FIX: Outlook Inbox Missing / Disappeared

I had an issue here recently where some time after moving mailboxes from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2007 and then to a new Exchange 2007 server, two user’s Inbox folders disappeared from their mailboxes. All other folders were still there (Calendar, Tasks, Sent Items, other ‘mail’ folders), just the Inbox was missing.

missing_inbox

The view through Outlook Web Access (OWA) was much the same. Re-creating the offline sync file (*.ost) had no affect. Starting Outlook with “outlook.exe /resetfolders” also had no impact.

The KB924226 – Contacts or other default folder hidden, but shortcut works with Open in New Window seems to be a similar problem.

Workarounds

  • Can still access inbox from the Outlook today page.
  • Can still access from mobile device
  • Right-click ‘Mailbox’ | Open Other Folder | Open Other User’s folder | type the user name.

Solution

  1. Download mfcmapi from this link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=55fdffd7-1878-4637-9808-1e21abb3ae37&displaylang=en
  2. Extract this on the end-user’s computer having the issue
  3. Open up MFCMapi on the computer and choose the “Session” then “Logon and Display Store Table”.
  4. Select the profile that the user uses to access email then double-click the “Mailbox MDB” 
  5. On the new folder that opens, expand “Root – Mailbox” and then expand the Information Store folder which will show all the folders in the mailbox (IPM_SUBTREE)
  6. Highlight Inbox
  7. On the right pane, look for the Property Name – “PR_ATTR_HIDDEN”. This should have a tag of 0×10F4000B. Under the Value column, this should be set to False by default. 
  8. If it is set to True, right-click this Property Name, then, select “Edit Property”
  9. Uncheck the checkbox, which sets the attribute to F (False) and click on OK.
  10. Refresh the screen by selecting F5 and make sure that the change did not revert back to T (True).
  11. Close MFCMapi.
  12. Open Outlook and see if Inbox folder is now showing in the Mailbox Hierarchy.

Cause

If it was experienced some time after the mailbox move (which it was), then it has nothing to do with the move. Something must be changing the property bit. This could be a 3rd party product such as Anti-Virus software or an Outlook Add-in

This entry was written by Grant Holliday, posted on July 24, 2007 at 4:41 am, filed under Technology. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

12 Comments

  1. Michael
    Posted July 27, 2007 at 2:52 am | Permalink

    After reading this, I thought I would leave a note about a tool that you can use to track how many times someone read your email.I’ve been using BigString (not only because its free), but, like I said, I found it to be a great way to send out emails….they self-destruct too!Here’s some more info if your interested:BigString (http://www.bigstring.com ), the new free webmail program, offers revolutionary features. When you send mail from your BigString account, you are protected. BigString is like an automatic shredder for your email. You can self-destruct or change an email that’s already been sent or read. Don’t leave your messages sitting in peoples’ inbox forever.http://www.BigString.com

  2. Andreas
    Posted August 13, 2007 at 8:40 am | Permalink

    Thanks a million… Looked all over for a solution, but this did the trick…

  3. Bobby
    Posted November 7, 2007 at 5:16 pm | Permalink

    This happened to me not only for the “inbox” folder , couple of additional folders. I was looking for a solution for almost a month and thanks to you this perfectly worked.. Thanks a bunch..

  4. Nelson
    Posted January 11, 2008 at 3:03 pm | Permalink

    Thanks!!! I don’t remember how many months I have been looking for a solution. I try it, and worked!!!

    Thanks!!!

  5. Bartholemieux
    Posted June 12, 2008 at 12:11 am | Permalink

    Does this work when the inbox is missing in OWA only? I have a client whose inbox appears in Outlook, but not in OWA Any suggestions?

  6. John C. Kirk
    Posted June 26, 2008 at 3:33 am | Permalink

    Thank you – that was exactly what I needed to solve my problem!

  7. Howie
    Posted July 29, 2008 at 8:18 pm | Permalink

    Brilliant!

    Inbox missing in OWA & Outlook

    Did this, fixed perfectly.

  8. Alex Krenvalk
    Posted October 14, 2008 at 5:15 am | Permalink

    For fix Outlook files use-ost fix,can help you with this and convert *.ost files to *.pst extension, that can be easily read by any email client, compatible with Microsoft Outlook,will save your contacts, even when *.ost file is corrupted and cannot be opened with other tools,can be easily forwarded to any other PC, that’s a good possibility to save a backup of your email and use it at home,allows to fix ost files and extract all emails with attachments, contacts, folders and subfolders. outlook .ost file fix is a good solution to recover your mailbox.

  9. Fred
    Posted February 20, 2009 at 8:46 am | Permalink

    I have to say, you’re my hero, this worked like a charm! No idea how it happened, but from all my googling, your site was the only one that hit on the issue, and provided a possible solution. Well done my friend!
    -Fred

  10. ZEI
    Posted February 23, 2009 at 11:06 pm | Permalink

    Additional Tip:
    7.If PR_ATTR_HIDDEN does not exist, you can find it in the other folders. Copy and paste PR_ATTR_HIDDEN in your desired folder. Restart Outlook.

  11. Raj
    Posted May 13, 2009 at 9:27 am | Permalink

    Hi,

    Well, I have tried the solution which was given at the top but I had no luck, It is still the same. Any other way around it?

    Regards

  12. Raj
    Posted May 13, 2009 at 9:28 am | Permalink

    P.S. I tried ost and pstscan, still no luck


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