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Some users in a distribution group receive a blank email sent to that group

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We are running Exchange 2003 SP2 on Server 2003 R2 SP2. When a user sends an email to a distribution group some users receive that email with a blank body. This ranges from Outlook 2003 to Outlook 2010. The email also has a blank body in OWA. We use NOD32 as our AV and I was sure that it was an AV thing until I checked OWA. I’ve looked through many forums over the past month with no answers. Any help that anyone could give me would greatly be appreciated.

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Clarifications

In reply to Some users in a distribution group receive a blank email sent to that group

Clarifications

Check the outgoing e-mail format

In reply to Some users in a distribution group receive a blank email sent to that group

Under Tools, Options, Format, check the Message Format and the Stationary settings. I suspect Format is set for HTML, and that you were right about it being an AV thing. Try sending in Plain Text and turn off any Stationary or other bells and whistles. If that gets through, try Rich Text.

Re: Check the outgoing e-mail format

In reply to Check the outgoing e-mail format

I’ll check that but I don’t understand why some users will get a blank email one time then the next time it will be other users. This isn’t just with one distribution group this appears to be with all distribution groups. I’m currently not running AV on the Exchange server and there is no record of Eset blocking anything on the client side. If it is a stationary issue how do I fix that? Upper management uses stationary and will not go for using plain text or rich text.

The problem moves around?

In reply to Re: Check the outgoing e-mail format

Sorry, I interpreted your question as meaning the problem was confined to a single distribution list.

The received e-mails are completely blank; headers only? This isn’t a case of some goofy font, is it?

What happens if the sender tries to resend the exact same message directly to the ‘blank’ recipients, without using the list? Are these lists in the Global Address List, or are they created by the sender in his / her Contacts?

Re: The problem moves around

In reply to The problem moves around?

The emails are completely blank, headers only. I don’t think its a goofy font because the users sending the emails use the same fonts everytime. If the sender sends the email directly to a user that received a blank email it isn’t blank. All the users are in the Global Address List. As far as I know it’s only internal users. The only thing I haven’t tried is to recreate the distribution lists but I really don’t want to do that seeing that the ones that are having issues have 100+ users. Does Exchange 2003 have a limit on the number of emails that can be in a distribution list?

“I’m currently not running AV on the Exchange server “

In reply to Re: Check the outgoing e-mail format

You’re kidding right?
Please tell me that you’re kidding.

For troubleshooting purposes

In reply to “I’m currently not running AV on the Exchange server “

Since I’ve been chasing my tail on this issue for about 2 months, yes I did remove the AV on the exchange server. I do not see how this post is helpful. If you have any helpful information I would greatly appreciate it.

Troubleshooting Blank Message Bodies in Outlook Web Access

In reply to Some users in a distribution group receive a blank email sent to that group

This article describes how to troubleshoot Exchange Server if an Exchange Server user can successfully use Microsoft Outlook Web Access (OWA) to open the Inbox, but cannot see the body of a message.

First Issue
To function correctly, OWA requires read, write, and delete access to the WebTemp and System Temp folders. If a user sees blank bodies in messages, the user’s Microsoft Windows NT account might not have read, write, and delete access to the system Temp folder on the server.
Change the Location of Your Server’s Temp Folder
The Temp folder on your server might be in a location that you do not want to grant the Everyone group read, write, and delete access to (for example, C:\Winnt\Temp). To move your server’s Temp folder to a more secure location, use the procedure that is appropriate to your server’s operating system:

Note The following changes must be system environment variables.

