Remove “Zombi” reminders using MFCMAPI

I was requested to do this the other day.. so I use the amazing MFCMAPI tool which opens wide mailboxes and thier raw content..

Be aware that i am  really deleting an appointment ! the reminder will be gone with it. (Thanks for Steve for correcting me here.)

to do so we have a few steps:

1. Launch MFCMAPI tool on the user’s client.

2. Go to Session -> Logon and Display Store Table

3. Select the outlook profile of the user and double-click “Mailbox – your user name”

4. Expand “Root Container”

5. Expand “Top of Information Store”

6. Now its the tricky part , we need to find the specific reminder that does the troubles, there might be a few directory’s of reminders (maybe in more then one language…).

7. Double click the folder & start looking for the specific reminder (really the appointment)..

8. When you find the appointment or a few together even , right click and choose “Delete Message” , in the options select “permanent deletion (deletes to deleted item retention if supported)”.

9. close MFCMAPI & re-check in outlook.

you can use this method to delete problematic appointments, messages & all other MAPI data inside your exchange mailbox. BUT ! be careful , you can mess your mailbox up if you do something wrong …

Reference for steps and example …

Download MFCMAPI Latest version:

http://www.codeplex.com/MFCMAPI

http://exchangeshare.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/delete-corrupted-hidden-or-stale-rules-from-mailbox-with-mfcmapi/

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924297

4 thoughts on “Remove “Zombi” reminders using MFCMAPI”

  1. Before you do this – be aware that the reminders folder doesn’t contain “reminders”. There is no such beast. The reminders folder contains links to real appointments/tasks/messages that fit the reminder criteria. When you delete that appointment from the reminders folder, you’re deleting the real appointment. If you’re fine with that, then cool. If you’re not fine with that, you might be better off figuring out which props the reminder info is stored in and delete just those props instead.

    Steve

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