Outlook keeps downloading duplicate copies of email from the server...

[Hooobi]

For some reason, Outlook will download additional copies of my email from the mail server. All email that has not yet been removed from the server (I keep it on there for 3 days because I like to keep my remote comp updated) will be downloaded a second time, and then a third, and so on...

It only pulls down 1 additional copy of each email during every cycle and these cycles appear to be completely random. Some days they happen once or twice, some days they happen a dozen times or more and I'll have to search my inbox for all "unread" messages in order to delete them.

Can anyone tell me how to make this stop w/o having my email deleted from the server the first time that I download it?

Also, it appears that no one else on the network is having this problem, so it seems that a setting on my computer must be screwed up.

Thanks,
H

 

[RemyCanad]

Hmm I am guessing you have it setup to leave mail on server. Now do you have it setup to delete after so many day using outlook. Or do you just go in and delete them your self using some other method such as telnet?

It sounds like for some reason it is thinking all the mail is new every once in a while. Do the other people at work also leave them on there machines? Do they delete them after a number of days? And have you talked to the admin about it?

 

[Hooobi]

It is set to automatically delete after 3 days. Others here also leave it on the server, so they can check it from remote locations, and they don't appear to be having this problem.

What has me puzzled is that it does this completely at random.

If I set one of my computers to delete after downloading, I won't be able to get those messages from the other computer, so even though I know that would solve the problem, it isn't the solution I want to have to use.

 

[RemyCanad]

I know the possition your in. I am setup the same way.

Can you set it to not delete the messages at all?

And are both machines setup to delete after three days? If so I would change that.

 

[Hooobi]

Well, if it doesn't delete the messages at all, it won't just download the last 3 days of messages, it will download additional copies of all messages still on the server...

 

[RemyCanad]

Well thats kinda what I want to see.

Now does it do it randomly every day or just once in the three days.

 

[D1vine]

The problem is a stuck message.
I work in a ISP technical support call center. Been here for about 2 years. We get it all the time. If there is a stuck message on the server (a message with corrupted headers, or its been forwarded one to many times) it will cause OUTLOOK to hang on that message and then when you go back to download your email again, the server never recieved the kill transmission signal from outlook so it will download it over and over and over.

You might want to contact the server administrators and ask if they can check the server for a stuck message. Or, if you have a webmail option to access the mail server, you should try that and see if you can delete the message from there.

 

[Hooobi]

Would a stuck message be responsible even when the server is successfully deleting email messages older than 3 days, as I have it set to do?

 

[RemyCanad]

I would think not. If I understand you correctly all the mail gets deleted. And after the deletion the server is actually empty...

 

[D1vine]

Originally posted by: Hooobi
Would a stuck message be responsible even when the server is successfully deleting email messages older than 3 days, as I have it set to do?

Hmm..yeah that is kind of a different problem.

 

[Stratification]

What version of Outlook are we talking here? They handle things a little differently depending on version. Have you tried turning off the option to leave all on server then turning it back on again. There are some entries you could possibly rename as far as the list Outlook keeps but again that'll depend on the version. Let us know and I'll see what I can find.

 

[Hooobi]

It's Outlook 2000 SR-1

When I got to work this morning, I had 1100+ unread msgs in my inbox, due to the fact it downloaded all my msgs from the last three days at least 8 times overnight

 

[RemyCanad]

Oh my gosh that is insaine! Can you backup outlook and reinstall?

 

[Stratification]

One thing you might try is renaming or deleting all *.rhc files (they'll look something like MSIN5006.RHC in the Outlook folder). It will download all messages on the server again but it'll reset the list. Might be worth a shot, those are the files that keep track of what's been downloaded already and that should reset them.