Outlook 2016 cannot delete, email showing in root

[Chrisokia]

Sorry for my clueless-ness...

Outlook 2016, Windows 7 pro. IMAP account (.ost)
I have 2 problems that may be related.
1) Some emails can be seen ONLY in the root folder of the email account, but not the inbox.

example: email shows up in bob@bobsfurn.com but not the inbox which is immediately under bob@bobsfurn.com
In the other email accounts in outlook clicking on the top/root name opens up Outlook Today

2) Emails in the root cannot be deleted due in to insufficient privilege. Owner is an admin. The folder is and has always been local.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Some emails can be seen ONLY in the root folder of the email account, but not the inbox.

Are you using rules to move mail? That's the usual way they get into the root... although I'm not sure this works with imap - i tried moving a message into the folder and got this message:

Cannot move the items. You don't have permission to create an entry in this folder. Right-click the folder, and then dick Properties to check your permissions for the folder. See the folder owner or your administrator to change your permissions.

I'm assuming that's the message you got trying to delete them.

Emails in the root cannot be deleted due in to insufficient privilege.

If you only need to delete them, mfcmapi should do it, or delete the ost and let the mailbox resync. (if you use this computer only folders, export the contents of those folders before deleting the ost)

 

[Chrisokia]

Are you using rules to move mail? That's the usual way they get into the root... although I'm not sure this works with imap - i tried moving a message into the folder and got this message:

Cannot move the items. You don't have permission to create an entry in this folder. Right-click the folder, and then dick Properties to check your permissions for the folder. See the folder owner or your administrator to change your permissions.

I'm assuming that's the message you got trying to delete them.


If you only need to delete them, mfcmapi should do it, or delete the ost and let the mailbox resync. (if you use this computer only folders, export the contents of those folders before deleting the ost)

When i say root I mean: Looks like this is folder view.
Name of email address
>inbox
>saved email
>trash
>sent

Name of email address = ROOT

NORMALLY - the 'root' is OUTLOOK TODAY. tasks / appts and such. NO emails.

The way this is working is that the root has emails in it. it's functioning like an inbox folder. Why would that happen? that seems to be the 1st problem.
No....no rules. nothing unusual at all except i'm using migadu for a domain name and i'm using them as my email provider.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

NORMALLY - the 'root' is OUTLOOK TODAY. tasks / appts and such. NO emails.

Correct. But you can store mail there, at least with pst and Exchange. it made a good place to hide mail from prying eyes.

last fall a bunch of outlook.com users had mail going into the root - in the cases i looks at, a rule got messed up in outlook on the web and moved mail into the folder.

If you need the mail that is in the root folder, you'll need to use mfcmapi - at the very least, you can export it to your hard drive. if you don't need the mail, it should work to delete the data file and let outlook resync it. just make sure any 'this computer only' folders are empty before you delete it.

 

[Chrisokia]

Correct. But you can store mail there, at least with pst and Exchange. it made a good place to hide mail from prying eyes.

last fall a bunch of outlook.com users had mail going into the root - in the cases i looks at, a rule got messed up in outlook on the web and moved mail into the folder.

If you need the mail that is in the root folder, you'll need to use mfcmapi - at the very least, you can export it to your hard drive. if you don't need the mail, it should work to delete the data file and let outlook resync it. just make sure any 'this computer only' folders are empty before you delete it.

WHY is the mail going into that root folder? It is causing some major headaches!
OK, pretend I don't know what I'm doing....
I don't understand what you mean by 'use mfcmapi'.
Delete the data file? to be clear, since this is not a .pst account ALL email is on the server at migadu and deleting the data file and reconfiguring the whole outlook account will get me ALL that email on the server once I hit sync/send.

Setting up email is very simple. Why would I not have permissions on my own folder? does this have to do with the email provider, migadu?

 

[Diane Poremsky]

WHY is the mail going into that root folder? It is causing some major headaches!

Usually a rule or a misconfiguration of the account. If all mail goes there, look in file, account settings - Select the account and look at the bottom of the dialog. What does it say about the delivery location?

Click on Change then More Settings. On Advanced tab, do you have anything set for the root path? (I forget the exact wording and am on my iPad, so I can’t check.) If it’s blank, you might want to try setting it to inbox; if it has inbox, try leaving it blank.

If you need the messages, you’ll need to move or copy them. If you can’t move or copy them within the interface, you’ll need to use mfcmapi to do it deep within the data file. (I didn’t try saving the messages on the hard drive, if that works, you won’t need mfcmapi.)

After you save out the messages you need, rename the data file. Outlook will create a new one - see if the problem recurs. Any rules you have will be gone - they are stored in the data file you renamed - if you have a lot of rules, you could export the rules before renaming but don’t import them for a few days, to see if the problem recurs.