Cannot delete a message

Cannot Delete buttonWhen trying to delete a message, it could be that Outlook refuses this and shows an error message. Most common error messages are;

“An unknown error has occurred.”

and

“Messaging interface has caused an unknown error.”

There are 4 easy methods which you can use to solve this for most situations.

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CodeTwo

Creating a Classic View in Outlook 2003

Since a lot of people are “hooked” on the classic view of Outlook or simply don’t like the initial Outlook 2003 view I made an overview of settings to change so it looks more like previous versions of Outlook.

Change the Messages view

The Messages view is the default view for all Mail Folders. When we change this view all Mail Folders who are still in this default Messages view will change as well.

To change the Messages view go to;
View-> Arrange By-> Current View-> Define Views…-> select Messages-> button Modify-> button Other Settings…

There are 3 changes we’re going to make to this default view;

  1. Change the location of the Reading Pane to Bottom
  2. Ungroup the items
  3. Remove lines between messages

View Other Settings Although the method isn’t fail proof and it won’t change the view of the folder who are in a modified view already this will still save you a lot of time adjusting the folders. For the folders which didn’t change after you modified the Messages view there is no other way than to repeat the steps described above in that specific folder.

Drag down the Navigation Pane

This one is easy; go to the top of the Navigation Pane hold down the mouse and then drag it down

Starting Outlook in the Folder List or Shortcuts Navigation

By default Outlook starts in the Mail Navigation. This navigation only displays the Mail folders. The Folder List Navigation shows all folders that exist in the mailbox in a hierarchy. The Shortcuts Navigation can be compared to what the Outlook Bar was; here you can configure all your own shortcuts to other Outlook folders, Explorer folders or even files*
Outlook remembers in what Navigation you closed but you can also change this in the registry. This can be handy if you are an administrator and want to deploy Outlook in the Folder List or Shortcuts Navigation so you can give your users a “Classic” Navigation.

To change the start-up Navigation we must change/create a registry key.;

  1. Make sure Outlook is closed.
  2. Open your registry editor by opening the Run command and type regedit (regedt32 for Windows 2000)
  3. Locate the following key
    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Options]
  4. Expand the Options key and select the “WunderBar” key.
    If it doesn’t exist yet choose  Edit-> New-> Key and name it WunderBar (case sensitive!).
  5. In WunderBar select “BootModule”
    If it doesn’t exist yet choose  Edit-> New-> DWORD value and name it BootModule (case sensitive!).
  6. Double-click on the newly created value and give it the number matching the Navigation you want to start Outlook with;
    0: Mail Navigation
    5: Folder List Navigation
    6: Shortcuts Navigation; note that you must have a shortcut present to the Inbox in order for this to work
  7. Press OK on the input box and close the registry editor
  8. When you open Outlook the Outlook will start in the configured Navigation.

Not comfortable editing the registry manually? Download the reg-files here. Double-click one to import them into the registry and change the Navigation.

*When you drag & drop files or folders from Explorer into the Shortcuts Navigation a shortcut will be created automatically


Unblock Attachments

Unblock Attachments buttonBelieve it or not but some people are actually creating and sending messages with attachments that will do your computer no good. Yes, you are correct; VIRUSES! There are a lot of file types in which a virus can reside. The most known are executables (programs) and scripts (automated processes).

A filename consists out of 2 parts; a name and an extension. The extension is the part of the filename after the dot. For instance the filename document.docx. Document is the name part and docx is the extension part. The last part decides how the file opens. In our example a docx file will open with Microsoft Word.

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Microsoft Outlook Backup Add-in not available

Personal Folders Backup Add-in buttonThe Personal Folders Backup add-in creates backup copies of your .PST files at regular intervals making it easy to keep all of your Outlook folders safely backed up.

Although the download site states that it only works with Outlook 2002, 2003 and 2007, it can actually be made compatible with Outlook 2010 as well with a Registry.

Unfortunately it can’t be made compatible anymore with Outlook 2013, 2016 and 2019, nor can it with Office 365. However, for these versions, alternatives are available as well.

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AutoArchive not Working

Archive buttonAutoArchive and Archive are options in Outlook to automatically or manually initiate moving of Outlook items to an Outlook Data File (pst-files) based on preconfigured settings. You can set default AutoArchive settings but also overrule them on a per-folder level or via a manual Archive.

In some cases you’ll notice that AutoArchive or Archive is not working as expected even when all settings appear to be correct. Use the steps below to troubleshoot and get AutoArchive and Archive working again.

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About mailboxes, addresses and aliases

Aliases buttonNormally a mailbox only has one e-mail address. However, nowadays, several e-mail providers allow you to set multiple addresses on just one mailbox.

In the corporate world, it is also not uncommon to have addresses from ex-employees or special projects assigned to your (Exchange) mailbox.

This guide describes the definitions and affects of aliases on Outlook.

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Change the way the Address Book sorts the names

Address Book Sort Order buttonWhile you may have sorted your Contacts folder the way you want it to, the Address Book in Outlook has its own sorting mechanism.

The separation can be quite confusing some times and the options which control the sorting order aren’t all located in the same location either, which can make things even more confusing.

This guide explains how you can set your preferred default and how to get uniformity in your Address Book.

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About the Outlook PST-File

PST File buttonPst-files, when you are using a POP3 account, Outlook can’t live without them. Outlook 2010 and previous also used pst-files for caching IMAP data.

Pst-files can also be used for additional storage, archives and exports, even when you are using an Exchange or Outlook.com/Hotmail account.

In other words; Pst-files are pretty important to Outlook and knowing how to properly treat pst-files is one of the more important basic Outlook skills as well.

This guide contains these basics but also more advanced and additional background information about the pst-file and how you can handle them.

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Make Outlook Web Access Your Default Mailer

  1. Add the following to a .reg file (don’t forget to edit the location of the Exchange server)

    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00


    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\OWA]
    @="Outlook Web Access"


    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Mail\OWA\shell\open\command]
    @="\"C:\\Program Files\\Internet Explorer\\iexplore.exe\" http://server/exchange/alias/"
  2. Import it into the registry by double-clicking the .reg file (Please know that mucking with the registry is potentially dangerous and can make your system unstable).
  3. Boot IE
  4. Go to IE’s Tools / Options… Programs tab
  5. Choose “Outlook Web Access” from the E-mail dropdown.
  6. Hit OK.

Source: http://weblogs.asp.net/tmeston/archive/2004/01/08/48837.aspx