Outlook 2019 issues

[BO Terry]

I have setup Outlook 2019 on a new client laptop this weekend. They previously had Outlook 2007 and it was setup as POP3 instead of IMAP. The issue there is that sent items were not linked to their email provider (1and1ionos) so I had to move their old PST and import it into the new Outlook. The process was completed earlier today and I just went to check in on it. Now, many (not all) emails are duplicated in the inbox as well as on webmail from the mail provider.

I have talked to the mail provider and they are escalating the issue but I'm wondering if I can go ahead and delete the duplicates in Outlook? They almost never use webmail so that is less critical. If so, any suggestions for how? I've read about some after market options but don't always trust them.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Sounds to me like it did exactly what you told it to do. If the user had an IMAP mailbox with the correct stuff, the correct course of action would have been to import only the sent items. But you imported everything, and that means duplicates.

The good news is honestly, if you think that .PST has everything in it that matters, you could just blow away the entire mailbox and reimport it from the PST.

Or just nuke the duplicates, that works too.

P.S. Hosted Exchange or go home...

 

[BO Terry]

Well, the odd things are two fold.
1: I imported the old PST telling it not to import duplicates. When the import was finished, that was correct, no duplicates. I actually had concerns about the duplication so was actually on a chat with Microsoft and they managed this part for me.

2: duplicates didn't show up until later in the process, after I ran the archive routine.

How can I filter for duplicates to delete them? Way too many to do manually.

 

[Markverhyden]

Many, if not most, email providers have added IMAP. Have you tried to add the account as IMAP?

 

[BO Terry]

Many, if not most, email providers have added IMAP. Have you tried to add the account as IMAP?

It is setup as IMAP in Outlook 2019. It was POP3 on the old machine/Outlook 2007.

 

[BO Terry]

I am on a chat/remote session with Microsoft. After verifying all settings and removing "archive" data files, they have determined it is an issue with Ionos. Now, I'm guessing Ionos may say it's a Microsoft issue, time will tell. Ionos is supposed to be back in touch with me as I reported the it to them as well.

update: no surprise, Ionos says the issue was caused by Microsoft. They say the only way to remove the duplicates from the server is manually, one by one.

 

[BO Terry]

Or just nuke the duplicates, that works too.


P.S. Hosted Exchange or go home...

**I actually created a new profile again and it is still doing the initial sync now.

**Sadly, nuking the duplicates is very much manual as done through webmail. The webmail tool has very limited filtering.

**I'm thinking about suggesting other email hosting options to them. If we switched them to something like O365, would any duplication cleanup be able to be done during the transition? Or would there be tools in O365 once converted to help with cleanup?

 

[Sky-Knight]

There are no magic tools to deal with this mess once it's created sadly. However, getting off POP3/IMAP and into Exchange does wonders for security, and stability in ways to prevent this mess from happening to begin with.

 

[SAFCasper]

Have you tried simply running a mailbox cleanup in Outlook? It will clear out duplicate emails and the changes should then sync with imap to remove them from webmail.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Out...2x things to put on your sneakers and run fast and far away from...
*IMAP and Outlook..they rarely get along. And old residential grade POP and IMAP are easily hacked, bypassing mfa.
*1&1

 

[Markverhyden]

*1&1

Yep. I didn't connect @BO Terry post to them. They're system has problems.