Symptom
You use Access 2007 and Access 2010 with Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010 to generate and send an e-mail message that includes a data entry form. Recipients report that they have filled out the forms and sent them back to you as replies. However, you are not seeing the expected results in Access or Outlook. For example:
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You don't see the data in the destination tables in Access. New records are not being added, or existing records are not being updated.
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The Data Collection Status column for the message in Outlook displays either an error message or the string "Message unprocessed." Additionally, the Categories column for the message either displays a red square or is blank.
Tip: The columns in Outlook named Follow Up Flag, Data Collection Status, and Categories display the status of the processing operation. To add these columns to your view, right-click a column header, and on the shortcut menu, click Field Chooser. In the Field Chooser dialog box, drag each field and drop it to the right or the left of an existing column header.
When a reply is processed successfully, the Data Collection Status column in Outlook is blank, and the Categories column displays a green square. Additionally, the Follow Up Flag column displays the message Data Collection operation was successful.
Resolution
If you suspect that a reply failed to process automatically, try the suggested solutions in the following table. A majority of these solutions require that you first fix the issue, and then export the reply manually. For more information about processing replies manually, see the article Manually process data collection replies.
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Issue |
Cause |
Solution |
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A reply exists in the Outlook folder, but was not processed. The Data Collection Status column displays Message unprocessed. |
Review the message options in the Data Collection E-mail Options dialog box. You either chose to manually process the replies, or chose settings that prevent certain replies from being automatically processed. Tip: To display the options, on the External Data tab, in the Collect Data group, click Manage Replies. In the dialog box, select the message you want, and click Message options. |
Manually export the reply. To ensure that replies not yet received are processed automatically, change the settings in the options dialog box. For more information, see the article Data Collection E-mail Options. |
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I replied to one of my messages, but it is not getting processed. |
Replying to your own message involves a slightly different procedure. |
Instead of completing the form in the message that you receive, complete the form that is in the sent message found in the Sent Items folder. Browse to the Sent Items folder and open the message. Click Reply, complete the form, and then click Send. |
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The Data Collection Status column displays the following string: Cannot find the database. Locate the database and manually import the data. |
The database has either moved to another location, got renamed or deleted, or is corrupt. |
Restore the database to its original location, and manually export the reply. |
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The Data Collection Status column displays the following string: Cannot open database for importing data because the database is already in use. Manually process the replies after the database becomes available. |
The database is open in exclusive mode, and changes cannot be made to the database until the exclusive lock is released. |
Ask the user who has the database open in exclusive mode to close and then open the database in normal mode. Then, try manually exporting the reply. |
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The Data Collection Status column displays the following string: This Access database is protected with a password. Please manually export this data to Microsoft Access. |
The destination database is password-protected. Automatic processing fails if the database requires a password. |
Manually export the reply. If you want future replies to be processed automatically, remove the password from the database. |
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The Data Collection Status column displays a message that indicates that either a table, query, or field is missing. |
The destination table or query has either been deleted or renamed, or the structure has been modified in such a way that the contents of the form cannot be added to the tables. |
Re-create the destination tables and queries, or create and send a new data collection message. |
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The Data Collection Status column displays the following string: Cannot process this e-mail message. The form in this e-mail message is either corrupt or has been modified. |
Either the form in the reply is corrupt, or someone (the recipient or the sender) modified the form. |
If a recipient modified the form, ask that recipient to send the form to you again, and then manually export the reply. If the form in the original message is corrupt or not valid, you need to create and send a new message. |
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The Data Collection Status column displays the following string: Cannot find the information necessary to complete processing in the specified database. |
The information necessary to map the reply to the existing record that needs to be updated is missing. |
The message settings need to be synchronized with Outlook. Switch to Access, and in the Manage Replies dialog box, select the message. Under Message Details, you will see a warning box. Click the message in the warning box to synchronize the settings, and then close the dialog box. Switch back to Outlook, and manually export the reply. |
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The Data Collection Status column displays the following string: Cannot add or update data because the data would result in a duplicate value in a field that only accepts unique values. |
A field whose Indexed property is set to Yes (No Duplicates) cannot contain duplicate values. If the value assigned to the form field already exists in the corresponding field in the table, the operation will fail. |
Ask the recipient to send another reply with a different value in the form field. |
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The Data Collection Status column displays the following string: The value you entered isn't an item in the list of choices |
The form includes a required field that looks up values, but the user did not specify a value for the field, or the field's LimitToList property is set to Yes and the user specified a value that is not in the list. |
Either ask the recipient to send the reply again after completing all the fields, or complete and save the form yourself and export again. |
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The Data Collection Status column displays a message that indicates the value specified in a form field is not valid. |
The recipient entered invalid data in one or more fields. |
Either ask the recipient to send the reply again after completing all the fields, or complete and save the form yourself and export again. |
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The Data Collection Status column displays the following string: This message contains a form you need to fill out. When you are done, send it to the sender of this e-mail message. |
The recipient did not complete the form. |
Ask the recipient to send another reply after completing the form. |
