Rojo26
Sun Jul 06 11:40:01 PDT 2008
So today, all of my missing messages suddenly were downloaded into Outlook
along with new ones. And nothing was "working as it should" earlier. Some
messages were skipped over for no apparent reason. How is that "working as it
should"? My point was that messages that didn't get downloaded into Outlook
the first time might have had something wrong with them that kept them from
being downloaded. But that hypothesis was disproved when they were downloaded
into Outlook Express--if there were something wrong with the messages, they
presumably wouldn't have been downloaded into another mail program.
The point you seem not to understand is that if the missing messages never
downloaded into Outlook, they were still AVAILABLE to be downloaded into
Outlook, which happened today. I knew that messages that had already been
downloaded wouldn't be downloaded again. If they had been downloaded in the
first place, I wouldn't have made the original post. By the way, I didn't get
a chance to run scanpst on my pst file, and Avast's e-mail scanner restarted
when I started the computer this morning. So there was no apparent change
between the days when the missing messages wouldn't download and today.
Whatever change there was that allowed them to be downloaded today was
neither caused by nor revealed to me.
more...
"Roady [MVP]" wrote:
> None of your remarks are relevant to troubleshooting this and only indicates
> it works as it should.
>
> > Meanwhile, if you'll recall from my original post, as soon as I set up
> > Outlook Express for the same account, my missing messages appeared.
> In Outlook Express, not in Outlook. If you were to recreate you mail profile
> of Outlook, you'd also download all messages on the server again as your
> downloaded messages history would be reset.
>
> > for instance, move a message out of my Webmail spam folder into
> > my inbox when Outlook is open, it is downloaded immediately into Outlook.
> Sure, because it is now in the Inbox folder under a new ID which hasn't been
> downloaded yet so it will download now.
>
> > So I'd know immediately if disabling it would solve the problem.
> No, there is no logic in your arguments which supports that. All on-line
> items which you want to download again need to get a new ID which is higher
> than the last ID which you downloaded.
Your keyword is "again." The messages didn't download the first time.
>
> > What I'm saying
> > is that the missing messages didn't come in after disabling Avast!.
> Which is expected if you understand the logic behind the POP3 protocol.
> That's why I asked if you were saying this based on old items or new.
>
> Could you give a clear example of a rule that doesn't work? If possible
> provide an example of a message as well that should be caught by rules but
> in fact is not. My guess is, that either the rule is corrupt or other rules
> apply to the message as well which reverses the effect of another. This is
> often the case when people create many rules. Make sure you sort your rules
> accordingly and add the condition "and stop processing rules" accordingly.
I have three problems with Outlook's rules. One is that when setting up
rules using the non-advanced method, Outlook shows the display name rather
than the e-mail address. So if I set a rule for Outlook to move mail from a
particular person to a particular folder, if mail from that person's name
comes with the same display name but a different address, the message doesn't
get moved. I therefore think Microsoft should have Outllook show the address
rather than the display name so as not to throw people off. So the next step
is to use the advanced options and enter the message text into the Specified
Text In The Message Header field. That leads me to my two other problems with
Outlook rules--sometimes those rules work and somethimes they don't. And
Outllok Help apparently does not provide the exact definition of a message
header. I had to learn how to use the message header option from posting to
this newsgroup. I tried to use "Specific words in the Sender's address," but
that didn't work too well either. You're probably the one who told me how to
use the message header. The Help says simply to follow the directions in the
Rules wizard, which doesn't provide enough instructions. I know it is the
attitude of many MVPs that one needs to spend time learning how to use the
program. But that is no excuse for over-complicating something simple. Why,
for example, can't Outlook have what many Web-based filters have: the
capability to specify text in the From line. No one who knows how to create a
rule in the first place needs to look up the definition of the From line.
I could sometimes have more than one rule operating on a single message, but
I created subsequent rules only after the original rule didn't work or
because it didn't work, I forgot that I had made it. And all rules applying
to any given message are to move the message into the same folder. I've even
created rules by right-clicking a message and then tried to apply the rule to
all messages in my Inbox but the messages weren't moved.
Many of my rules are gone now, because a few weeks ago, many of my rules
suddenly lost their configuration settings. I was checking my mail and got a
message that said "One or more of your rules are in error." I went to Rules
and Alerts and discovered that most of them had no destination folder set.
This is the second time that happened. I didn't recognize all the senders'
names, so for those, I simply deleted the rules altogether. For the others, I
reentered the destination folders.
Finally, you said I should sort my rules. How do I do that? There appears to
be nothing in Outlook 2007 Help that tells how to sort rules. And incomplete
help files are the worst part of a vast number of applications.
