While deploying an Exchange hybrid solution for a client the other day, I experienced some problem with free/busy information between the on-premises Exchange and Exchange Online. As such, I decided to turn on logging in Outlook to try to find out what was happening.
Enabling Outlook Logging
For Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2010
- In Outlook, go to the File tab > Options > Advanced;
- Under Other, select or clear the Enable troubleshooting logging (requires restarting Outlook) check box;
- Exit and restart Outlook.
For Outlook 2007
- In Outlook, go to Tools > Options;
- On the Other tab, select Advanced Options;
- Select or clear the Enable logging (troubleshooting) check box;
- Exit and restart Outlook.
Note: turn off logging after you complete your troubleshooting. If you don’t turn off logging, the log files continue to increase in size.
What information does logging record?
The logging option logs information about the following features:
- Calendar transactions that are generated by Outlook features, by user actions, by the object model, or by the MAPI Calendar Table, including:
-
Inbox autoprocessing
-
Free/busy publishing
-
Reminders
-
Calendar item actions (creation, modification, or deletion)
-
Resource booking
The main purpose of the calendar logging feature is to quickly identify situations where, for example, meetings are inexplicably deleted from a calendar folder.
- Free/busy time changes
- Offline Address Book
- Transactions for the Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI), which is used with Microsoft Exchange, POP3, Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). A unique log file is generated for each Send/Receive action that you perform on these accounts.
- Communications with Exchange, POP3, SMTP, and IMAP servers.
Notice that I mention free/busy in the list above. However, this is partially true… To explain what I mean, let us have a look at the next section.
Viewing the log files
Most log files are in plain text. To protect your data, the calendar log file is a binary file that cannot be read without a conversion process. Contact Microsoft Support for more information about calendar log files.
The log files are stored in subfolders of the Temp folder. By default, this folder is located in: c:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp
Note that by default, the Local Settings and AppData folders are hidden.
The following table shows the location and content of the various plain text log files.
Type of log file
|
Subfolder
|
File name
|
O2013
|
O2010
|
O2007
|
Outlook Autodiscover
|
Temp
|
olkdisc.log
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Exchange ActiveSync
|
Temp/EASLogFiles
|
datafilename.bin
datafilename.xml
|
Yes
|
No
|
No
|
Availability service
|
Temp/OlkAS
|
date-time-fb.log
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
Availability service, OOF, and meeting suggestion
|
Temp/OlkAS
|
date-time-AS.log
|
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
Protection rules
|
Temp/OlkAS
|
date-time-PB4S.log
|
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
Unified messaging
|
Temp/OlkAS
|
date-time-UM.log
|
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
Unified messaging configuration
|
Temp/OlkAS
|
date-time-UMCFG.log
|
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
Out-of-office
|
Temp/OlkAS
|
date-time-oof.log
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
Meeting suggestion
|
Temp/OlkAS
|
date-time-ms.log
|
No
|
No
|
Yes
|
Outlook calendar
|
Temp/OlCalLogs
|
OLKCalLog_date-time.etl
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Transport
|
Temp/Outlook Logging
|
opmlog.log
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
SMTP
|
Temp/Outlook Logging
|
emailaddress-Outgoing-date-time.log
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
POP3
|
Temp/Outlook Logging
|
emailaddress-Incoming-date-time.log
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
IMAP
|
Temp/Outlook Logging
|
IMAP-emailaddress-Incoming-date-time.log
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
HTTP DAV
|
Temp/Outlook Logging
|
HTTP-emailaddress-date-time.log
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Outlook Hotmail Connector
|
Temp/Outlook Logging
|
OLC-emailaddress-date-time.log
OLC-date-time.log
emailaddress.txt
|
No
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Out-of-office
|
Temp/Outlook Logging
|
date-time-oof.log
|
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
Outlook profile
|
Temp/Outlook Logging
|
PROF_OUTLOOK_threadID_ action_year.month.day_hour.minute.second.txt
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
Outlook sharing engine
|
Temp/Outlook Logging
|
Sharing Enginedate .log
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Outlook-Windows Desktop Search indexing
|
Temp/Outlook Logging
|
datafilename.log
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Outlook advanced ETW
|
Temp/Outlook Logging
|
Outlook-date-time.etl
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
No
|
Mailtips
|
Temp/Outlook Logging
|
date-time-mailtips.log
|
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
Free busy
|
Temp/Outlook Logging
|
date-time-fb.log
|
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
Outlook Sharing Engine
|
Temp/Outlook Logging
|
Sharing Enginedatetime-mailtips.log
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Outlook first run process
|
Temp/Outlook Logging
|
firstrun.log
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
To my despair, and for some strange reason, free/busy information is only logged in Outlook 2010! This is a great, great feature and so useful that I simply don’t understand why it is not present in Outlook 2013…
Long story short, I had to install Outlook 2010 in a test machine and use it to troubleshoot my issues. Looking at the logs, I was able to identify the problem…