When I have at VPN connection open, I'm finding that Outlook refuses to send
any email out. How do I fix this (besides closing my VPN connection each
time I want to send/receive!)

As a side note:
I've noticed other gimpiness with it too relating to packet fragmentation,
where my mail would bounce for no reason. I had to change my MTU to fix
that. Why is Outlook seemingly so sensitive to network configuration?
Outlook Express does not seem to have these limitations. Is this some kind
of negative feature introduced with this version of the product? Should I
go back to my older version? I don't use most of the fancy features
anyways.

no takers?

"John Richardson" wrote in message
...
When I have at VPN connection open, I'm finding that Outlook refuses to
send any email out. How do I fix this (besides closing my VPN connection
each time I want to send/receive!)

As a side note:
I've noticed other gimpiness with it too relating to packet fragmentation,
where my mail would bounce for no reason. I had to change my MTU to fix
that. Why is Outlook seemingly so sensitive to network configuration?
Outlook Express does not seem to have these limitations. Is this some
kind of negative feature introduced with this version of the product?
Should I go back to my older version? I don't use most of the fancy
features anyways.

John,

Is the Outlook associated to the VPN connection. For example, are you using
your works Outlook and then using VPN to connect to their network to be able
to use the full client Outlook. The reason I ask is because of your
question if the Outlook is sensitive to network limitations. There are
various times of network configuration but lets address the issue with VPN.
What I commonly see with VPN and Outlook is that the connection is not
strong enough to allow for a strong network connection. This will happen if
sinning VPN over dial-up or on wireless, even though your connection shows
strong it can "drop packets" causing small but noticeable connectivity
issues with Outlook.

One thing to note this can be Outlook or a VPN issue or even a network
issues. The following may of assistance.
First directly connect to your cable or DSL modem to ensure a stronger
connection. Test to see if the helps doing the send/receive

If not, check to make sure the send/receive option is setup correctly. If
yes, rename you offline file .ost to .ost1 to force Outlook to create a new
one .ost file.

Still and issue- I would check your VPN setup a new one may need to be
created but typically this is more of a network latency or Outlook issues,
to make sure it is functioning properly.

Finally, if all the above is checked may need to create Outlook profile.

Hope this helps for at least a beginning step - there are lot items
mentioned because of there are various possible issues that can cause it.

Also, make sure your Outlook is not offline on Outlook 2003 - in bottom
right-hand corner.

Regards,

--
Francine Otterson
President, San Diego Outlook User Group
"John Richardson" wrote in message
...
no takers?

"John Richardson" wrote in message
...
When I have at VPN connection open, I'm finding that Outlook refuses to
send any email out. How do I fix this (besides closing my VPN connection
each time I want to send/receive!)

As a side note:
I've noticed other gimpiness with it too relating to packet
fragmentation, where my mail would bounce for no reason. I had to change
my MTU to fix that. Why is Outlook seemingly so sensitive to network
configuration? Outlook Express does not seem to have these limitations.
Is this some kind of negative feature introduced with this version of the
product? Should I go back to my older version? I don't use most of the
fancy features anyways.

This is a really late reply, but hopefully you are still checking this...

The VPN connection I am talking about here is not related to my mail
settings. I work remotely by VPN, but connect to my SMTP servers directly.
Basically, my mail SEND/RECEIVE works fine when I am not working remotely.
When I connect in by VPN to my work, any emails I send sit in my OUTBOX
until I disconnect from the VPN, and then Outlook can find the SMTP server,
and send my mail. This is incredibly irritating for obvious reasons, since
to send my mail, I have to stop everything, disconnect, send, reconnect,
repeat as desired.

There seems to be a lot of evidence that this is not a network connectivity
issue, although I am over Wireless here. To add to this, Outlook Express
works fine while the VPN is connected and with incorrect MTU network
settings (which really surprises me, since I'd assume they'd both use the
same basic mail engine).

Your response seems more geared to assuming I'm using Exchange or something,
but these problems are all Personal Email related with very simple settings.
And Outlook Express works totally fine where Outlook is failing.

My Outlook seems kinda buggy, too, since I can crash it consistently with
one mouse click during the first send and receive, so perhaps these things
are related. A re-install did not solve it, so it must be some DLL tucked
away somewhere causing the problem. I wonder if MS has a support system for
solving these issues?

J


"Francine Otterson" wrote in message
...
John,

Is the Outlook associated to the VPN connection. For example, are you
using your works Outlook and then using VPN to connect to their network to
be able to use the full client Outlook. The reason I ask is because of
your question if the Outlook is sensitive to network limitations. There
are various times of network configuration but lets address the issue with
VPN. What I commonly see with VPN and Outlook is that the connection is
not strong enough to allow for a strong network connection. This will
happen if sinning VPN over dial-up or on wireless, even though your
connection shows strong it can "drop packets" causing small but noticeable
connectivity issues with Outlook.

One thing to note this can be Outlook or a VPN issue or even a network
issues. The following may of assistance.
First directly connect to your cable or DSL modem to ensure a stronger
connection. Test to see if the helps doing the send/receive

If not, check to make sure the send/receive option is setup correctly. If
yes, rename you offline file .ost to .ost1 to force Outlook to create a
new one .ost file.

Still and issue- I would check your VPN setup a new one may need to be
created but typically this is more of a network latency or Outlook issues,
to make sure it is functioning properly.

Finally, if all the above is checked may need to create Outlook profile.

Hope this helps for at least a beginning step - there are lot items
mentioned because of there are various possible issues that can cause it.

Also, make sure your Outlook is not offline on Outlook 2003 - in bottom
right-hand corner.

Regards,

--
Francine Otterson
President, San Diego Outlook User Group
"John Richardson" wrote in message
...
no takers?

"John Richardson" wrote in message
...
When I have at VPN connection open, I'm finding that Outlook refuses to
send any email out. How do I fix this (besides closing my VPN
connection each time I want to send/receive!)

As a side note:
I've noticed other gimpiness with it too relating to packet
fragmentation, where my mail would bounce for no reason. I had to
change my MTU to fix that. Why is Outlook seemingly so sensitive to
network configuration? Outlook Express does not seem to have these
limitations. Is this some kind of negative feature introduced with this
version of the product? Should I go back to my older version? I don't
use most of the fancy features anyways.

John Richardson wrote:

The VPN connection I am talking about here is not related to my mail
settings. I work remotely by VPN, but connect to my SMTP servers
directly. Basically, my mail SEND/RECEIVE works fine when I am not
working remotely. When I connect in by VPN to my work, any emails I
send sit in my OUTBOX until I disconnect from the VPN, and then
Outlook can find the SMTP server, and send my mail. This is
incredibly irritating for obvious reasons, since to send my mail, I
have to stop everything, disconnect, send, reconnect, repeat as
desired.

While it may be irritating, it's EXACTLY how many VPNs are supposed to work.
When you're using a VPN to connect to your work, your networking attributes
are modified by the VPN client to disallow connection to any other network.
When you're using a VPN, you are on your company's network and whatever
rules they have in place apply to your machine. Thus, if you can't access
an outside SMTP server from work, you won't be able to access it from your
homw PC while connected to your work. This allows the work network to
remain inviolate.

There seems to be a lot of evidence that this is not a network
connectivity issue, although I am over Wireless here. To add to
this, Outlook Express works fine while the VPN is connected and with
incorrect MTU network settings (which really surprises me, since I'd
assume they'd both use the same basic mail engine).

This surprises me. I would expect Outlook Express to not work. You're
incorrect in your assumption that Outlook and Outlook Express use the same
mail engine, however.
--
Brian Tillman