* For Windows NT 4.0:
1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
2. Click the Environment tab.
3. If your server has the TMP value, select the value for TMP in the System pane. If your server does not have the TMP value, select any other variable in the System pane, and then type TMP in the Variable Name box at the bottom of the dialog box.
4. Type the location of your Temp folder in the Variable Value box, and then click Set.
5. Verify that the TMP value now appears in the System pane. If the TMP value does not appear in the System pane, repeat steps 3 and 4. Make sure that you click an existing System environment variable, and then replace it with the TMP value.
6. Click Apply, and then click OK to close the dialog box.
7. You must restart your server for the changes to take effect.
* For Microsoft Windows 2000:
1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
2. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Environment Variables.
3. Under System variables section, select the value for TMP and then click Edit. If your server does not have a value for TMP, click New, and then type TMP in the Variable Name box in the dialog that is displayed.
4. Type the location of your Temp folder in the Variable Value box, and then click Set.
5. Click OK, and then click OK in the System Properties dialog box to close it.
6. You must restart your server for the changes to take effect.

Grant the Everyone Group Read, Write, and Delete Access to the Temp Folder
To grant the Everyone group read, write, and delete access to the Temp folder, use the procedure that is appropriate to your server’s operating system:

* For Windows NT 4.0:
1. Use Microsoft Windows Explorer to find your server’s system Temp folder.
2. Right-click the Temp folder, and then click Properties.
3. Click the Security tab, and then click Permissions.
4. Select Everyone, and then click Remove.
5. Click Add, and then double-click the Everyone group so that it is displayed in the lower pane. Grant the Everyone group Full Control access, and then click OK.
6. In the main Permissions dialog box, select the Everyone group again, and then click Special Directory Access in the Select box in the lower portion of the dialog box.
7. Click Other, and then click to select the Read, Write, and Delete check boxes. Make sure that all the rest of the check boxes are clear. Click OK to close the Permissions dialog box.
8. Click OK to close the Properties dialog box.
* For Windows 2000:
1. Use Windows Explorer to find your server’s system Temp folder.
2. Right-click the Temp folder, and then click Properties.
3. Click the Security tab.
4. If the Allow inheritable permissions from parent to propagate to this object check box is selected, click to clear it. In the dialog box that is displayed, click Copy.
5. Select the Everyone group, and then click Remove.
6. Click Advanced, click Add, and then click the Everyone group. Click OK.
7. In the Allow column, click to select the following check boxes:
o List folder/read data
o Read attributes
o Read extended attributes
o Create files/write data
o Create folders/append data
o Write attributes
o Write extended attributes
o Delete subfolders and files
Make sure that all the rest of the check boxes are clear.
8. Click OK to close the Permission Entry dialog box, click OK to close the Advanced dialog box, and then click OK to close the Properties dialog box.

Second Issue
Users might also see blank message bodies in OWA if the Exchange Server 5.5. post-Service Pack 4 (SP4) OWA fixes that are described in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article are installed on a server where the minimum required version of Microsoft Internet Explorer is not installed:

XGEN: Exchange Server 5.5 Post-SP4 Outlook Web Access Fixes:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313576/EN-US/

To resolve this issue, install the minimum required version of Internet Explorer on the server, and then restart the World Wide Web Publishing service. The minimum required version of Internet Explorer is Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.0, but Microsoft recommends that all OWA servers be upgraded to Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.5 Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later.

Third Issue
Virus-scanning software that runs on the server might deny access to a message with attachments until the attachments are correctly scanned. If a server is under heavy stress, users might not see the bodies of such messages until the attachments pass through the virus-scanning queue. The user will be able to open the message after the virus scan for the attachment is complete. If this is the cause of the issue, the user also cannot see the attachment by using other means, such as Microsoft Outlook.

Retired KB Content Disclaimer
This article was written about products for which Microsoft no longer offers support. Therefore, this article is offered “as is” and will no longer be updated.

disribution list

In reply to Some users in a distribution group receive a blank email sent to that group

try to create a small distrubtion list containing afew users. sent the mail to the new distribution list to check if the problem occurs again

Do you any mail security programs, kindly check if any of mail filters programs could be blocking the mails. espically this ouccurs if you are using GFI mail essentials and GFI mail security.

[Author]

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