Outlook - Enable logging (troubleshooting) option

 

For diagnostic purposes, Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 contains an option that turns on the logging of certain Outlook features.

In this article

• About logging
• Turn logging on or off
• Administrator information

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About logging

Outlook contains a logging option for the following features:

• Calendar modifications
• Free/busy time changes
• Reminders
• Offline Address Book
• Transactions for the Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI), which is used with Microsoft Exchange, Post Office Protocol (POP3), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).

Microsoft Services uses the logged diagnostic information to help identify issues. E-mail server administrators can use some of the diagnostic data to troubleshoot problems with e-mail messages. When logging is turned on, Logging Enabledappears on the Outlook title bar to remind you not to leave logging turned on unnecessarily.

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Turn logging on or off

Outlook supports the logging of its communications with various types of e-mail servers. These logs can be helpful when people are troubleshooting any problems with the transfer of messages between Outlook and the e-mail servers. Outlook can log communications with Exchange, POP3 version 3, SMTP, IMAP, and Windows Live Mail servers.

The logs of transports, such as POP3 and IMAP, are in plain text and are not encrypted.

Calendar transactions that are generated by Outlook features, by user actions, by the object model, or by the MAPI Calendar Table are written to a log file. The log file contains information about the following items:

• Sniffer (Inbox autoprocessing)
• Free/busy publishing
• Reminders
• Calendar item actions (creation, modification, or deletion)
• Resource booking

The primary purpose of the Calendar logging feature is to quickly identify situations where, for example, meetings are inexplicably deleted from a Calendar folder. To help protect customer data, the Calendar log file is a binary file that cannot be read without a conversion process. Contact Microsoft Services for additional information about this feature.

TURN ON LOGGING

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. On the Other tab, click Advanced Options.
3. Select the Enable logging (troubleshooting) check box, and then click OKtwo times.
4. Restart Outlook.

After you restart Outlook, the words (Logging Enabled) will appear in the title bar indicating that the logging feature is turned on. From this point, every time Outlook sends or receives messages, the communication that occurs between Outlook and the e-mail server is written to a log file. In addition, the log file includes certain Calendar transactions, as described earlier in this topic.

 IMPORTANT   It is very important that you turn off logging after you complete your troubleshooting. If you do not turn off logging, the log files continue to increase in size.

TURN OFF LOGGING

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. On the Other tab, click Advanced Options.
3. Clear the Enable logging (troubleshooting) check box, and then click OKtwo times.

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Log file locations

MAPI (Exchange), POP3, and SMTP transports    

The log file has the name OPMLog.log and is located in one of the following locations:

• Windows Vista

c:\Users\user name\AppData\Local\Temp\Outlook Logging

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, and Microsoft Windows XP

c:\Documents and Settings\user name\Local Settings\Temp\Outlook Logging

The Local Settings or AppData folder is missing

The Local Settings and AppData folders are hidden by default. Do one of the following to see these folders:

• Windows Vista    
  1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
  2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, click the View tab, and then click the Show hidden files and folders option.
• Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP    

1. In Windows, click the Start button, and then click Control Panel.
2. Under Pick a Category, double-click Performance and Maintenance.

 NOTE   If you are using Classic View in Control Panel, skip to the next step.

3. Under See Also, click File Types.

 NOTE   If you are using Classic View in Control Panel, double-click Folder Options.

4. Click the View tab.
5. Under Advanced settings, under Files and Folders, underHidden files and folders, click Show hidden files and folders.

IMAP transport    

The log file name is similar to IMAP-ExampleCom-07_19_2007-14_03_44_865.log and is located in one of the following locations:

• Windows Vista

c:\Users\user name\AppData\Local\Temp\Outlook Logging

• Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP

c:\Documents and Settings\user name\Local Settings\Temp\Outlook Logging

The Local Settings or AppData folder is missing

The Local Settings and AppData folders are hidden by default. Do one of the following to see these folders:

• Windows Vista    
  1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
  2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, click the View tab, and then click the Show hidden files and folders option.
• Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP    

1. In Windows, click the Start button, and then click Control Panel.
2. Under Pick a Category, double-click Performance and Maintenance.

 NOTE   If you are using Classic View in Control Panel, skip to the next step.

3. Under See Also, click File Types.

 NOTE   If you are using Classic View in Control Panel, double-click Folder Options.

4. Click the View tab.
5. Under Advanced settings, under Files and Folders, underHidden files and folders, click Show hidden files and folders.

Windows Live Mail (HTTP-DAV protocol)    

The log file name is similar to HTTP-someoneexamplecom-05_17_2007-10_41_24_724.log and is located in one of the following locations:

• Windows Vista

c:\Users\user name\AppData\Local\Temp\Outlook Logging

• Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP

c:\Documents and Settings\user name\Local Settings\Temp\Outlook Logging

The Local Settings or AppData folder is missing

The Local Settings and AppData folders are hidden by default. Do one of the following to see these folders:

• Windows Vista    
  1. Click Start, and then click My Computer.
  2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, click the View tab, and then click the Show hidden files and folders option.
• Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP    

1. In Windows, click the Start button, and then click Control Panel.
2. Under Pick a Category, double-click Performance and Maintenance.

 NOTE   If you are using Classic View in Control Panel, skip to the next step.

3. Under See Also, click File Types.

 NOTE   If you are using Classic View in Control Panel, double-click Folder Options.

4. Click the View tab.
5. Under Advanced settings, under Files and Folders, underHidden files and folders, click Show hidden files and folders.

 NOTES 

• IMAP and Windows Live ID accounts generate one log for each Send/Receive action that you perform on these accounts.
• You may need to exit Outlook for the logs to be written to the log files.

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Administrator information

Additionally, you can deploy logging settings to users. Default Outlook logging settings can be configured in the Office Customization Tool (OCT) on the Modify User Settings page, or you can enforce the settings by using the Outlook Group Policy template (Outlk12.adm) in the Group Policy Editor.

To enforce logging settings for Outlook users, do the following:

1. In Group Policy, in the Office Outlook 2007 policy template Outlk12.adm, under User configuration\Administrative templates\Microsoft Outlook 12\Tools | Options\Other\Advanced, double-click Enable mail logging (troubleshooting). Select Enabled to enable configuring the settings.
2. Select or clear the Enable mail logging (troubleshooting) check box.

Because of performance and security reasons, we do not recommend that you deploy the logging feature. You should turn on the logging feature only when you need it.

 

Original Article: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/what-is-the-enable-logging-troubleshooting-option-HA001230421.aspx