OL2000: Error Message "Can't open the items." (223484)

This article was previously published under Q223484

ERROR MESSAGE

When attempting to open an encrypted message, or when attempting to move messages to a different folder with an Organizer rule, you may get the following message:
NOTE: Microsoft Office 2000 has built-in functionality that allows you to get more information about difficult-to-troubleshoot alerts or error messages. If you want to enable this functionality for this and other error messages in Microsoft Office 2000, please download the Microsoft Office 2000 Customizable Alerts file from the Microsoft Office Update Web site at the following address:

NOTE: If you reached this article by clicking the Web Info button in an error message, you already have Customizable Alerts enabled.

CAUSES

WHAT TO TRY

Outlook Express Missing

If you downgraded from Microsoft Internet Explorer version 5.0, to an earlier version, some necessary elements of Outlook Express may have been removed from your computer.

To correct this problem, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and click Control Panel.
2. In Control Panel, click Add/Remove Programs.
3. Click to select Microsoft Office 2000, and then click Add/Remove.
4. When prompted, click Repair Office.

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No Message Selected

When messages are grouped by selecting one of the "By" views, such as By Follow-up Flag, By Conversation Topic, or By Sender, no individual message is selected to populate the from or sent to field in the Organizer. To make sure the from or sent to field is populated, choose a view that does not group the items or expand the grouped items, and then select any item to which you would like the rule applied.

To build a rule using the Organizer, follow these steps:

1. On the View menu, point to Current View and click to select one of the non-grouping views, such as Messages.
   
   -or-
   
   On the View menu, point to Expand/Collapse Groups, and click Expand All.
2. On the Tools menu, click Organize.
3. Click to select, Using Folders.
4. Under Create a rule, click to select either from, or sent to.
5. In the list of messages, click to select any single message to which you would like the rule applied.
6. Click to select the folder into which you would like the matching messages moved.
7. Click Create, to build the rule.

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