Outlook .msg opens wrong file with subsequent attachments

[Guest TODDnology]

We have an ERP application that repeatedly opens saved emails (.MSG files). On a few workstations (not all), when we attempt to open a .MSG file Outlook shows the correct email on the first attempt however on subsequent attempts we get the original file not the correct one. In each event we are prompted to "open, save or cancel" the file which has a what appears to be a randomly generated name such as 'AB34TXKD.MSG' that is indicates its stored in a path that begins "C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\T". Unfortunately it's truncated so we cannot tell for sure but Iassume it's "Temporary Internet Files" based on my research. The generated filename is the same each time. If we click 'Open' at the initial prompt we encounter the issue but if the user clicks 'Save', accepts the default save location/name provided and then clicks 'Open' after it's been saved the correct file opens.

 

In searching for solutions I came across references to the OutlookSecureTempFolder key. We are running office/outlook 2007 SP2. On the workstation with the problem there was no HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Security node in the registry let alone OSTF key. I tried creating this entry to no avail. The only way I could get the system to work properly was to change the users location of temporary internet files to a different folder. Once I did that I found that Outlook saved it's files to C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Temp. I know this was the location because after I changed the location I could search for the MSG files and find them- before they would not show up.

 

I'm at a loss to understand why this worked? If this resolution is the proper solution and if anyone has had similar issue and what they did in their case to resolve.

 

Thanks very much in advance

TC

[Steve Krause]

Hi TC,

 

The problem could be related to how Outlook handles attachments when you open them in Outlook. Being that your opening a .msg file, I'm going to assume this is also being treated the same as an attachment in some cases.

 

Here is a problem I wrote about in the past - http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microso ... ent-error/

 

Essentially, if you opened up attachments in Outlook you would have issues once the # of them grew above 100 (if I can remember correctly). You might be hitting up against something similar on these workstations.

 

It might be worth a read just to get more familiar with how Outlook handles attachments. Other than that, sorry if I'm not more help.

 

That being said, if you found a solution of changing the temp folder for outlook and that is now working for you, I don't see any harm in your scripting this fix and applying it to users who have this issue. There should be no long-term negative effects I can think of by changing the location of the temp folder.

 

Let us know if you make any further progress on this!