> --
> Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
> Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
>
http://www.howto-outlook.com/
> Outlook FAQ, HowTo, Downloads, Add-Ins and more
>
>
http://www.msoutlook.info/
> Real World Questions, Real World Answers
>
> -----
>
> "Rojo26" <Rojo26@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:C6439905-CE8B-457B-A688-B46739003416@microsoft.com...
> > Rules and Alerts in two consecutive versions of Outlook haven't worked
> > consistently for me. I am a busy A+ technician, and this is a complaint
> > I've
> > heard from many people. ONe of the problems is that Outlook shows the
> > display
> > name but uses the address when determining the address to use. But if you
> > use
> > a certain word in the message header as the trigger for the rule, it
> > doesn't
> > always work either. I set lots of rules, and my boss in the computer shop
> > sets even more; yet we both have problems with them.
> >
> > Meanwhile, if you'll recall from my original post, as soon as I set up
> > Outlook Express for the same account, my missing messages appeared. I do
> > know
> > that when I, for instance, move a message out of my Webmail spam folder
> > into
> > my inbox when Outlook is open, it is downloaded immediately into Outlook.
> > So
> > I'd know immediately if disabling it would solve the problem. What I'm
> > saying
> > is that the missing messages didn't come in after disabling Avast!.
> >
> > "Roady [MVP]" wrote:
> >
> >> No, Rules and Alerts should work as it should.
> >> Of course if you only just disabled Avast, it's not going to download the
> >> messages that were already in the online mailbox. Or are you saying that
> >> messages that have been received after disabling Avast's integration with
> >> Outlook don't come in either?
> >>
> >> --
> >> Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
> >> Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
> >>
http://www.howto-outlook.com/
> >> Outlook FAQ, HowTo, Downloads, Add-Ins and more
> >>
> >>
http://www.msoutlook.info/
> >> Real World Questions, Real World Answers
> >>
> >> -----
> >>
> >> "Rojo26" <Rojo26@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:14ACA4CC-F6F8-4B5E-9FCF-C7380EB86EFB@microsoft.com...
> >> > Yes, I'm using Avast! on this computer. I justn disabled the e-mail
> >> > provider
> >> > in Avast!, but it made no difference. And I've had rule problems ever
> >> > since I
> >> > started using Outlook a few years ago. The rules aren't performing any
> >> > worse
> >> > than usual. I just think the entire Rules and Alerts feature has been
> >> > badly
> >> > designed. But I'll try the scanpst and let you know.
> >> >
> >> > "Roady [MVP]" wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Do you have a virus scanner that integrates with Outlook? Disable this
> >> >> integration and try again.
> >> >> Why did you ignore the rules issue? It could be caused by a more
> >> >> serious
> >> >> issue underneath like corruption of your mail database. Use
> >> >> scanpst.exe
> >> >> to
> >> >> check the integrity of your pst-file.
> >> >>
> >> >> --
> >> >> Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
> >> >> Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
> >> >>
http://www.howto-outlook.com/
> >> >> Outlook FAQ, HowTo, Downloads, Add-Ins and more
> >> >>
> >> >>
http://www.msoutlook.info/
> >> >> Real World Questions, Real World Answers
> >> >>
> >> >> -----
> >> >>
> >> >> "Rojo26" <Rojo26@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> >> news:6AD8CA4C-5EF6-4CAB-AE95-6959F2D13401@microsoft.com...
> >> >> > In the last week or so, I have not received all the messages in
> >> >> > Outlook
> >> >> > that
> >> >> > I have received in Webmail for the same account. I contacted the
> >> >> > ISP,
> >> >> > which
> >> >> > provides the mail server, and during the call it dawned on me to set
> >> >> > up
> >> >> > Outlook Express for the same account (set to leave a copy on the
> >> >> > server).
> >> >> > Sure enough, I got ALL the mail from the server in Outlook Express,
> >> >> > but
> >> >> > not
> >> >> > in Outlook, which narrows down the problem to Outlook. I checked my
> >> >> > spam
> >> >> > folders and the deleted folder, but the messages never made it to
> >> >> > either
> >> >> > place. I do have rules set up to move mail from many addresses to
> >> >> > specified
> >> >> > folders, including at least some of the addresses of the missing
> >> >> > mail,
> >> >> > but
> >> >> > the rules aren't working. I really don't understand why so many of
> >> >> > the
> >> >> > rules
> >> >> > I've set up in Outllook 2003 and 2007 never work and some of the
> >> >> > others
> >> >> > work
> >> >> > intermittently. But I don't think my problems with rules are the
> >> >> > culprit
> >> >> > here, or at least the messages would have made it to the inbox. Does
> >> >> > anybody
> >> >> > have any idea what's going on?
> >> >>
> >> >>