Cannot delete e-mail in Win Live Mail

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After installing the 12 Microsoft updates and patches this morning I suddenly cannot delete email from the Deleted folder in Win Live Mail. Also, all emails that were in the Deleted folder were also added back to the Inbox. Same with the Sent folder. When attempting to delete the emails I get the error message that ‘an error has occured and this email cannot be deleted”. I have read of this problem a month or so ago but can’t find how to correct the problem now.

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I suggest a system restore to get to a point before the updates. Then install them one or two at a time until you figure out which update is causing the issue.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html

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Close all programs, boot computer, and then try again.
If that hasn’t helped, run a thorough antimalware and antivirus scan.
And if the above does not do it, try deleting the email in safemode.

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I had a “similar” situation occur in Windows Live Mail last week — it was not caused by a Windows Update however. I had sent an email with a .exe file, which I have since found that NO email program will transmit an email with a .exe file attached unless it’s renamed or zipped. Reason — .exe files can carry viruses and email programs are set up to recognize that and not send. So, that particular email was stuck in my Outbox. Oddly enough, within the Windows Live program, I had no Outbox showing in my lineup of folders; thus I could not delete the culprit email.

I googled and googled researching how to delete something from the Outbox in Windows Live and everything I found was written for XP and Vista; I found nothing on Windows7 as to how to delete an email from an Outbox that wasn’t there. I did read many articles indicating there was no Outbox that appears in that mail program. I couldn’t believe it, so I called a techie friend and he said, “Oh, it’s there — you just have to find it.” Here’s what I did — right click on the START button; left click on Open Windows Explorer. In the tree in the left panel go here:C:Users(Your Login)AppDataLocalMicrosoftWindows Live Mail.

Once getting there, I found ALL the folders, including the Outbox for the program. I opened the Outbox and deleted the problem email. I thought I was home free. When going back and using Windows Live email, I kept getting an error message telling me I had mail to sent and did I want to send it now. When I did, it said it could not because of other mail blocking it. Now, here’s where it gets interesting. I just happened to notice in the left folder pane, there was NOW an Outbox folder which had not been there before. I opened that folder, deleted the problem email from there, and I was finally home free. Everything was back in order — andddddddddd, I now have a nice new Outbox folder residing in my program that I didn’t have before. It’s like it “woke it up” or something.

The reason I’m responding to this post is because when going to the string above, you will see ALL the folders in the Windows Live program and maybe you could open the Deleted items folder and remove emails from there. It’s only a guess, but it sure worked for me with my email that I needed to get out of the program. I then renamed the extension of my .exe file and transmitted it and it went perfectly. Hope this helps you or anyone else who can’t delete something from within Windows Live.

Note: AppData is equivalent of the Documents and Settings in XP and Vista. Documents and Settings was renamed to AppData in Windows7.

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Thank you all for helping. I have had the same thing happen 3 times this week but Googled up a trick that worked. Whether the email that has an error is in the Inbox, Sent Box, or Deleted Box the suggestion was to drag the email, one at a time, into the Drafts Box and delete it from there. Voila! I do now realize that in all three cases I had left Windows Live Mail on when I applied the updates. Will try to remember not to do that again.

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I couldn’t drag them in Drafts but I could put them in Storage folders->Deleted items. From there I just emptied the folder (click on X to the right of Deleted items tab).

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Thanks for posting back with that simplistic, yet effective fix.
C

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