The following articles were included in our Exchange Messaging Outlook (EMO) newsletter published on February 17, 2022.
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Today's Highlights
Moving Outlook to a new computer
I get a lot of questions asking how to move email to a new computer. My first question is always “What type of email account do you have configured in Outlook - POP, IMAP, Outlook.com, or Microsoft Exchange? Do you use a PST archive file?” Ok, so that is two questions…. but they are related. :)
If you have an Exchange account, including Outlook.com, everything in the mailbox is stored on the server. You don't need to do anything but add the account to Outlook on the new computer.
If you use an IMAP account, the situation is the same – the mail is stored on the server and will sync down once you add the account to Outlook. The exception is Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks. If you have the IMAP data file set as default in Outlook 2013 or newer, it will have folders with “(this computer only)” added to the folder name. You will need to export those folders to a PST or CSV file to import on the new computer. Import the Calendar, choosing the IMAP "Calendar (this computer only)" folder, then repeat to import the Contacts, choosing the IMAP contacts folder, otherwise, Outlook will create a second calendar and contacts in the data file.
If you use a POP account or have Archive PST files, you only need to copy the data files to the new computer and open it in Outlook. Do not export or import – just open the PST file in File > Open & Export > Open Outlook Data file. When you import or export, you lose some customizations that are stored in hidden files in the PST, including custom views, rules, and the Message Manager file that stores the last downloaded message. If you leave mail on the server and use the copied PST as the default data file for the account, you will not download mail that was previously downloaded. You'll also have your rules, although rules that move mail to a new folder might need to be repointed to the folder.
Moving Outlook to a new Windows computer
Shared Mailboxes or Calendars not updating
A number of users are reporting the Shared calendars in Microsoft 365 business accounts are not updating following an Office update in mid-January.
The bug does not appear to affect every account. Affected users can try clearing the offline cache for the affected folders. Right-click on the folder, choose Properties then click Clear offline items. Wait about 15 minutes and if the folder hasn't started syncing, click on Update Folder (on Send / Receive tab.)
If that doesn't help, disabling the option to download shared folders and the shared calendar improvements appears to fix the issue, with some users reporting they could re-enable the option to download shared folders after a few minutes. I don't recommend re-enabling the calendar improvements immediately.
Go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings. Double click on the account and click More Settings. On the Advanced tab, untick "Download shared folders" and "Turn on shared calendar improvements". You can turn it back on later, but may need to turn it off again within a few days, or clear offline items.
Incoming Mail going straight to Deleted Items
Several times a week users report that their mail is downloaded and moved immediately to the Deleted Items folder. They ask how to fix it.
This behavior points to a misconfigured rule. If you find a rule to delete all messages and didn't set it yourself, you should immediately change your password, just in case the rule was created by a hacker. If it's a rule you created but you thought you set a condition so specific mail would be deleted, it was probably an error on your part, not a hacker.
Outlook.com: Remove Add Gmail Account icon
Users with Office 365 subscriptions have the ability to add their Gmail account to their Outlook .com account as an “Additional mailboxes”, so they can read Gmail in the outlook.com interface. This is different from the now-defunct Connected accounts, where mail from other accounts count by sucked into your Outlook.com mailbox. The Gmail account is not merged with the Outlook.com account, it just opens in the Outlook.com interface.
Subscribers can link the Gmail account by clicking on the envelope icon in between the Outlook.com icon and the Mail module icon. When a Gmail account is linked, users will see a Gmail icon but when an account is not linked, users see an envelope icon. The icon is almost identical to the mail icon that brings up the mail module, which can lead users to click it by mistake.
One of those users posted a suggestion to allow users to remove the icon. If you agree, please vote for the suggestion at Allow Setting to remove "Add Gmail account" from pinned sidebar
To remove a linked Gmail account, open Outlook.com's Settings (gear icon) > View all Outlook settings > Premium > Features. Remove it from under the heading “Additional mailboxes” (which makes no sense since you can only add one mailbox.)
New & Updated Microsoft Support Articles
You experience issues in Outlook when you try to configure free/busy information or when you try to delegate information
Describes the issues that you may experience in Outlook because a mailbox property does not correctly reference a hidden message in the mailbox. Provides a resolution.
Fixes or workarounds for recent issues in Outlook for PC
Fixes or workarounds for recent issues on Outlook.com
Fixes or workarounds for recent issues in Outlook for Mac
Other Resources
Delete Ghost .OST Files from Outlook Profiles
How to solve this Outlook error message: "This data file is associated with a mail account. To remove it use the Email' tab" when the email account was removed from the Outlook profile.
Use PowerShell to backup Outlook PST files
How to use PowerShell to create a backup copy of your Microsoft Outlook PST files.