Recipe8.3.Fixing Mailbox Folder Names That Appear in the Wrong Language

Recipe 8.3. Fixing Mailbox Folder Names That Appear in the Wrong Language

Problem

One or more of your Outlook clients have folders whose names appear in the wrong language.

Solution

Using a graphical user interface

1. Log on to a computer that has a profile for the user whose mailbox folders you want to rename.

2. Make sure that Outlook is configured to use the language that you want used for the folder names. In Outlook 2003, do the following:

   1. Quit Outlook if it's open.

   2. Open the Microsoft Office 2003 Language Settings tool (Start All Programs Microsoft Office Microsoft Office Tools Microsoft Office 2003 Language Settings).

   3. Use the Available Languages and Enabled languages list to add the desired language to the list of enabled languages.

   4. Use the Choose the language that defines default behavior in Microsoft Office applications to pick the default language you want to use.

3. Relaunch Outlook using the /resetfoldernames switch:

   > outlook /resetfoldernames

   
   

Discussion

When you create a new mailbox, it's emptybut at some point, the information store has to create the user's server folders (including Inbox, Outbox, Sent Items, and Deleted Items). All users have these folders, no matter what client they use. In addition, users who log on with a MAPI client will get additional folders (including Calendar, Notes, Tasks, Contacts, and Journal) when they log on. The language in which these folders are named will depend on several factors:

• If a message is delivered to the mailbox before the client logs on, the language set on the Exchange server will be used to name the folder. That means that you can force new mailboxes to use a particular language by setting the server's language value appropriately.

• When a MAPI user logs on to a mailbox for the first time, whatever language Outlook uses will be used to set the folder names.

• When an OWA or WebDAV user logs on to a new mailbox, the language set in the browser will be used to set the folder names. (More properly, the first supported language listed in the Accept-Languages HTTP header will be used.)

• When an IMAP or POP user logs on to a new mailbox, the folder names aren't generated at all unless the user sends or receives messages. If they just log on and log right back off, the folders aren't created; if they do anything else, the folder names are created using the client language.

If you have them available, the old Exchange 4.0 and 5.0 clients can also be used to correct folder names, as can MDBVU32.exe.

See Also

MS KB 325625 (XGEN: How Special Folder Names Are Assigned for Multiple Language Clients in Exchange 2000 Server) and MS KB 325626 (XGEN: How Special Folder Names Are Assigned in Outlook Web Access (OWA))