Issues with Hotmail/Outlook.com (-31 error)

[Dixon Butz]

Been using my msn account with Hotmail/Outlook server type for years with no issues.
Yesterday started getting -31 errors.
Logged in through browser. That is fine.
Switched to IMAP in PP that works fine.
Deleted that MSN account and recreated it in PP. Still -31's using Hotmail/Outlook.
Switching to IMAP is fine.
The thing is I don't like the the IMAP. It is slow when deleting messages. The URL's in the message body do not change color to indicate a visited status.
My other 2 Hotmail accounts work fine with Hotmail/Outlook.
Any Ideas?

[Dixon Butz]

Same problem on another PC. Only with my MSN account.

[Jeff]

If you check under Help / About, do you have WebMail v4.0.20.0?

When you log into the account with your webbrowser, do you have the new interface -- you'll see "Outlook Mail (Preview)" on the top-left -- or the old interface?

At this point, WebMail support for the new Hotmail interface is very limited. I would encourage you to try IMAP again with POP Peeper v4.1, as v4.1 has a pretty big focus on IMAP support, especially in regards to performance.
http://www.esumsoft.com/pop-peeper-beta/
(be sure to read the note for enabling imap sync)

fyi, -31 error occurs when trying to retrieve the entire message. I tried retrieving a message on both interfaces with no problem.

[Dixon Butz]

If you check under Help / About, do you have WebMail v4.0.20.0?

When you log into the account with your webbrowser, do you have the new interface -- you'll see "Outlook Mail (Preview)" on the top-left -- or the old interface?

At this point, WebMail support for the new Hotmail interface is very limited. I would encourage you to try IMAP again with POP Peeper v4.1, as v4.1 has a pretty big focus on IMAP support, especially in regards to performance.
http://www.esumsoft.com/pop-peeper-beta/
(be sure to read the note for enabling imap sync)

fyi, -31 error occurs when trying to retrieve the entire message. I tried retrieving a message on both interfaces with no problem.

Yes the lastest WM plugin.
You are right. I see the preview in top left. My other accounts still see the old interface. Guess there is no way to go back to the old interface. I tried the "lite" option in there.
I'll go with the beta. Thx!

[Jeff]

Would you be willing to help troubleshoot the WebMail error you're getting in case it affects other people who are not so willing to help? I'll have you create a duplicate account so that it doesn't affect your (hopefully) working IMAP account. Send me an email (support at esumsoft dot com) and I'll provide instructions.

[chrisdoc365]

I have exactly the same issue and I'm unable to use IMAP.
I am willing to help resolve this if required.

[Jeff]

Chris, email me using the same email address (support at esumsoft dot com) so I can get the necessary information from you.

The OP's problem appears to be with his account and he found some interesting issues that maybe you can try, too, just to see if it's the same problem:
- Open http://www.msn.com/ in your webbrowser
- On the top-left is an "outlook.com" link
- Click that link.
-> Does it work? (The OP would get a "bad request" when using that link)

[Dixon Butz]

I also get the bad request when I just go to Outlook.com and login.
But if I log in at hotmail.com, I see the lite interface. I did change to lite interface in options.

Edit: I guess its not a lite interface. But it is not the one that says preview.
I unchecked lite version and relogged. Looks the same.

[Dixon Butz]

Weird but now when I click the Outlook.com icon on MSN, I no longer get the bad request. I see that other interface. But that other interface does not work at all in Chrome.

Also in IE and MS Edge, that outlook.com link in MSN works now. Didn't work before. I now see the interface that says preview.
It almost seems like they are fixing it or changing things.

[Bill_Texas]

I have several hotmail accounts. Some are fine. One is not. The account looks okay (not in the exclamation point in yellow on lower right) but double clicking any message in the bad account gets "Error retrieving message"

When I try what I call the lite browser interface (which I love because it doesn't have the awful taxing scripts choking me),
https://mssl.mail.live.com/m/?bfv=wm
it's fine on some accounts, but it gets the "Outlook Mail (Preview)" on the bad one, which is a CPU chewing clunky idiotic mess (IOW a typical Microsoft "upgrade.") God I wish I wish I wish I could opt out of that change to the one account (and I expect it will be destructively scheduled for all my other ones soon, darn you Microsoft).

Firefox is my default brower if I double click a link in a message, or double click a .HTM file in a browser, though I've always had the impression that IE was used by PP. I only keep IE for emergencies so it's only IE6.

I'm just sharing another experience. I'm happy to help test things too if you want.

FYI under tools/options/message retrieval I have headers on all 3 dropdowns; 0 POP3/IMAP message limit; and the last checkbox only (webmail/Imap retrieve entire message)

EDIT: Truly very sorry to be wishy washy - but PP suddenly DOES open and read the emails from that account. The only apparent difference is that I opened live.com (not the lite version) in a browser, then PP worked. It still shows "Outlook Mail (Preview)" so it's not that Microsoft reverted the status of this account to "normal." And by the way, my "lite" link vs. http://www.hotmail.com both lead to the same place, https://outlook.live.com/owa/#path=/mail/inbox

This is different than when you open an account and answer the useless idiotic phone number/alternate email screens that MS frequently imposes; I understand that doing that makes PP able to list the messages rather than have a yellow exclamation failure with the error code. In this new problem, PP is able to log in, and list the Inbox messages; you just couldn't open any of them - until as of this minute, after logging in with browser, I can open them now. FWIW!

