Steps to Fix "UID of a message changed" Error When Using IMAP

Occasionally, users may see the following error when connecting an email client, particularly Oultook 2010, to SmarterMail using IMAP:


This error is an indication that the profile in Outlook has some sort of corruption. This corruption can occur for any reason, and is not unique to SmarterMail users. A quick Google search shows that profile corruption, especially in older Outlook versions, is a relatively common occurrence. However, there are some simple things you can do to resolve this issue.

First and foremost, make sure you, or your email provider, are running the most current version of SmarterMail. If NOT, upgrade your version or contact your service provider and find out when they intend on updating their installation.

Remove Your Outlook Profile
The simplest solution is to simply remove the corrupted Outlook profile. The easiest way to do this is through the Control Panel:

  1. Open the Search bar in Windows. (Generally, you can simply hit the Windows key on your keyboard.)
  2. Type Control Panel and hit Enter.
  3. In the Search Control Panel text box – which should be highlighted by default – type Mail and hit Enter.
  4. Click the search result:
  5. The Mail Setup box opens. From here, click the Show Profiles button.
  6. Select the Profile you want to delete and click the Remove button.
  7. You'll see a prompt about removing the profile and deleting any offline, cached content. Simply click the Yes button. Your account will re-sync once it's added back.
  8. Click the Apply and then the OK buttons. That's it, the Profile is now removed.
  9. You can now re-add your Profile.
This should resolve the issue as you're re-creating the corrupted Outlook profile. However, we have seen instances where this alone doesn't fully fix the issue. 

Remove Your Profile and Delete CFG Files
If simply removing and re-creating your Outlook profile doesn't fix the issue, you can try the following. NOTE: you will need access to your SmarterMail server in order to do this. If you do not, your SmarterMail administrator will need to handle steps 2 through 4.  

  1. Using the steps above, remove your Outlook profile.
  2. Next, stop the SmarterMail service.
  3. Delete all of the CFG files associated with your SmarterMail user. By default, these are located at C:\SmarterMail\Domains\your-domain.com\Users\your-username\Mail
    NOTE: Deleting the CFG files will remove any flags assigned to individual messages.
  4. Re-start the SmarterMail service.
  5. Re-add your profile in Outlook.
This is really an "if all else fails" solution and is rarely necessary to resolve the issue.

Of course, if neither of the above issues works, feel free to reach out to our Support Team.