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I’ve searched online and on ServerFault, but cannot track down any explanations or solutions. In Outlook 2010, in a folder under the Inbox, the name in the "From" field is empty, even though other messages from that same person have the name populated in the From field. The user said she may have moved some of these from out of the Sent items folder, but I am unable to reproduce it. Is there a way to reproduce, or provide a procedure for avoiding this from happening again? The messages were sent from the user reporting the problem, and it's ticky-tack but I need to find a solution.

Screenshot here: OutlookMissingFrom

Headers are of course blank when she sends to another internal user on Hosted Exchange - Below is the properties of a sample message w/out a name in the From field: BlankHeaders

The only way I was able to reproduce the problem was that I created a draft, then before sending the draft, I moved it to a different folder and there I found the From field was blank:

missing names

So I do think that perhaps this user hit reply, then saved/closed the message before sending, and then moved the email to the separate folder from drafts.

JasonC
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Can you post the headers of an email in question (obscuring privacy info)?

Sometimes the way an email is sent/processed can determine if a field shows up blank in Outlook. For instance, you might find that the same email has a From field just fine on an Activesync device (mobile device), but Outlook shows it incorrectly.

TheCleaner
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Outlook leaves the From field blank on drafts until they are sent. Any chance these messages were written as drafts, then deleted/moved out of the Drafts folder before sending?

NathanG
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  • The only way I was able to reproduce the problem was that I created a draft, then before sending the draft, I moved it to a different folder and there I found the From field was blank. – JasonC Apr 16 '12 at 21:07
  • So I do think that perhaps this user hit reply, then saved/closed the message before sending, and then moved the email to the separate folder from drafts. – JasonC Apr 16 '12 at 21:07
  • I think it’s also possible that the user did a search for messages with a common subject, Outlook found the messages in your drafts folder and they then moved those into the separate folder. To avoid this in the future, I suppose just look at your drafts folder once in a while and keep it cleaned of messages. – JasonC Apr 16 '12 at 21:13
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. Exchange uses an address that is based on X.400 (or X.500) and this user’s address would look like this: /O=SOME_COMPANY/OU=EXCHANGE_GOUP_1/CN=RECIPIENTS/CN=JOEBOB

. Other mail servers uses SMTP format account@domain.com

I think if you configure your account in outlook or thunderbird as IMAP account it will maintain compatibility when copy/move emails between accounts...

This is the real problem behind this missed From Field.

Exchange has internal addressing compatibility problem, when moving emails via outlook exchange account to different email account it always lost From field and Return-Path. This Happen for all senders from the same exchange domain that the account you are copying/moving emails belong to or under. The addressing format in exchange address book has really compatibility issues with other mail servers that's why all emails sent from local Exchange accounts their From field will disappear as it is copied with Exchange native format which is not understood by most servers, versus the external email account senders their From filed will display Okay... I guess Microsoft should answer this.

Saleh Barakat
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