[Jeff]

OK.... One of my test accounts started exhibiting this problem and the problem has now been fixed. This is for the -31 error.

Fix
The permanent fix is to switch your accounts to use IMAP and put up with the occasional error caused by Hotmail's IMAP servers (edit the account; change "server type" to Imap). But for WebMail-based access...

The fix is in WebMail v4.0.21
You can either wait for POP Peeper to auto-update or to force an immediate update:
1) On POP peeper's main menu, select Help / About
2) Make sure that both "Automatically check for new versions" AND "Auto-update WebMail Plugin" are enabled
3) Press "Check Version"
4) The webmail plugin should update
5) You may need to restart POP Peeper for the change to take effect


Error Description
There were 3 conditions that were required for this error:
1) The account must be using the "Outlook mail (preview)" interface
2) The account must be using conversation view
3) Some per-account condition because not all accounts with the first 2 exhibited the problem. This is very typical, unfortunately, and makes my job much harder.

[Jeff]

Also -- for any/everybody -- let me know if any accounts you have still have the "bad request" which likely results in an empty mailbox (no error) in POP Peeper. This is a separate issue and appears to be a server problem that hopefully, as Dixon mentioned, they're aware of and are fixing/have fixed.

[MegaMatt]

This new update fixed the -31 error, and I can get new messages -- but now new messages do not get deleted from that account. Instead, I mark them for delete, and next update they show up as new again.

[mjs]

This new update fixed the -31 error, and I can get new messages -- but now new messages do not get deleted from that account. Instead, I mark them for delete, and next update they show up as new again.

Hi MegaMatt,

I'm presuming the reference to "new update" has to do with the Webmail plugin v4.0.21 update and your reference to the "next update" is referring to a subsequent Pop Peeper "Mail Check". Your issue deleting mail is of course an issue that is separate from the new Webmail plugin update.

I've just tested for this and for me Yahoo mail flagged for deletion in Pop Peeper does get deleted on the subsequent Pop Peeper "Mail Check" and is also removed from the Email Clients' Inbox as well (therefore cannot show up in Pop Peeper again).

I would suggest you try exiting and restarting Pop Peeper to see if this helps (right-click on the Pop Peeper system-tray icon and Click on "Exit", then restart Pop Peeper send a test email to you Yahoo account, delete the message in Pop Peeper to determine if the message is deleted in Pop Peeper on a subsequent Pop Peeper "Mail check". If the problem persists you could try rebooting your computer and repeating the above once again.

Please report back your results MegaMatt, thanks.

ADDENDUM: OK, I see a NEW Webmail plugin has just been released by Jeff to address this issue (SEE BELOW).

[Jeff]

The fix for the delete issue was just released in WebMail v4.0.22; here's how to get it:
1) From PP's main menu, select Help/About
2) Make sure that both "automatically check for updates" and "auto-update webmail plugin" are enabled
3) Press "Check version"
4) It should auto-update
5) I recommend exiting/restart PP to make sure that the updated webmail plugin is being used.

Please check that deleting works for those previously affected accounts and let me know that it works for them (or not).

[Dixon Butz]

The fix for the delete issue was just released in WebMail v4.0.22; here's how to get it:
1) From PP's main menu, select Help/About
2) Make sure that both "automatically check for updates" and "auto-update webmail plugin" are enabled
3) Press "Check version"
4) It should auto-update
5) I recommend exiting/restart PP to make sure that the updated webmail plugin is being used.

Please check that deleting works for those previously affected accounts and let me know that it works for them (or not).

Timestamps seem to be PST using webmail/outlook. I am in EST. Can that be fixed?
Thx

[Dixon Butz]

Guess its not PST which is -8.
PDT is -7
I thought MS was in PST
http://www.timeanddate.com/time/zones/pst

But my timestamps are 4 hours behind.

[mjs]

You can edit the "time zone" values in the "Options" settings (click on "gear" icon top-right of inbox interface) of the Hotmail account and from there click on the "Account details (password, addresses, time zone)" option within the "Managing your account" settings (top-left) of that Hotmail "Options" interface.

[Dixon Butz]

You can edit the "time zone" values in the "Options" settings (click on "gear" icon top-right of inbox interface) of the Hotmail account and from there click on the "Account details (password, addresses, time zone)" option within the "Managing your account" settings (top-left) of that Hotmail "Options" interface.

It is actually options, general, region and time zone using the preview interface. Mine was already set to EST.

[mjs]

You can edit the "time zone" values in the "Options" settings (click on "gear" icon top-right of inbox interface) of the Hotmail account and from there click on the "Account details (password, addresses, time zone)" option within the "Managing your account" settings (top-left) of that Hotmail "Options" interface.

It is actually options, general, region and time zone using the preview interface. Mine was already set to EST.

And even set to your (correct) "EST" time-zone your saying that it's still 4 hours off (behind)?

If so, apparently just another "improvement" with the "new" Hotmail interface.