Outlook 2003 import failure "Unknown error occurred during import".

Martin_Sheppard · February 18, 2014, 8:45am

Trying to import my Outlook 2003 data under Windows 8.1.
I have tried importing whole account and also individual pst file but I always get this message when the import starts: “Unknown error occurred during import”.
Any ideas?
Thanks…Martin

Anonymous · February 18, 2014, 1:52pm

Hi, I will need your Import logs, go to tools - settings - advanced, check Import under Global, apply and restart eM Client.

Try to import and after you will see error message again use “send logs…” to [email protected] together with this topic’s URL in subject.

Then you can turn logging off.

Jan

fas_mike · July 29, 2014, 5:27am

I got this same message when trying to import my outlook .pst file. It made it through 5400 of 7200 items then gave me this error. After the first failed import I ran scanpst on my .pst file which did find an error and fix it. I then blew away eM Client, reinstalled and reran the import. I got the same error.

The application opens and I can see and use my email because it imported 5400+ items, but I have no idea where I failed or what was left out.

I’m rerunning the import now with the log turned on like you requested of Martin, so if you want the log I’ll have it. Were you able to find a solution to his problem?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Mike

Paul_Technical_Suppo · July 29, 2014, 8:20am

Hi Mike, what version of eM Client are you currently using?
Can you send me the log file with a reference link to this forum topic to [email protected] ?

Thank you,
Paul.

Martin_Sheppard · July 29, 2014, 2:15pm

I finally fixed this problem by compressing my Outlook pst file before attempting the import . Apparently Outlook has all sort of issues when the pst files becomes larger than 2gb.
Best of luck…Martin

Paul_Technical_Suppo · July 30, 2014, 8:40am

Hi Martin, great, glad to hear that worked, thanks for sharing your solution.
Let us know if you have any other issues or questions, we’ll be happy to help.

Regards,
Paul.

fas_mike · July 30, 2014, 5:36pm

Thanks Martin. I’ll give that a try. In the mean time I’ll send the long along as well.

My version of eM was (from the log):

22:22:40.205|001| eM Client: 6.0.20617.0, .NET: 4.0.30319.18444, OS: Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1

Mike

fas_mike · July 30, 2014, 8:04pm

I got past the problem, but the bug is probably still real, and in fact I may have discovered a second bug. Here is the summary of what I found and what I did.

I was importing a huge number of folders and emails from my outlook .pst file. I got the “unknown error” message after getting through about 5,400 of 7,200 folders. After the failed import, when I opened eM, I noticed the entire process had not failed and many of my folders and calendars were actually imported. The system seemed usable, but I had no idea where it failed so I’d never know what was missing until it was too late.

From the log I discovered that the error was happening in a folder I specifically excluded from my import. When I looked at eM I noticed it actually created the folder structure I asked it to exclude, but did not actually import any of the emails inside those folders. I thought perhaps I accidentally did not exclude that folder tree, so I thought I’d try again.

When running the import for a 3rd time I noticed when I unchecked the root folder of the folder tree I did not want to import, none of the sub-folders in that tree got unchecked. So, as a test, I went through the entire sub-tree of the one folder I did not want to import and unchecked about 5,000 sub-folders. One of those sub-folders contained the email which, according to the log, was causing the “unknown error” on the import.

When I finally executed this 3rd import attempt, it actually skipped that one folder and all the sub-folders inside it, and the import was successful. But this only happened after I went through that entire tree and unchecked every single folder in the tree, about 5,000 of them.

It seems to me that even though I unchecked the root folder of the tree I did not want to import, the eM import process was still traversing that section of the hierarchy even though there was no need. That is what I’m referring to as bug #2.

Bug #1 or maybe problem #1 is still unclear to me. I’m just lucky that the email causing the error happened to be in a folder tree I did not want to import anyway. I sent the entire log to Paul (from the post above) to investigate further. I’ll post the last section of the log here as a reference to the error.

23:54:48.878|011| PST Import: ------------------------------------------

23:54:48.878|011| PST Import: Checking if folder Communications is set for import

23:54:48.878|011| PST Import: Determining target account for : Communications

23:54:48.878|011| PST Import: Creating tmpSourcePath for : Communications

23:54:48.878|011| PST Import: Determining target folder for : Communications

23:54:48.878|011| PST Import: Checking if Communications should be imported into trash

23:54:48.878|011| PST Import: Started importing Communications into Communications, item count: 697

23:54:49.611|011| PST Import: Item determined as Mail

23:54:49.611|011| PST Import - MailImporter: Mail import started

23:54:49.611|011| PST Import - MailImporter: Trying to get attachment

23:54:49.611|011| PST Import: Item determined as Mail

23:54:49.611|011| PST Import - MailImporter: Mail import started

23:54:49.611|011| PST Import - MailImporter: Trying to get attachment

23:54:49.611|011| PST Import: Item determined as Mail

23:54:49.611|011| PST Import - MailImporter: Mail import started

23:54:49.627|011| PST Import - MailImporter: Trying to get attachment

21:55:08.694|011| PST Import: ImportDataWorker exception : System.ArgumentException: Item has already been added. Key in dictionary: ‘162’ Key being added: ‘162’

21:55:08.694|011| at System.Collections.Hashtable.Insert(Object key, Object nvalue, Boolean add)

21:55:08.694|011| at System.Collections.Hashtable.Add(Object key, Object value)

21:55:08.694|011| at a1…ctor(Byte[] A_0, UInt32 A_1, Boolean A_2)

21:55:08.694|011| at av.a(g A_0, Byte[] A_1, o A_2, b A_3)

21:55:08.694|011| at a0.a(g A_0, o A_1)

21:55:08.694|011| at a0.a(g A_0, o A_1, Table A_2, UInt64 A_3, UInt64 A_4, Boolean A_5)

21:55:08.694|011| at Independentsoft.Pst.Folder.GetItems(Int32 startIndex, Int32 endIndex, Boolean includeAttachments)

21:55:08.694|011| at Independentsoft.Pst.Folder.GetItems(Int32 startIndex, Int32 endIndex)

21:55:08.694|011| at MailClient.Importers.Pst.PstImporter.ImportFolder(String sourcePath, Folder source, Nullable`1 specialFolderType, PstImportAccount importAccount, Boolean isRoot)

21:55:08.694|011| at MailClient.Importers.Pst.PstImporter.ImportToFolders(String fileName, PstImportAccount importAccount)

21:55:08.694|011| at MailClient.Importers.Pst.PstImporter.ImportDataWorker(IWin32Window owner, BackgroundWorker worker, DoWorkEventArgs arg)

21:55:11.752|011| PST Import: PST Import finished

Paul_Technical_Suppo · July 31, 2014, 2:07pm

Hi Mike, do you think it would be possible to send us the PST file you’re importing? How big is the PST file?
Are you having issues with other PST files as well?

Thank you,
Paul.