Brian Cryer

 
  

Cry Exchange How To...

Troubleshooting: Could not complete the move. The items may have been already moved or deleted.

Symptom

When trying to move an email to a public folder in Outlook a message box is displayed containing the message:

Could not complete the move. The items may have been already moved or deleted.

and the email is not moved.

Cause

This is a general message. The key part of the displayed message is that the move failed. The second part that it "may already have been moved or deleted" is just one possible failure scenario, but is not the only cause of the message.

Possible Remedies

  • The message means what is says, that the item has already been moved or deleted. This could happen either when logged in one more than one PC or if the local cached view on the PC is out of date.

    If the email has already been moved on another pc, then it should be visible in the public folder and the local cached view should eventually update to show that it is no longer available. If the email has been deleted on another pc then you will need to investigate whether you can recover the email.

  • It is possible that the email is larger than the storage limit set by the Exchange administrator for the largest size of any item.

    The default limit on the size of any one item is 10240KB (i.e. 10MB). If the email is larger than this or if the Exchange administrator has changed the limits then you will need to contact the Exchange administrator to have the limit increased.

    The Exchange admiistrator can change this limit using Exchange System Manager:

    1. Run Exchange System Manager.
    2. Drill down to the server.
    3. Drill down to the "Public Folder Store".
    4. To change the limit for all public folder stores: Right click the public folder store and open its properties. The maximum item size is specified on the "Limits" tab.
    5. To change the limit for a specific public folder store: drill down to the "Public Folder" in there right click on the public folder and open its properties. The maximum item size is specified on the "Limits" tab.

    Note:

    • Changes to the limit may take a few moments to take effect.
    • The easiest way to check the size of an email is probably to drag and drop it into a folder and then view the size as you would any other file.

These notes have been tested with Outlook 2003 with Exchange Server 2003.