Mail Conflict Resolution

[StuartR]

I use Outlook 2007 SP2 connected to an Exchange server, with offline folders enabled. I don't know if this is an Outlook issue or an Exchange server issue, and I have no knowledge at all of what version of Exchange server my employers use - although I suspect it will be pretty up-to-date.

I have another laptop running Outlook 2003 which also has offline folders for the same email account and that does not have the same problem.

This issue happens identically EVERY TIME that I edit a received email. The most common thing that I do is to remove an attachment and replace it with the filename, but it happens even if I just edit the message to add a random line of text. I only ever do this when I am online to the server, so I don't know what would happen if I was offline when I do the edit.

After I edit the message I can see the edited version in the reading pane, but I also get a new message in the Sync Issues folder, which looks like this.

From:
To:
Subject: Modification Resolution
17:16:04 Mail Conflict Resolution
17:16:04 Subject: {SU:<<email subject>>}
17:16:04 EntryID: {CB:70, LPB:000000004D788451F599CF118EF508002BE579CB0700473C64A56277CF
118EEC08002BE579CB000000037C6A0000D349B519C5375349B2E0C745E4AAD449004BE84B3CE90000}
17:16:04 Checking local modifications
17:16:04 Critical stop property: 0x1000001F
17:16:04 Local modification: {D:4, M:2, Y:2010 H:16, M:34, S:4, MS:864}
17:16:04 Remote modification: {D:11, M:2, Y:2010 H:17, M:15, S:48, MS:771}
17:16:04 Conflict generated, remote item is winner

If I open the received email again then I can see that my edit has disappeared.

Even more strange, if I then edit the same message again and make the same changes then everything works properly.

I have tried saving my changes, waiting a minute or so, and saving again, but this did not help. I have to close the email, get the conflict and then edit again. I have run SCANPST to repair any issues in my OST file (offline folders), but this didn't help.

Any suggestions?

[HansV]

You could move the .ost file to another folder - Outlook should recreate it automatically.

[StuartR]

You could move the .ost file to another folder - Outlook should recreate it automatically

Just to make sure, I moved EVERYTHING from
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook
to a temporary folder, and restarted Outlook.

There was a long delay with "Preparing Outlook for first use" and then Synchronizing all my folders. I am waiting till this has settled down and everything is stable, this could take a long time as I have many files in many folders!

[StuartR]

You could move the .ost file to another folder - Outlook should recreate it automatically.

That seems to have done the trick.

[StuartR]

Sadly, the behaviour has reverted to status quo ante

[HansV]

Rebuilding the .ost file is the only remedy I've been able to find. I take it that disabling offline folders is not an option for you...

[StuartR]

...I take it that disabling offline folders is not an option for you...

No way, I spend a lot of time untethered, and need access to my mail, contacts, calendar etc.

[StuartR]

I created a completely new mail profile, but it still behaves the same.

I have been looking at the conflict resolution messages, and I am starting to think it may be a timezone problem, but the offset isn't a multiple of one hour, so maybe not!

I edited an email at 09:11 and the Modification Resolution email included the following...

Code: Select all

09:11:00 Local modification: {D:3, M:3, Y:2010 H:8, M:32, S:22, MS:63}
09:11:00 Remote modification: {D:3, M:3, Y:2010 H:9, M:11, S:0, MS:45}
09:11:00 Conflict generated, remote item is winner

So

• The remote modification time corresponds to when I edited the file
• The local modification is about 40 minutes earlier
• It decides that the remote file is newer and undoes my changes

It still allows a second or subsequent edit, it is only the very first time that I edit a file that I get this error.

[StuartR]

Just to achieve closure.

I updated the PC to Office 2010 some weeks ago, and all now works as it should.

[HansV]

Thanks for the update!

[StuartR]

Thanks for the update!

This particular problem would have prevented me from using your very useful Outlook Attachment Manager, so I'm glad it's fixed.

[JoeP]

Sometimes new versions of software are helpful.

Joe