Outlook 365 reflecting billions of unread emails when Inbox empty!

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Ever since I downloaded free trial of Office 365 and then since downloading paid one-year subscription, my Outlook 365 is reflecting “4294967295” unread emails in my “Inbox,” when indeed there are no emails in my Inbox. This huge number goes away when there are actual unread emails in my Inbox, but as soon as the actual emails are read or moved and/or my Inbox is empty, this annoying number is reflected in blue by Inbox name. Two Microsoft agents have tried to solve but to no avail. Does anyone have any ideas and know how to fix? I have tried the quick repair, as well as full online repair, and uninstalling and reinstalling, and turning off and unplugging computer and then plugging in and turning back on. Nothing is working–that huge number is still being reflected as unread emails. Could it be related to corrupt driver? Any help or ideas would be very much appreciated! Screenshot attached.

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Six different apparently worthwhile suggestions to try here, as each has worked for some people: How to fix the wrong number of unread emails flag in Outlook?

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Thank you for your quick response, Bruce. I tried what I could on the link you sent, but to no avail. (I don’t have exchange account, so couldn’t do that one.) Any other ideas on how to reset the Inbox so that it will not reflect that huge number when empty. (Interesting explanation about that exact number…thank you.)

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… and a different solution here for that exact number (apparently the highest number which can be stored in 32 bits): [SOLVED] Outlook shows billions of messages in inbox

Looks like it’s really trying to display -1, until you successfully reset it to 0 somehow.

Gmail on an iPhone can hit the same issue: Inbox displays “4294967295”

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For several weeks now (at least that what it feels like) I have had a hidden, unread message in my Sent folder (Outlook 2016). The folder name was boldface with the number ‘1’, indicating that there was an unread message; but I couldn’t find the message; and as I recall, right-clicking on the folder and choosing “Mark all Read” didn’t clear it.

I fixed it by logging into Outlook Web App and opening the Sent folder. The message was right there, in boldface. I opened the message in OWA, and the boldface and ‘1’ disappeared.

The reason for this, according to what I read, is that my local copy of the mail store wasn’t fully synchronized with the Exchange server copy. Since OWA views the Exchange server copy, it was able to access the unread message.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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If you are using Outlook.com email it is*an Exchange account. Exchange is the email server for Office 365.

--Joe

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Did you try the Inbox Repair Tool (scanpst.exe)?: Outllook 2010 Inbox shows 429496295 unread messages when there are no unread messages

(Or deleting the .ost file: Repair Outlook Data Files (.pst and .ost))

That has worked for several people with the exact situation.

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Thank you, Bruce. I could not find “scanpst.exe” file on my Windows 10 computer. Am a bit reluctant to delete .ost file, but will read the instructions in link you sent and then may try that. Just wanted you to know I appreciate your still trying to help me with this issue. Many thanks…Mary

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The .ost file is just a copy of what is*on the server. Just shutdown Outlook, delete the file, and restart Outlook. It will be recreated. If you are reluctant to delete the file*then rename it instead of deleting it.

--Joe

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Thank you, Joe and Bruce. I finally found the scanpst.exe file and ran it and repairs were completed; however, that large number still appears beside my Inbox. I also deleted the .ost file. Still didn’t solve the problem. It’s just so perplexing and annoying, but I guess it’s not doing any harm. Just wish something would set my Inbox from -1 to 0 (if that large number really means -1). Thanks for all your suggestions. I’ll let you know if I come across something that works!…Mary

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Scanpst should only be run when Outlook is not running, and it may need to run several times to clean up all errors – but you probably knew that already.

Another possibility is that your pst file is badly fragmented. Have you compressed it lately? If not, then with Outlook not running, go to Control Panel > Mail > Data Files. select your pst file, and click Settings > Compact Now. If the file is badly fragmented, this could take a while. It would be an idea to compress the file, then run scanpst again.

Yet another possible cause I have seen is hardware acceleration. In Outlook, go to File > Options > Advanced, and scroll down to Display, where you can turn hardware acceleration on or off. See if resetting it makes any difference.

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Thank you, Bundaburra. I compressed my .pst file and also reset hardware acceleration from off to on, and was keeping my fingers crossed that these two new suggestions would do the trick, but to no avail. That huge number is still appearing beside my Inbox when the Inbox is empty. I’m at my wits end! I appreciate your suggestions, though, as I’m learning a lot from those of you trying to help me….Mary

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Do you have an OST or PST file? If you only have one email account in Outlook you can only have one or the other.

--Joe

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Hi Joe, I have both, an .ost and a .pst file and have only 1 email account.

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Is the PST file used for*Auto-archive? If so, you can ignore it for the purposes of this issue.

--Joe

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I really don’t know, Joe. Sorry…All I know is this problem occurred as soon as I downloaded the free trial of Microsoft Office 365. I thought it would go away once I paid for the one-year subscription, but it did not go away. Have tried so many things to solve it, but to no avail. I’m about ready to give up and just live with it. Appreciate your help…Mary

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Try this in Oultook – go to File then in the right pane click Account Settings and the Account Settings in the drop down menu.*A small window should open showing you the account name on the left and the type on the right. If*it*says Microsoft Exchange then you are using the OST file for email.*

--Joe

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It says “POP/SMTP” – Microsoft Exchange does not appear anywhere under Account Settings.

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Are you using*an Outlook.com (or one of its predecessors – Hotmail/msn/live) email address?

--Joe

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No, using a TWC Road Runner email address.

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I’ve seen comments in other forums about the need to run SCANPST several times (two, three, or four) to*really clean*up the file.*

--Joe

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Even though I get message “Repair Completed” at end of the run?…It won’t hurt to try it, so that’s what I’ll do this morning. Thank you, Joe!

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Yes. Even though it says repair completed.

--Joe

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Okay, I ran SCANPST 8 times, until it gave me message only minor inconsistencies found and not necessary to repair and it stopped giving me the repair button. But still that large number appears as unread messages in my Inbox. Don’t know what else to do.

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Have you tried marking everything read (or maybe unread and then read) within TWC Road Runner webmail? (I just wondered if by chance that would result in an Inbox reset.)

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Thank you, Bruce. Yes, and now there is nothing within my TWC RR webmail. Large number still beside Inbox as unread messages. Like I said, I’m resigned to living with it, because I’ve tried so many things trying to reset my Office 365 Outlook Inbox from -1 to 0 and nothing has worked.

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Mary
For what little it’s worth, I’m in a similar but apparently not quite as leaky a boat as you in that I’m also an Office 365 subscriber and I too have a TWC RR email account. Have you tried deleting and reinstalling your TWC account from Outlook 2016? I know that sounds drastic but Outlook has improved its process for installing email accounts to the point that it’s almost a no-brainer.

One caveat though: Use the Snipping Tool to print all of the parameters for the TWC account before you delete it (Outlook File>Account Settings>Account Settings (again)>Change (with your TWC account highlighted)>Snip and Print>Next>Snip and Print> … until you run out of pages to snip.

Good luck and keep us posted.

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