Outlook 2003 Folder List font problem

Office 2003 is installed on a friend's ThinkPad (XP + all the updates). Everything functions correctly, but in Outlook all the mandatory folders (Inbox, Outbox, Sent Items, Tasks etc.) show as "??????", "" or similar. Because they are integral folders they can't be manually renamed. I've tried re-installing Office, repairing, removing completely then deleting all the folders and the registry entries and installing, all without success.

The ThinkPad’s version of XP was originally in Japanese but was repaired by IBM in the UK who seem to have installed English XP over the top of the old system. I've run a repair installation of XP (English) which solved loads of problems that the IBM action caused, but nothing will correct Outlook.

I'm assuming that Outlook is using a corrupt font (although why it’s only some folders is beyond me), but I can't locate it and changing all the font selections in Outlook has no effect.

Any suggestions, even if they are guesses, appreciated.

 

You might want to a fresh install. Format and start over. Things good rarely happen when you repair an XP install and repairing one that is in another language would seem to be a nightmare.
You could grab a new set of system fonts and then replace the current ones. You'll more than likely have to boot into the recover console to delete the old and install the new.
Here is a list of the system fonts. I think this is all of them.

 

Thanks for the help Bob, I'll try your suggestion over the weekend and post the results.

I'm not overly hopeful, and as you say I think the best (possibly only) solution is going to be a complete clean installationas it is obviously somehow assoociated with the language change, but the Thinkpad is my girlfriend's; she's happy to use Outlook Express or Mozilla Thunderbird and she's getting fed up with me always saying "Let me just try...". But I now regard it as a personal challenge.

 

No luck, Bob. I even tried uninstalling Office and running sfc /scannow before reinstalling, without success.

Thanks anyway, and if anyone else as any suggestions I'll be pleased to hear them.

 

For anyone interested the I solved the problem by copying the contents of all Outlook folders from a system without any problems. I have a suspicion that the only file that was actually necessary was the .pst file that conatiner all the personal folder details, but overkill works as effectively as underkill.

 

If there isn't that much data on the Laptop, why not just say to heck with it, and do a 100% clean install with a freshly formatted HDD ?? I have never been much of a fan of just installing windows over a previous copy, you run into file system troubles down the road.

But if that isn't an option, have you tried renaming the files and changing the extensions manually in DOS safe mode? Or perhaps you could try using BartPE on it and changing it that way ?? I find it to be an indispensable tool.

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