Enabling logging in Microsoft Outlook

As a couple earlier posts showed having a log file of what happens when Microsoft Outlook checks mail can be essential to figuring out why something is not happening that should (or why something is happening that shouldn't.) Anyway, to turn on logging.

Open Outlook
Go to Tools, Options
Click the tab titled "Other"
Click "Advanced Options"
select "Enable mail logging (troubleshooting)"
click ok, and OK again and then quit and restart Outlook.

Each mail check process will now be logged. The MS support document suggest the logs will keep growing, but I found they were "replaced" at what seemed like random periods of time.

Under Windows XP and 2000, the files logging Pop3/SMTP/MAPI transactions are written to... c:\documents and settings\userprofilename\Local Settings\temp\OPMLOG.LOG

Windows 98/98SE and ME save to C:\Windows\temp\OPMLOG.LOG (I keep wanting to call it opmlog.txt...)

IMAP logs are stored a bit differently,

Win 2000/XP(?)
c:\documents and settings\userprofilename\Local Settings\temp\Outlook Logging\imapservername\Imap#.log
*(where # is a number 0, 1, 2, 3 and so on.)

Win 98/98SE/ME...
c:\Windows\temp\Outlook Logging\imapservername\Imap#.log

Hotmail logs are stored in the same Outlook Logging directories as above, only instead of imapservername, you will see Hotmail.

IMAP/Hotmail logs generate a file for EACH send/receive operation. With multiple hotmail accounts there may be multiple hotmail folders (1,2,3, etc.) You might need Outlook to close to write the log to disc. (I haven't run into that...)

Maybe with logging enabled that will help you to tackle your Outlook issues....