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Folders disappear without user intervention in Smartermail Build 7468+
Problem reported by Ionel Aurelian Rau - 6/21/2020 at 10:47 PM
Resolved
We now have a major problem: users started complaining that one or more of their folders are missing. Initially I thought they might be mistaking or maybe deleted them by accident, but then another user complained and then another. This never happened before, so it`s definitely new. We had no choice but to recover the folders from backups.

Complaints started coming in after 15th of June, so I guess maybe the problem manifested itself after updating to Build 7468 (Jun 12, 2020).

At this point we have no idea how widespread the problem is since people are randomly noticing missing folders when they need them (we get a lot of mail and our users are instructed to keep their mailboxes organized, so it`s customary for us to have 50+ folders and subfolders in our mailboxes).

The biggest problem is that this also affects now our CEO, and after recovering 2 of his folders, he also discovered other 3 missing ones over the week-end. This coupled with the fact that search does not work at all for him (we have an opened ticket for this) and we cannot get MAPI to work in Outlook for us, has left us really upset and disappointed. I`m tasked now with finding alternatives to SmarterMail or just consider MS365. Not sure I can keep confidence in our Mail server much longer in this state, when email is our main communication tool - what we absolutely need for our business to continue.

I`m writing this in the hopes that maybe others have noticed this and we`re not the only ones affected. I just updated our server to Build 7475 (Jun 19, 2020) just in case something changed behind the scenes, but I still need now to ask people to check their folders and see if they`re missing so we can recover them.

10 Replies

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Tim Uzzanti Replied
Employee Post
Did you open a ticket?  This would be unique and we would want to evaluate your server and situation.
Tim Uzzanti CEO SmarterTools Inc. (877) 357-6278 www.smartertools.com
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Ionel Aurelian Rau Replied
It`s opened now, thank you. 
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FrankyBoy Replied
Hi, first sorry for my poor english. We have noticed the same thing with some of our customers following an update a few weeks ago, which coordinates with the Ionel Aurelian Rau's problem. My reflex was the same thinking as him that the client had deleted it by mistake, but after a few subsequent calls I begin to have doubts too.

Unfortunately since it's been a few weeks I did not note which accounts then it will be difficult for me to open a ticket for lack of references, but what I remember is that the problematic files had either punctuation, accents (we are French-speaking ), spaces or special characters in the folder names.

I hope this information will help you to have a clue on the resolution of the problem. If I ever have other reports I will open a support ticket and mention it in this thread.

Thank you Tim for taking these comments into consideration, it is much appreciated.
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Ionel Aurelian Rau Replied
I have provided more information in the ticket, including exports from backup of a user before him being affected and after. Indeed the missing folder has spaces in it. However, I also have folders with spaces and so have others - they did not all go missing..

Anyway, I hope the root cause can be found and solved asap.
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FrankyBoy Replied
Perfect Ionel,  thank you very much for the follow-up and please keep us informed of the progress of the intervention. If a fast hotfix is implemented, please share it with us!
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Andrea Free Replied
Employee Post
Hi guys, 

A quick update for you... This post did bring to our attention a potential issue with special characters in folder names. In our preliminary review, we're finding that, in certain circumstances, special characters in a folder name can cause the folder to disappear from the interface. However, the folder is still in tact and can be easily recovered. 

We'll continue looking into this and hope to have a resolution soon. 
Andrea Free SmarterTools Inc. 877-357-6278 www.smartertools.com
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Tim Uzzanti Replied
Employee Post
Actually, it was another thread about special characters but It is related to what you guys are seeing.  Now that you have a ticket, we can send you a hot fix and see if it resolves your issue as well.
Tim Uzzanti CEO SmarterTools Inc. (877) 357-6278 www.smartertools.com
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Ron Raley Replied
Tim, please consider making this hotfix public.  Thank you!
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Adam Replied
Same happened to me, with only one user. The special character was "&" (and sign).

Please post the hotfix public.

Also I tried to recover the user folder but it simply doesnt work - followed KB article and made new folder but no items appear in webmail nor Outlook, however the files are intact and look as per normal.
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Tim Uzzanti Replied
Employee Post
The build we have is to trace every folder delete to see where it was initiated from (customer or code).  We are not aware of any issues with SmarterMail removing a folder that wasn't legitimately requested.  Please open a ticket if you are concerned and we will give you this build so you and we have data to support any concerns you have.

We are aware of very rare instances where a folder might not load because it has a special character.  Keep in mind, this folder is still on the server but we don't return the folder because of an error due to the special characters.  This is something we are evaluating to understand what scenarios this can happen.
Tim Uzzanti CEO SmarterTools Inc. (877) 357-6278 www.smartertools.com

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