The recipient was unavailable to take delivery of the message

A user received a bounced message with the following text when she sent an email:

Your message

   To:      mbgonzalez1@tfm.com.mx
   Subject: Receipt for Mr. Kniestedt
   Sent:    Fri, 17 Dec 2004 13:34:40 -0600

 did not reach the following recipient(s):

 Mayela Gonzalez B. on Fri, 17 Dec 2004 13:35:40 -0600
     The recipient was unavailable to take delivery of the message
       The MTS-ID of the original message is: c=es;a=
 ;p=tfm;l=MAIL0412171935Y7690HBL
     MSEXCH:MSExchangeMTA:TFM_MTY_PO2:TFM_MTY_DOM05

So what does "the recipient was unavailable to take delivery of the message" mean? The email address is correct. Otherwise, the Microsoft Exchange server at the recipient's end would have replied "The recipient name is not recognized". In thise case, I believe it is because the recipient, Mayela Gonzalez, is over her quota for email on the Exchange server.

When a user is over quota and needs to delete some email, most other servers will respond with a message that clearly states the source of the problem, such as "the user has exceeded his quota" or something similar. The message from the Microsoft Exchange server, however, gives no immediately intelligible reason for the problem, but I believe it is because she is over her alloted storage space for messages on that server.

Unfortuntately, I've encountered other cases, also, where Microsoft programs ought to provide you details the program clearly must know, so that you can immediately understand what is causing a problem, but instead they provide some vague message like the one in this bounced message. Why is the user "unavailable to take delivery of the message"? Has she gone to lunch? The program producing the error message must know why it can't deliver the message to her, but doesn't deign to provide the details that would make the source of the problem clear.

References:

1. VirginiaTech Knowledge Base Article VTKB1005

[/network/email/exchange] permanent link

Viewing Message Headers in Outlook 2002

If you receive a spam message or anti-virus software on your system reports it detected a virus or worm in an incoming message, you can't rely on the "from" address to reveal the true orgination point of the message. It is highly unlikely that such messages actually came from the user listed in the "from" address. Most spammers and mass-mailing worms use spoofed "from" addresses, i.e. addresses that are fictitious, real addresses that were found by a worm scanning an infected system for email addresses, addresses found by spam spiders, which are programs that search the web for valid email addresses posted on websites, or addresses that are likely to be valid on a domain, such as info, information, admin, administrator, root, etc.

Sending a reply message to the "from" address warning the user at that address that his or her system is infected with a virus or to complain about spam will likely be fruitless, since that user never sent you the spam or virus. So how can you determine where the message actually orginated? By looking at the message headers. Most email clients commonly used on Windows systems hide the message headers from users by default, but, commonly, there are ways to still view the message headers.

In Outlook 2002, the procedure is as follows:

1. Double-click on the message in Outlook to view it.
2. Click on "View" and then "Options". A "Message Options" window appears with the Internet headers displayed at the bottom of the window.

If you want to copy those headers to an email message or file, click inside the "Internet headers" section, hit the Ctrl and A keys simultaneously to select the entire contents of that section or just click and drag with the mouse to highlight all of the information. Then hit the Ctrl and C keys simultaneously to copy the information into the Windows clipboard. Then inside an email message you are composing or a file you've opened, hit the Ctrl and V keys simultaneously to paste the information into the message or file.

Scrolling through the message headers will reveal the origination point of a message. Don't expect to find an email address associated with the true sender, but the headers will show the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the sending system and path the message took from that system to your system.

[/os/windows/office/outlook] permanent link

Reducing the size of a Portable Document File (PDF) file in Acrobat 6.0

To reduce the size of a PDF file in Adobe Acrobat 6.0, take the following steps:

1. Click on File.
2. Click on Reduce File Size.
3. Select the desired compatibility. You have three options:
   • Adobe Acrobat 4.0 and later
   • Adobe Acrobat 5.0 and later
   • Adobe Acrobat 6.0 and later
   Selecting a later version will allow a greater reduction in file size, but will necessitate others viewing the file to have that version. Selecting an earlier version will provide greater compatibility, but a smaller reduction in file size.

When you are working with a PDF file, you can also reduce the size of the file by choosing Save As and then overwriting the file you opened. When you choose Save As, Acrobat will save the file as efficiently as possible, whereas when you choose Save, changes are appended to the file, which may make it larger. Acrobat will also optimize a document for "Fast Web View" when you use Save As, allowing the document to be downloaded one page at a time from a Web server, which will reduce the time it takes to view it.

You can see the size of the file in Acrobat by clicking on File and then Document Properties. Under the "Description" section, in addition to the file size, you will also see the PDF version listed, which will tell you what version of Acrobat others will need to view the file.

References:

Reduce PDF file size

[/os/windows/software/pdf] permanent link

Repairing Outlook PST File Corruption at 2 GB Limit

Outlook 2000 and earlier versions put all messages, attachments, contact lists, the calendar, etc. in one file. There are advantages and disadvantages to that approach. But Microsoft's Outlook developers coded the software in such a way that when that file size nears 2 GigaBytes (GB), the file becomes corrupt. And Outlook provides no forewarning that one is nearing the 2 GB limit. Once you reach about 1.96 GB the file becomes corrupted and you may not even be able to start Outlook.

Microsoft's Inbox Repair Tool, scanpst.exe, can't repair the damage. The only repair mechanism Microsoft provides is the Oversize PST Recovery Tool, PST2GB. That tool will arbitrarily truncate the PST file to less than 2 GB, which then allows it to be repaired with the Inbox Recovery Tool. However, you have no control over what data is removed by the truncation process, so some messages will be lost.

For instructions on how to repair a file that has reached the limit, see Repairing Outlook PST File Corruption at 2 GB Limit

[/os/windows/office/outlook] permanent link