[colette422]

Hi,

I can't send, receive or delete email in Outlook 2002. I keep receiving the error 'The messaging interface has returned an unknown error'. I'm running XP and have all current Microsoft updates. The problem started this afternoon after doing some searches on the internet. I'm using McAfee Antivirus and Firewall. All other applications seem to be working properly at this point.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Colette

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Open Word, click help, detect and repair, tick restore shortcuts, reboot when complete, try Outlook

If no change, check / re-enter the account information

[Retired Tech]

Open Word, click help, detect and repair, tick restore shortcuts, reboot when complete, try Outlook

If no change, check / re-enter the account information

[colette422]

Keith,

Thank you so much for the help. I have followed your suggestions, and opened Word, clicked help, detect and repair, ticked restore shortcuts, rebooted when complete, tried Outlook again. There was no change so I deleted my account information and re-entered it. Still no change.

I had a tremendous amount of old emails so I archived them thinking that perhaps I had reached the limit. I did another reboot and still no change. Do you have any other suggestions?

Colette

[Retired Tech]

Can you set up a new account and see if it sends / receives

Are you able to use webmail

[colette422]

By set up another account do you mean add a user to Windows and see if Outlook will work for that user? (Currently there is a single user on the computer.) If you mean add a different email account totally, I have already tried that and it didn't work. (I have an email address that is used only for junk that I added and it does not work either.)

I am able to access email directly from the Comcast website. I have also confirmed with a friend that their Outlook is working properly with their Comcast email account.

[Retired Tech]

Have you checked the settings have not changed, it happens

Possibly check they are identical to the way your friend has them

[colette422]

Hi Keith,

It's fixed. YEAH!!! A similar problem that applied to Outlook 2003 was listed on the Microsoft website...

"The .pst file can't be larger than 2GB. In Office 2003, there was a fix for this. However, you will need to use this utility in the KB article to fix your problem if your file is larger than 2GB: http://support.micro...om/?kbid=296088. Please make sure that the oversized .pst is the real problem before using this utility, since you might lose some mail."

I was hoping my .pst file was not corrupt so before I ran any utilities or changed any settings, I started deleting emails. Sure enough the problem was solved. I was holding on to some emails with very large attachements and it put me over 2GB. I won't be doing that anymore......

Thank you so much for all of your help!

Colette

[Retired Tech]

Thank You for posting the solution

[abbychia]

Thank you for posting the solution to Outlook's "Messaging interface error." I had the same issues plus I was unable to delete items from the calendar. I tried all the suggestions posted on other sites, but simply deleting files to reduce my main .pst file to less than 2GB did the trick! Thank you for saving me hours of more trial and error, uninstalling, reinstalling and posssible loss of important email.

[Jayhawk Fan]

Hi,

I am new to this forum and hope this is the proper way to ask for assistance.

I am having the same issue with Outlook 2002 as described by Colette in this thread. For me it started 4 days ago when a friend sent 5 e-mails, each with multiple gigantic photo attachments. After the first one downloaded, Outlook timed out and has not worked at all since. I was able to go to Cox web mail and delete all of the e-mails but Outlook would still not work.

I cannot send/receive or delete or move any e-mails from the In-box or any other folder. I have tried everything from uninstalling Microsoft Office, removing my e-mail account and then reinstalling and establishing my e-mail account. I've also run the Inbox Repair Tool per the MS Support website. All to no avail.

I clicked on the link in Colette's solution to download the utility. Unfortunately, I do not know or understand enough to know what to do next. I don't even know where the utility is that I downloaded.

I would appreciate any suggestions or guidance. Thank you!

[Jayhawk Fan]

I have resolved this issue after a little more thought and re-reading. I was able to auto-archive and then delete a bunch of e-mails from the deleted folder. Problem sovled. I have never deleted or archived and was maxed out. Working again.

[alvisgomez]

There are many different possible reasons due to which Outlook becomes unable to receive emails in your mail account. As far as this particular issue is concerned, it might happens because of large PST file that grows up to its restricted file size that is 2 GB. At very first you should check out the file size and if it is larger that 2 GB then split it up. However, there is no perfect method is available in Outlook for accomplishing this task. You can go for the Split PST free utility in order to divide PST into small chunks for its easy accessibility.

[D Papalous]

My wife had the same problem. Turned out she never deleted any Sent items, and had over 10,000. Ran Archive on the Sent Items folder, and started receiving in the Inbox before it was done. Much simpler than the other fixes suggested!