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Zimbra Connector for Outlook (ZCO) sync failure notices

What a Local Failure Notice or Server Failure Notice from the Outlook connector means, and how to clear it.

The Zimbra Connector for Outlook sends these to your own inbox when it cannot synchronise something. They look like this:

  • Subject: Local Failure Notice, or Server Failure Notice
  • Importance: High
  • Attachment: sync_response.xml
  • The body opens with "This e-mail was generated for technical support purposes" and ends with one or more Error IDs and Types.

Note the Error IDs and Types before you start. You need them later.

What causes them

Almost always, a notice of type "message" means one or more messages are mismatched between the server mailbox and Outlook, or a message is corrupt and will not synchronise.

Mismatches happen for several reasons:

  • Two messages share a message ID in both places but hold different content.
  • A message was deleted in Zimbra but not correctly synced to Outlook.
  • The Drafts folder differs between Outlook and the mailbox.
  • A message was moved in another client before Outlook finished syncing.

When to act

A one-off notice can be ignored. Act only if the same Error ID keeps returning. If the Type is anything other than "message", forward the notice to your email administrator rather than working through the steps below.

Quick fix: empty Trash and Drafts

Most "message" notices come from mismatched Drafts and Trash folders, so start there.

  1. Empty the Drafts and Trash folders in webmail.
  2. Do the same in Outlook.
  3. Restart Outlook. It resynchronises, and the notice should not return.

Full fix: find and remove the offending message

If the notice persists, work from the Error ID to the message causing it.

Read sync_response.xml

Open the attached sync_response.xml in your browser and use the browser's Find feature to search for each Error ID. That points to the folder holding the problem message.

Look the message up in Zimbra

Query your mailbox by its Error ID using a direct address:

  1. Sign into webmail.
  2. In a new tab, load your webmail address followed by /home/{your-email-address}/?id={error-id}. For user@example.com and Error ID 123456, that is https://your-webmail-address/home/user@example.com/?id=123456.
  3. Press return. The raw message appears, showing its subject, sender, recipient and date. Note these.
  4. Return to your main webmail tab.

Remove it

  1. Search webmail for the message, using the subject or address you noted.
  2. Delete it. If it matters, copy it to another folder first, but delete the original, because the original is what breaks the sync.
  3. Restart Outlook to force a resync. The notice should not return.

Keep the connector up to date

It is worth checking that the Zimbra Connector for Outlook is current. Its version is listed in the notice, alongside the mailbox server version. The connector version should match the server version or be higher. Upgrade it if it is behind.