Wes' Puzzling Blog

The above rule might help for some people, but I've already tried it and it doesn't help a bit. This is due to the "empty emails" that occur in my MSN email account on a once/week basis NOT being downloaded at all! The external symptom I get is a screwy HRESULT from some part of Outlook during the download process, preventing emails after a certain point (i.e., after the damaged email) from being downloaded.

I've gone round and round with Tech. Support at MSN about this problem, which started about a year ago. They continue to amaze me with their absolute and complete incompetance at being able to trouble-shoot the problem. (The only solution in their eyes is to delete and recreate the mail folder...which is a non-starter for me, as it would always lose whatever email is in the folder. They have no want of connecting a LAN analyzer, doing a software POP3 trace, or running any Exchange diags to figure out what's wrong with these damaged emails...let alone try to trace them back to their origin.) The only effective way I've found to deal with them is to logon to Hotmail and delete them there. That has always worked.

I was thinking of resurrecting my old Win32/TAPI-based SMTP/POP3 client piece of code to determine what's going on between Outlook and the MSN Exchange server. It could be a problem that Outlook detects (some bizarre problem with the headers) and refuses to download...or it could be Exchange is refusing to permit that email from being downloaded for a similar reason. I just haven't had time to screw with my email client, since deleting bad emails with Hotmail only takes a minute...

If, on the other hand, you're seeing blank emails on the client side, then the problem you're having might be completely different than the one I'm having...or is a slight variation of it. In both cases, it wouldn't surprise me if it's an Exchange problem or a problem in how the email accounts are being adminstered (e.g., an errant script). It'd be interesting to find out if Exchange SysAdmins know of this problem, and how to go about fixing it on the server side.

In your original email you didn't say who your ISP is, only what you were using as a client. If you're using MSN, then try the Hotmail delete method. I'm going to resurrect my email client this week (but then have to wait for a bad email...) If I find anything out, I'll post it here...

Is it possible for this type of email to contain a virus? I've read that only emails with attachments are dangerous...and only if the attachment is opened. If not, then it's just an annoying nusance to me. I'm going to definately try the first poster's method. Not a bad idea.

So far, I've been trying to keep out anyone who is not in my email list, but some people complain that they can't get in touch with me. So then I unselect this email rule and end up opening an email like the one above.

I'm so paranoid about viri these days that I don't open emails with attachments unless the writer asks permission first.

By the way, I traveled here by Google, so I'm new and don't know exactly where I am. [grin]

Hi,
I mohammed Abdul Aleem since 2 months i am getting balnk e-mail no attachment no subject . And i am using pop3 service i did talk to my Isp he was saying our server is working fine . I gotthrough it frequintly click send/receive we will get blank e-mail and i had reset those settings .
plz kindly sugesst some tips how to sortout these problem

Thanking you

Outlook Express message appears blank and has an ATT000XX.txt or an ATT000XX.htm attachment View products that this article applies to. SYMPTOMS When you view messages in Outlook Express 5.x, the body of the message may be blank and the message may contain an attachment named ATT000XX.txt or ATT000XX.htm. If you use Outlook Express 6.0, the body of the message is blank and there is no attachment. RESOLUTION To resolve this behavior, clear the Temp and Temporary Internet folders: 1. In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options. 2. On the General tab, click Delete Files, click OK, and then click OK again. 3. In Windows Explorer, click to expand the hard disk letter, click to expand Windows, and then click to expand Temp. 4. Select all of the files, and then on the File menu, click Delete. 5. Click Yes. APPLIES TO • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 • Microsoft Outlook Express 6.0 source: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=312351

I've got an easier Outlook 2003 Rule than putting in the alphabet and numbers as exceptions.  I filter for size of the email.  Blank emails, I've noticed, are always 1kb, and other emails, real ones, are rarely less than 4kb.  So I have all emails smaller than 2kb moved to my junk folder where it's easier to delete them en masse and I can be assured nothing has been auto deleted that's important.  Works like a charm.

Follow same steps as at the top of this blog except at Step 4 scroll down almost to the bottom of the exceptions and click instead on "except with a size in a specific range."  In the dialogue boxes  enter:  at least 1kb and at most 2.  I also add the exception unless the email is sent to my name or has an attachment, but that's probably optional.

The final rule description in the lower box reads as follows:

"Apply this rule after the msg arrives with a size of at least 1 and at most 2 kilobytes and move it to the Junk email folder [or whatever you call yours] except if my name is in the To: or CC: box or except if it has an attachment.

good luck.

I have also been getting these blank email messages once a month for the past couple of years they come in a group of three and when the hit my netscape in box  the whole thing stops and the summary file has to be re built.

the date is usuallysometime in 2004  .i tried a filter deleting anything in 2004 but that doesnt seem to work either. summary file seems to be corrupted before the filter deletes the emails.

I've found that setting the message size to at least 0 and no more than 1 catches every one of them without catching anything that is a valid email message.

Using Thunderbird , I too was exepriencing the same blank mail issue. It was popping up in my Junk  folder. I resolved by compacting the folder in question.

Im a rookie at all this:

I had four rules set up for incoming sales leads:

Filtered on:

subject matter

Then do the following:

Specified Folder

Make Sound

Importance

I deleted importance and it now it works fine!

Way above my oxygen level

I had a problem on OL 03 where my e-mails where blank.  There was a setting I was told to fix, but that was several years ago so I don't remember.  So I moved up to OL 07 and the problem is back.

No help from MS of course.

It also works pretty well if you filter out any email message that doesn't contain the vowels a,e,i,o,u in the subject and body of the message

Had same problem with empty messages - many seemed to come from people emailing me from their cell phone.  Only way I could fix it was to go back to Outlook 2002. Likely 2003 works also, it's just I had disk for Outlook2002.

I have facing the blank email problem just for few days and this happen for few clients not with all email users.we are using MS-Outlook 2003 & 2007 clients.

Blank emails are totally blank - Subject:, From:, To;, Message: ...all fields are blank.

Please help me to resolve this problem.