All new mail messages do not show up in the Inbox

[Stephane Maillard]

Salut,

Une technote pour la 7.0.3 => All new mail messages do not show up in the Inbox for some mail files on Domino 7.0.3 servers

Question

After upgrading to Lotus® Domino® version 7.0.3, some users find documents appear in the All Documents view but do not appear in the Inbox. Examining the server console shows the following message: "Unable to add note xxxx to folder in Database mail/user.nsf: Invalid Time or Date Encountered" Why does this occur and what can be done about it?
Answer

This behavior did not exist in versions 7.0.2 or earlier. A change in release 7.0.3 to detect bad dates in folder elements causes this behavior. Bad date/time stamps in folder operations can cause problems such as replication failures or folder refresh issues. The change in 7.0.3 returns an error on these folders so an administrator can run Fixup to correct them. The side effect is that new messages delivered before Fixup is run will not show up in the Inbox.

One known cause is if the operating system time on a client or server is set greater than (>) 2 days into the future or greater than (>) 23 days into the past and then a folder operation occurs or a folder is modified. If the modified time of the folder or the modified time of the current folder operation is outside of this time frame, an error will be returned.

Solution
This regression is being tracked under SPR KHAN79MU5N. The issue does not occur in Domino 8.0.

To resolve this issue, Fixup should be run on any databases encountering this error and the root cause should be investigated and corrected. For example, if a client or server machine has the operating system time set into the future, that should be remedied so bad time stamps do not persist.

A folder operation includes deleting a document or moving it to out of the Inbox into another folder.

A fix is planned for Domino 7.0.4, and 7.0.3 Fix Pack 1 (FP1) to disable this behavior by default. Customers who require a hotfix to remedy this issue can open a PMR through IBM Support.

Mail will still be delivered to the database, but.not appear in the Inbox. Users can still read the mail by going to the All Documents view.

In some cases, administrators have had to remove the $Inbox folder design element and replace the design from the mail template. (WARNING: A backup of the Inbox should be made by copying the documents to a backup folder, before doing this).

Example of an error one would see from the Domino server console:

"Unable to add note xxxx to folder in Database mail/user.nsf: Invalid Time or Date Encountered"

Note: Moving documents to an impacted folder will also generate an error to the end user.

It is important to note that setting the operating system time in the future can produce unexpected errors and results including, but not limited to archiving, replication, and scheduled agents.