# Outlook 2003: Outlook Today unable to display the folder.



## Soliel (Mar 19, 2006)

I'm using Outlook 2003 SP2 in a standalone configuration with Win XP Professional SP2.

When I click on the Inbox item on the Outlook Today screen (not referring here to the file list at the left of the screen) I get the following message:

"Unable to display the folder. Microsoft Office Outlook could not access the specified folder location."

I backed up my .pst (and archive) files, uninstalled Outlook, re-started Windows, and re-installed Outlook. The problem persisted.

I can click on Inbox in the file list on the left of the Outlook screen - works fine. The problem is more of an annoyance than a major problem, but I'm uneasy that something's not working proprerly - Outlook's too important to me for odd, unexplained things to be happening!


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## exegete (Oct 26, 2005)

Howdy. How big is the pst file?


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## Soliel (Mar 19, 2006)

The pst file is 333,332kb


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## k2rj (Aug 7, 2006)

I began having the same problem about a week ago. It even happens to me when connected to my Exchange server. I'm wondering if it was broken by some "update"??


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## Soliel (Mar 19, 2006)

I (think/hope) I've solved the problem, but I tried many different things and I'm not precisely sure which contributed to the success.

WARNING: BEFORE DOING ANY OF THIS BACK UP YOUR ORIGINAL OUTLOOK.PST FILE. 

I ran detect and repair from the Outlook Help menu. I ticked the "Restore my shortcuts ... " box and left the left the "Discard my customised settings and restore default settings" unchecked. This didn't fix the problem.

On advice from others I ran at various times
- Outlook /resetfolders
- scanpst.exe
- Outlook /resetnavpane
- Outlook /safe (to open in safe mode with no add-ins)

None of those appeared to solve the problem.

But then I ran detect and repair from the Outlook Help menu again, this time I left the "Restore my shortcuts ... " box un ticked and ticked the "Discard my customised settings and restore default settings".

This appears to have fixed the problem. A new .pst file (outlook1.pst) was created, and I imported into it the data from the original outlook.pst file. I also had to manually re-enter my email accounts. Several customised Views and menu items I had created were lost, so I've had to set them up again. 

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has this problem and tries this fix.


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## nimd4 (Mar 21, 2006)

For future reference..

Delete "Ghost" PSTs by Editing the Registry:

```
http://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/ghosts.htm
```
The above article links to two tools: CodeTwo PST Ghostbuster and Public Fix Profile for Outlook®

...& also there's the Outlook 2003/2002 Add-in: Personal Folders Backup, just in case :d


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