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users getting inbox full messages

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rmcdaniel

IS-IT--Management
Oct 13, 2006
34
US
We are running Exchange 2000 and I have a couple of users who are still getting "inbox full" errors even after they have deleted as many emails as possible and cleared out their deleted boxes. Users are running Outlook 2002.

Thanks
 
Are you sure it says 'Inbox full'? More likely its 'Mailbox full'.

Check the Sent Items folder, usually people forget to clear that out. Then try looking at the size of each individual folder within the mailbox (right click the folder then click 'Folder Size')

They're your two main suspects!
 
Here's a few other things to check:

Event Viewer / Application Log: Make sure mailbox online-defragmentation is not aborting. A damaged database can cause this but you will also see this if you are running certain spam blocking software or software that adds messages to the bottom of outgoing emails.

I found that ORF was causing problems and I had to disable SMTP just prior to backup as well as online-defragmentation. I would then enable just after by using the DOS commands. You can use "net stop smtpsvc" before the process and "net start smtpsvc" just after to do this. I put them in the task scheduler and setup exchange to do the online-defrag and backup in between those times so it happend automatically late at night.

Look for ESE, ntbackup, and exchange errors in the event log to confirm this is your problem. If you aren't getting those errors then we can look at other things.

Brian
 
Check the obvious (deleted, sent items, etc). Also, check to see that they do not have large attachments. A user can have one piece of mail that contains a large attachment that can cause their mailbox to be full.

Another thing to look at is to see if mail is being forwarded to their accounts, its possible that account is full. I had this same problem and found that there was a genric mailbox that was full, the inbox was being forwarded to a user who kept getting "Mailbox Full" messages even though her mailbox was virtually empty. Two places to look for mail being forwarded: Active Directory and an Oultook Rule.
 
AutoArchive works wonders. No matter how they go about deleting or "purging" their mailbox they always have some hidden in another folder.
 
Right click mailbox, click properties, click folder size. Is it over or under your limit? If so, browse down and see if there is a bloated mail folder you've missed by browsing manually through the mailbox. GFI and other spam software can be configured to create a spam folder, which is typically nested underneath your inbox.

Hope that helps
 
AutoArchive should not be used in a business environment. You lose:

Single Instance Store
The ability to scan for viruses
Backups (archives are on the local workstation)

Check the Deleted Item Retention settings on the server to see if it's holding the items. You need to wait for that period to pass before the messages are removed from the database.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP
Want to know how email works? Read for yourself -
 
Our viruses are scanned as they come into the Exchange Server Mailbox store. Once the users find out where their emails went when "they were just there yesterday" they are fine.

thanks everyone
 
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