Article URL: http://www.bc.edu/helpdocs/EM-trouble001.shtml

Summary:  Learn what error messages mean and how to fix these and other problems you may have with your email application.

General troubleshooting:

• Why do I get a "Relaying Denied" or "Error 550" or "Error 554" message when sending email from home? What do I do?
• An email attachment is garbled. How can I view it?
• What if I lose important email messages?

Outlook & Entourage troubleshooting:

• What does this mean?: "Unable to display results because too many entries in the Internet Directory match you search criteria".
• Sent emails appear blank (no body text). What do I do?
• Incoming emails appear with a blank subject and body. What do I do?
• How do I fix broken links (URLs) in my Outlook emails?
• How do I view my sent messages from home?
• Outlook is slow. How can I improve its performance?
• The Search feature in Outlook does not appear to be working. What do I do?
• When I reply to a message in Outlook, a copy goes into the Inbox. How do I fix this?
• I get this error in Entourage: "LDAP Server Error" , "The Specified Server cannot be found", Error 3170. What do I do?
• Why am I not receiving any new emails in Outlook?

Why do I get a "Relaying Denied" or "Error 550" or "Error 554" message when sending email from home? What do I do?

Some off-campus BC users accessing the Internet through an ISP (Internet Service Provider), rather than the BC modem pool (552-2790), may receive a 550 or 554 "Relaying Denied" error message when trying to send email. If this happens to you, a simple change to your email settings will solve the problem. Learn how to make the necessary configuration changes (BC sign-in required).

An email attachment is garbled. How can I view it?

On rare occasions an email client may show an attachment as part of the body of a message or as garbled characters. When this happens, you can use WebMail as an alternate way to view the email and retrieve the attachment. Learn how to use WebMail to save your attachment.

What if I lose important email messages?

If you accidentally delete an important email message or experience a catastrophic loss of email, such as the deletion/corruption of an entire email folder, it may be possible to restore these from a backup stored on the BC mail server.

What are the guidelines and policies on restoring lost email?

Every night a copy of your email account (including entire mailboxes, mail folders, and messages) is created and the backup is saved for 9 days. Generally, an entire folder or mailbox can be restored as it appeared any evening within the last 9 days. Note: Any modifications of a mailbox since the last backup was performed will not be present in the restored copy. If you receive a message and it is deleted before the nightly backup, the message cannot be recovered.

How do I request an email restoration?

Help restoring email is available Monday through Friday during business hours. Email restoration is not available weekends and after-hours. Contact the Help Center at 617-552-HELP (4357) or your TC and be sure to provide them with the following information to have any folder or mailbox restored:

1. What is the name of the folder(s) or mailbox(es) you'd like restored? If you are only looking for individual messages, you'll need to provide the name of the mailbox or folder those messages were in. (It is not possible to restore individual messages.)
2. What evening were the deleted mailbox(es), folders, or messages last present? (When did you first notice the messages were missing?) Remember that this must be within the last 9 days.

Outlook error: "Unable to display results because too many entries in the Internet Directory match your search criteria".

This error indicates that you have entered an incorrect or misspelled name, or an incorrect character, such as the @ sign, in the To, CC, or BCC fields in an email message.

Sent emails appear blank (no body text). What do I do?

Microsoft is aware of this issue and will be providing a fix in their upcoming release of MS Office XP SP-3.

Incoming emails appear with a blank subject and body. What do I do?

Microsoft is aware of this issue and will be providing a fix in their upcoming release of MS Office XP SP-3.

How do I fix broken links (URLs) in my Outlook emails?

If nothing happens when you click an embedded link (URL) in an email:

• Re-set Web-related options to their defaults in Internet Explorer:
  1. Open Internet Explorer.
  2. On the Tools menu, select Internet Options.
  3. Under Internet Options, click the Programs tab.
  4. On the Programs tab, click Reset Web Settings.
  5. In the next dialog box, de-select Also reset my home page? then click Yes.
  6. Click OK in the message box that appears, then on the Programs tab, click OK.
• If that fails to fix the problem, review the link(s) that are not working and make sure that they were fully and correctly defined.

How do I view my sent messages from home?

When you send messages using Outlook 2002, it saves the messages locally in the Sent Items folder on your computer (within Outlook Today-Personal Folders). If you want to view those messages from home (or any other computer) they need to be stored on the Boston College email server.

You can configure Outlook to save sent messages to the Boston College mail server, either in addition to, or instead of, your computer. Learn how to configure Outlook to save sent messages to the Boston College mail server (BC sign-in required).

Outlook is slow. How can I improve its performance?

Turning off the Instant Messaging feature in Outlook often improves performance:

1. In Outlook 2002, on the Tools menu, select Options.
2. Under Options, choose the Other tab.
3. Deselect Instant Messaging.
4. Click OK.

The Search feature in Outlook does not appear to be working. What do I do?

Make sure to configure the Search to include sub-folders:

1. Click the main folder in which to start the search.
2. On the Tools Menu, select Find.
3. In the Look For box, enter the information you want to find.
4. In the Search In drop-down list, select Choose Folders.
5. In the far left corner, select Search Sub Folders.

When I reply to a message in Outlook, a copy goes into the Inbox. How do I fix this?

To turn off the option that causes this to happen:

1. On the Tools Menu, select Options, then Email Options.
2. Under Email Options, select Advanced E-mail Options.
3. Deselect the option In folders other than the Inbox, save replies with original message.

I get this error in Entourage: "LDAP Server Error" , "The Specified Server cannot be found", Error 3170." What do I do?

To fix this error, you need to make the BC directory the default:

1. In Entourage, on the Tools menu, select Accounts.
2. In the Accounts window, select the Directory Service tab.
3. Click on the BC directory to select it.
4. Click Make Default on the upper right side of the window, and close the window.

Why am I not receiving any new emails in Outlook?

If you can view your emails, but are not receiving any new mail, you may be working offline. When Outlook is offline, you see:

• A small rectangle containing a red x in the lower right-hand corner of the Outlook window.
• On the File menu, a checkmark next to the Work Offline option.

To return to online mode:

• From the File menu, deselect the Work Offline option.