Outlook Free/Busy error

Hi,

The underlying reason why Outlook displays this "data file" check is very simple. There is a single flag in the header of the data file that is a Boolean value (True or False). While you use Outlook the value of this flag is constantly changing as the data file is updated. When the update begins the value is changed to False and then when the update completes the value is changed back to True (implying the update is finished and successful).

So, the key to the problem is the shut down process because once the Outlook.exe process is exited this flag value cannot be changed. If the Outlook.exe process was terminated prematurely or a 3rd party add-in did not properly set the flag value to True then the flag value can be left at False. If you start Outlook with a data file where the value of the flag is False you are guaranteed to see the "data file" check. If the value of the flag is True then you will not see the "data file" check.

Right now, there are a few known common causes for this issue:

- Shutting down Windows before the Outlook.exe process has exited

- 3rd party add-ins improperly "closing" the data file

- Outlook crashing

- Non-Outlook process accessing the data file

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/954642/en-us

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948733/en-us

Regarding the post advised by Rod, I would like to explain more detailed:

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When you shut down Outlook, the Outlook window goes away, but the Outlook.exe process can continue to run for some time. That's why you can see Outlook.exe sitting in Task Manager for a few minutes after closing the Outlook window. If you shut down Windows while the Outlook.exe process is still running Windows will not wait for the Outlook.exe process to exit. So, you increase the likelihood of encountering the "data file check" issue the next time you start Outlook (because the Outlook.exe process was not able to "close" your data file(s) completely before Windows was shut down).

On the other hand, if you leave Outlook running when you shut down Windows the Outlook.exe process will continue to run and exit on its own. When Windows is shut down, it sends messages to all visible window frames telling them to quit, and will wait for those programs to quit before shutting down. Not until all processes with open windows have exited will Windows finally shut down. This is somewhat counter-intuitive to most people as traditional training has always advised manually closing applications before shutting down Windows.

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1. In Outlook 2007, click the Tools menu and select Options.
2. In the Options dialog box, click the Mail Setup tab and then click the Data Files button.
3. In the Account settings window, you will see all of your personal Outlook data files listed. Here, you want to note the full path to each data file. On my system, my Outlook personal and archive folders are stored in the C:\Documents and Settings\Your Username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook folder.
4. Once you have this information, close the Account Settings dialog box and then close the Outlook Options window.

Now that you have the location of your Outlook data files, you need to check and repair them using the Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Inbox Repair Tool-SCANPST.exe. By default, you should see SCANPST.exe in the Microsoft Office installation folder's "Office 12" subfolder. On my system, SCANPST.exe is located in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office 12. For additional information on SCANPST.exe, take a look at the Microsoft Knowledge Base article, "How to use the Inbox Repair Tools to recover e-mail messages in Outlook 2002 and Outlook 2003."

To check and repair your Outlook data files, follow these steps:

1. First, close Outlook 2007.
2. Use Windows Explorer to browse to SCANPST.exe, then double-click it.
3. When the Outlook 2007 Inbox Repair Tool opens, click Browse and navigate to the Outlook data file location that you found earlier. Note that you will need to check each file listed. On my system, I start with the file archive.pst. To check that file, you would select it in the "Select File to Scan" dialog box and then click Open.
4. Now click Start to begin the repair process.

As an old Outlook user (for over a decade). I ever met similar error with my Outlook PST files before and got it solved with this Outlook PST repair software, the software extracts & restores those inaccessible Outlook items in a new .pst file and enables complete Outlook data recovery. If you want to take the most effective way, then try that program. Hope it helps too with your case.

This kind of message usually occurs when the computer crashes, or Outlook otherwise closes without completing the housekeeping it normally does when you close the program. If you are working on a laptop and it didn't recover from hibernating properly that might cause this kind of problem,

If you click File, then Exit to close Outlook in the future that should minimize or eliminate the problem.

Always exit Outlook by using File/Exit, never by pressing the X in the corner.

Try the following:

1. Enable Hidden Files and Folders:
1. A. Windows XP :
1. a.i. Click on “Start”, click “My Computer”
1. a.ii. On the “Tools” menu, click on “folder options”.
1.a.iii. On the “view” tab, locate “Advanced settings” and then follow these steps:
Check the option “Show Hidden files and folders”
Clear the option, “Hide protected operating system files check box”.
Clear the option, “Hide file extensions for know file types check box”.
1. a.iv. Click ok and close the window.
1.B. Windows Vista :
1.b.i. Click on “Start”, click “My Computer”
1.b.ii. In the Explorer window, click “Organize”
1.b.iii. Choose “Folder and Search Options”.
1.b.iv. In the folder options window, click on “View” tab
1.b.v. Select the option “Show hidden files and folders” click “ok”.

2. Delete Windows Live Contacts folder :
2. a. Click on “Start”; double click on “My computer”
2. b. Browse to the location
Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Windows logon name>\Local settings\Application Data\Microsoft
Windows Vista:
C:\Users\<Your Windows logon name>\App Data\Local\Microsoft
2. c. Delete “Windows live contacts folder” completely.
Note: Ensure to exit Windows live Messenger from the task manager before deleting Windows live contacts cache folder, otherwise you will get an error prompting that you can’t delete the folder .
2. d. Try signing into Windows Live Messenger.

I think your using outlook Express...... then the mails will be in the defult location document and setting > you Profile( ur loginname) folder >local setting > application data > microsoft > Express folder check there

if you r using Ms Outlook then ........ you will find allyour mails in this location for sure document and setting > you Profile( ur loginname) folder >local setting > application data > microsoft > Ms outlook

To work around this issue, you need to reinstall your Microsoft Office Outlook. Reinstalling the Outlook will set a fresh copy of all the system files and will solve out the problem.

Hope this solves it for you! Here's the official word from Microsoft:
If you receive one or more of these error messages, you may experience performance issues until Outlook finishes the reconciliation process for the .ost file or for the .pst file. The following gear icon is displayed in the status bar while Outlook checks the data file in the background: Collapse this imageExpand this image When this icon disappears, the .pst file or the .ost file is reconciled. If you exit Outlook while the gear icon is present, reconciliation must restart the next time that you run Outlook. We recommend that you leave Outlook running until the gear icon disappears before you exit Outlook.

An incorrectly shut down .ost file or .pst file may occur for one of the following reasons:

• Antivirus scanning of the file
• Forced Microsoft Windows shutdown before the Outlook.exe process shuts down completely
• Outlook add-ins

If you see this issue frequently, and you have to exit Outlook shortly before you shut down your computer, it may be better to shut down Windows while Outlook is still running. We recommend that you do this instead of exiting Outlook and then shutting down Windows shortly after that.