Flagged emails in pst file corrupt to do list

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Istmus

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Outlook version
Outlook 2016 32 bit
Email Account
POP3
I have several POP3 email accounts. Using a rule I move incoming messages from all of them to a single pst folder, so I can see all incoming messages in one folder. I frequently flag messages in this pst file for further action, monitoring them in the To Do list.

Since this morning though, flagging such a message causes erratic behaviour in viewing the To Do List, with nothing showing under Today except a lot of blank entries. Tasks for today are no longer visible in the list - although they can still be seen when looking at the Tasks page.

Flagging messages in an email account folder works fine. The problem seems to be just with messages in pst folders.

I've tried repairing Outlook and tried creating a new pst folder, but the problem persists.

Any suggestions gratefully received.
 
Not sure it is related... but do you use Show as Conversations view? If not, tick the option (View tab) and see if it helps. (There is a search bug that search all mailboxes only works if this is used.)
 
Thanks for the suggestion, but sadly it didn't make any difference.
 
Yeah, I gave it a less than 50-50 chance of working, but its an easy test.

Have you reset the view?

Am i correct in understanding something is shown (like a placeholder), its just not a usable task? If the tasks aren't found, verify the pst is enabled for reminders - right click on the pst name, choose properties and if there is a checkbox to show reminders, it needs to be checked. If an email account is delivered to the pst, this option is not there as they are enabled for reminders.
 
When I disable reminders for the pst file, then the to do list becomes usable again, with all tasks visible - just no flagged emails. When I enable reminders, then the tasks for today, as well as the flagged emails disappear, and all I see in the to do list for today is a load of blank lines with check boxes on the right hand end of each line. If I invert the list to look at later tasks first, then those are visible, with the blank lines and checkboxes at the bottom. The number of blank lines seems to be way in excess of the number of tasks that should be there.

If I create a new pst file with reminders enabled, and remove the old one, then the to do list is fine until I flag an email in the new pst file. At which point the to do list becomes unusable. Simply unflagging the email again, doesn't reverse the problem. However if I use undo to back out the flagging, then the problem disappears.
 
I learned yesterday that this is a bug with the current version. Does changing the sort order show the missing items? It was reported that arranging by Categories, Folder, Type or Importance will show the missing items.
 
Diane and Istmus,

I have an identical problem, and I wanted to add some info about my experience in case it helps. At least it should help people from wasting as much time as I have...

My experience is essentially identical to Istmus. I also HAD several POP accounts (plus I use an IMAP account for work in addition to the POP account to do occasional maintenance on my account on the server - we do not use exchange here). I started having the same issue as Ismus describes. Tasks are ok if you are in the to do window and just click the task list, but if you look at the entire to do list, then flagged emails are the issue and cause the problem.

Note that all the emails are flagged correctly if you find the email itself, this is just a viewing issue with he to do list and the to do bar.

After many things done including copying .pst files, deleting and restoring email accounts, running command line switches to reset the to do bar, clean reminders and so on, nothing worked.

So then I gave up and started a new profile and started with a single POP account for my most pressing concern, my work email. With just that one account, the to do bar works as intended, even when using my old .pst file. It loaded and everything looked good (which is good because that is where everything I need to be reminded about is!)

However, once I added a second email account the problem immediately reappears if the .pst file has any emails flagged. I tried this on two of my other email account and one doesn't have any flagged emails and that didn't cause a problem. However, as Istmus reported, as soon as I flag an email in the account, I get blanks for the group that includes the due date of the just flagged email. If I unflag, the problem clears. If I re-flag as due tomorrow, then tomorrow's group on the to do list has the issue of being blank.

Further, even when I deleted that account and added a brand new account with a fresh .pst file, the problem is still the same. So then I figured it had to be a bug, and my guess was it occurs when you have more than one account. So I went looking for Diane whose information has helped me countless times over the years and sure enough here we are.

After reading this thread, I went to look at the bug report, and I wish I had seen that yesterday. I see my conclusion is correct that it involves two accounts, however, I want to mention that the info on the microsoft page about the issue says the problem occurs "If you have two different Exchange accounts (including Outlook.com) in your Outlook 2016 profile..." however I have no exchange account as I mentioned so this appears to apply to pop accounts also.

As for the workarounds, sorting by anything other than due date appears to work and all items are shown, however by due date is really the only useful sorting option I use so that isn't too helpful.

The best workaround I found is not showing in groups (which is ironic since I hate groups for anything but the to do list sorted by date!). This is one of the MS suggestions but they are referring to the task window itself which I rarely look at, I just use the to do bar. The good news is not showing in groups on the to do bar also works to clear the problem, just without having the overdue, today,tomorrow, etc groupings by due date which I like but now this is a minor annoyance instead of a major problem preventing me from know what to do! haha.

I am back an running for now, when I have the chance I will add back in my other email accounts and see if things stay the same.

Paul
 
PaulU said:
"If you have two different Exchange accounts (including Outlook.com) in your Outlook 2016 profile..." however I have no exchange account as I mentioned so this appears to apply to pop accounts also.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that is not correct. It's probably what they repro'd... because people with exchange might have support contracts, so they hear more from exchange users.

Thanks for for the update!
 
Thanks all for the information. It's bizarrely comforting to know its a bug, rather than some messy profile corruption. I'll try some of the suggested workrounds and see which works best for me.

Thanks again
 
I have what I think is a related issue. I have 4 IMAP accounts, so no PST files, only OST files. What I'm seeing is a zillion flagged emails showing up in my To Do list. I never want my flagged emails to show up in my To Do list, and they never used to, thena couple of months ago, a few started showing up, and now, as best I can tell, all of them. I flag emails, so I can find them easily in a folder, not to create a task--I do that separately, or drag the email to the Task list to create a separate, un-linked task out of the email.

My question is, how can I ensure that no flagged emails show up in the ToDo list? Is there a setting I'm missing with OST files? Shall I wait and see what happens with next month's release? Also, how do I post this somewhere so the Outlook engineers can see it?
 
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