Emails received multiple times

[sblott]

Our business account was 'upgraded' to Office 365 this week and since then we've received the same emails 3 or 4 times. I'm using Outlook 2010 on Windows 7 and used the settings given on this website. It appears that the system is not detecting that messages have already been received on this computer. I need to have the "leave a copy of messages on the server" option ticked as I wish to receive my emails at both my home and office computer, but only once! I have read and deleted the same 200 emails at least 4 times, and I have just received all 200 emails AGAIN! This is only a problem when using Outlook on a desktop computer: I have only received one copy of messages to my iphone. What is happening???

[sblott]

Further to the problem above, the problem of receiving multiple copies of emails appears to be restricted to Outlook 2010. This does not occur on another computer I use using Outlook 2007, or iphone. How does Microsoft Outlook know that an email has previously been received? How does it know not to download the message from the server again? And are there any settings within Outlook 2012 that need to be changed due to Office 365?

[DaveA]

Hi,

If I remember rightly it keeps a list of flagged emails, but if it loses this it treats all emails it finds as new.

If it's working on Outlook 2007 then it's Outlook 2010 that's broken.  Could be a corrupted PST file, or something broken in the application.

If Outlook 2010 comes with scanpst.exe then try that first.  Then you might need to back up your emails and settings, and uninstall and reinstall Outlook.

Dave

[sblott]

I find this very unlikely. Everyone else in my company also has this problem when using Outlook 2010. In fact, we have 4 PCs running Outlook 2010 and all get emails multiple times. But only on the new BT Business account. I have several other personal e-mail accounts in the same Outlook 2010 and there is no problem with these - I only receive personal e-mails once. It is only e-mails on the new business account which keep coming every time Outlook is opened. I have been using Outlook for 15 years and never had a problem like this. I've used this version of Outlook 2010 for about 2 years without any problems, until last week when we were forced to create these new Office 365 accounts. This is a serious problem which needs to be resolved quickly.

[rivalchild]

Hi Simon,

Are the emails you're receiving all before the migration to Office 365? If so, log on to http://email.btconnect.com and log in using your email address and password. From there clear the inbox, either by delete all the emails within the inbox or moving them into another folder, for instance drafts or create a new one.

Let me know if that helps.

[sblott]

Hello,

No I am receiving all the e-mails within the timeframe of the "leave a copy of messages on the server", currently set at 14 days. Every time I open Outlook it downloads all the messages again. For example: (1) send myself a test message; (2) click Send/Receive and the message appears; (3) Close Outlook; (4) Open Outlook, and the program downloads the test message again (and all the others); (5) Close Outlook; (6) Open Outlook, and the program downloads the test message again (and all the others). So I keep getting all the emails again everytime Outlook 2010 is opened...

But...

Only emails sent to the new Office 365 account (not to my personal email address)

Only on comupters running Outlook 2010 (our office computers running Outlook 2007 are fine, as is my iphone)

Does it makew a difference that the old "btconnect.com" account is still listed within Outlook? The procedure was to add the new Office 365 account, but not delete the "btconnect.com" account. Do we still need this? Can emails still be sent and received to this account?

[rivalchild]

Is the email address you have set as a username in outlook a btconnect address or is it a domain email e.g. username@example-domain.co.uk?

[sblott]

Our business e-mails used to behave as a forward. So, myname@mydomain.co.uk was forwarded by BT to byname@btconnect.com. and our POP3 server was pop3.btconnect.com. The upgrade to Office 365 seems to have bypassed the forward, so the new account is a domain email: myname@mydomain.co.uk, and any emails sent to myname@btconnect.com seem to forward to myname@mydomain.co.uk.

[rivalchild]

Yeah, that's the standard way emails behave on the 365 system. Previously your domain email address wasn't actually a mailbox like your btconnect address, it was more just a forwarding address to the btconnect mailbox. Now the btconnect mailbox forwards to the newly created domain mailbox. Just a little information to clarify how it's supposed to work.

That aside, there are quite a few things that could be causing this, both on our side and with Outlook. Could be mail forwarding issues, the previously mentions old mailbox issue and there are issues with the way Outlook 2010 handles multiple email accounts on a single PST (the latter can get a little complicated).

Check the old mailbox as I mentioned in the previous post and if that doesn't help the best solution is to either call the helpdesk or PM me the email address and I'll take a look at it for you.

Thanks Simon.

[sblott]

PROBLEM SOLVED:

I installed Outlook 2010 on a brand new laptop running Windows 7. I entered the settings for Office 365, clicked send/receive, and only received the most current emails which are still residing on the server (as specified under "leave a copy of messages on the server" as 14 days). Close the program, open again, check e-mails, no new mail. No duplicates. Success!

Now add the btconnect.com account. I entered the settings for btconnect. Outlook now has two accounts listed. Click send/receive, and immediately 250 emails begin to download. I left it for them all to download, and the emails which arrived are all those which remained on the btconnect server before switchover, AND all the emails for Office 365, i.e. duplicates. Close the program. Open the program. Click send/receive, and 250 e-mails begin to download again!

The solution:

DELETE THE OLD BTCONNECT ACCOUNT FROM OUTLOOK 2010.

But, why do the BT instructions not say ANYTHING about deleting the old btconnect account? Is the btconnect account not required anymore, and if not why not specify that it should be deleted.

This exercise has proved conclusively:

1. That the old btconnect.com account interferes with the new Office 365 account and should be deleted.

2. This is an issue only for Outlook 2010; the problem does not occur with Outlook 2007.

3. This is a problem caused at BT and not at our end (brand new laptop and brand new install used above)