.

    Not in the outbox, nothing. Just lost in the ether it would appear. I am just biting the bullet and calling one of my old work colleagues that I worked with at the tech bench in staples with.
     
  16. SimpleTim

    SimpleTim Private E-2

    Haha...just uninstalled Norton and it looks like everything is fine now. 20/20 emails to myself went through fine. We shall see.

    I am a rube.
     
  17. pwillener

    pwillener MajorGeek

    Uninstalling Norton is always a good idea!
     
  18. jconstan

    jconstan MajorGeek

    Wow!! What version of Norton was installed? What anti virus are you going to use in its place? Removing the anti virus doesn't seem like a fix to me.
     

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