[MacTUG] Missing Emails and the Outlook 2011 Mailing List Manager

[William Lewis]

I was recently faced with a report of emails from one sender bypassing the Inbox for an Outlook 2011 user. The emails were delivered, but determined to be hard deleted immediately. The missing messages were located in the Inbox stored "On My Computer". Determining the cause was difficult, as there were no rules on the connect server, and "Tools, Rules" on the client side also showed no client-side rules.

The culprit turned out to be the Mailing List Manager feature in Outlook 2011 (in the Tools menu, right below Rules). This is intended to help manage posts from mailing lists and move them to a folder. The default settings create a filter that moves email from your own email address to the Inbox "On My Computer". This can be customized to pick any email address, and any folder. The affected emails are moved to the folder, which ends with a hard delete from the original location on the server. This filter is client-side, so runs only when Outlook 2011 is open, and will not be seen in OWA or by the connect admins. The problem was resolved by removing the filter from the Mailing List Manager.

The Mailing List Manager settings should be checked when investigating reports of missing emails on Outlook 2011.

Will

--
R. William Lewis
Computing Consultant
Client Services - Information System & Technology
University of Waterloo

519-888-4567 x36422

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