One of the main tools that any administrator can use is that of an Error Log. Application vendors supply them, OS administrators rely on them and most everyone has looked at one at some time or another.

For email, there are error and transaction logs that can contain much useful information about errors that occur during communications between Outlook email clients and various email servers such as Exchange server. This information can be very useful in diagnosing problems that have occurred with the different components of the email client. This article will provide some insight into what this error log contains and how it can benefit you.

Reviewing the diagnostic messages in the logs can be a very useful activity not only for identifying problems but also for spotting trends or patterns. Think of the process of reviewing the error logs as akin to listening to the sound of your automobile. Over time you learn which sounds are normal and which are not. Likewise, a regular review of the error logs can reveal, over time, which error messages are normal – due to lack of patches or fixes – and which errors are unusual and require further investigation.

E-mail server administrators can use some of the diagnostic data to troubleshoot problems with e-mail messages. Outlook allows for certain features to be enabled for logging and diagnostic purposes. Those features include the following:
- Calendar modifications
- Free/busy time changes
- Reminders
- Offline Address Book
- Transactions for the Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI), which is used with Microsoft Exchange Server, Post Office Protocol (POP3),  Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).

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