Description of the Outlook Unread Mail Count functionality in Outlook 2003 (831403)

SUMMARY

Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 is now integrated with the Fast User Switching feature in Microsoft Windows XP to provide the Unread Mail Count functionality. This new functionality in Outlook 2003 permits you to see the number of unread e-mail messages that a user has by clicking a hyperlink that is located under the user name. When you either click the link or move the mouse pointer over the link, Windows XP displays the accounts that have unread e-mail messages that are less than three days old and the total number of e-mail messages that are in each account.

MORE INFORMATION

The following list contains additional information about the Unread Mail Count functionality in Outlook 2003:

Outlook 2003 must be running for the Unread Mail Count functionality to be available. Outlook 2003 does not provide unread e-mail message counts to Windows XP when it is not running.
If there are multiple profiles in Outlook 2003, Outlook 2003 only updates the Inbox unread e-mail message count for the profile that is currently active and selected. The Microsoft Outlook profiles that are not active or that are not selected do not provide an Inbox unread e-mail message count to Microsoft Windows.
If you have multiple compatible e-mail clients running, Windows XP aggregates the results from each client. If two clients are accessing the same e-mail account (that is both Microsoft Outlook and MSN Explorer are being used to access an MSN Hotmail® account), the unread e-mail message count is not double-counted for that e-mail account. However, the two clients will occasionally overwrite each other's unread e-mail message count in the registry for that particular e-mail account.
If a user is offline, the Windows XP logon screen reflects the last known entry if the entry is less than three days old. This last known entry is also reflected if Outlook is not running (for example, when you start Windows XP).
When the unread e-mail message count is set, the date that the e-mail message is received is stamped also. If the unread e-mail message date stamp is more than three days old, the Windows XP logon screen disregards the entries. You cannot customize this setting.
When you move the mouse pointer over the hyperlink that is located under the user name, a summary of the unread e-mail messages and the accounts where they are located appears.
The Unread Mail Count functionality displays the unread e-mail message count from each account's Inbox, including Calendar items, Task items, and other items that are marked "unread." The counts from other folders, such as Inbox subfolders, secondary folders, or Search Folders, are not used for this feature.
If you copy unread e-mail messages to or from the Inbox, the Inbox unread e-mail message count is affected.
If an Outlook 2003 rule is activated and sends an e-mail message to a folder other than the Inbox, the Inbox unread e-mail message count is not affected.
The Inbox unread e-mail message count is stored in the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\UnreadMail

REFERENCES

For additional information about the Mail Notification Display functionality in Windows XP, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

304148 Overview of the Mail Notification Display on the Windows XP Welcome screen

For a more detailed discussion of the Fast User Switching feature in Windows XP, visit the following Microsoft web site:

http://www.msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwxp/html/winxpfus.asp