An incorrect number of unread items may be displayed for public folders when you use Outlook with Exchange Server 2003

When you use Microsoft Outlook with Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, an incorrect number of unread items may be displayed for public folders. For example, a public folder may display an unread items count of one or more although there are no unread items in the public folder or in the subfolders. These symptoms may occur after you create shortcuts to public folders in the Shortcuts pane of Outlook or after you add shortcuts to public folders in your Favorites folder.

This problem may occur if the following conditions are true:

• The public folders are located on a server that is running either Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1).
• After you create shortcuts to the public folders in Outlook, more mail-enabled subfolders are added to the public folders to which you created shortcuts.

In this scenario, Exchange 2003 may incorrectly determine the number of unread items that are contained in the public folder.

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix might receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next software update that contains this hotfix.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, contact Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Prerequisites

To install this hotfix, you must have Exchange 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) installed. For more information about how to obtain Exchange 2003 SP1, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Restart requirement

You do not have to restart the computer after you install this hotfix. However, the following Microsoft Exchange services are automatically stopped and then restarted during the hotfix installation:

• The Microsoft Exchange Event service
• The Microsoft Exchange Information Store service

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

For more information about the terminology that is used for software updates, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: