Outlook Express performed it's compressing function upon closing the program
and when I opened it the next day, 5 months worth if email were gone. Any
ideas and suggestions gratefully accepted! TIA
Don

It's compacting, not compressing, which is essential to do to keep OE
running smoothly. Unless there was a power problem, (turning of the
computer), or doing something else while the compacting function was in
progress, this problem should not have happened.

ToolsOptionsMaintenanceStore folder will reveal the location
of your Outlook Express files. Press the Tab key to highlight the folder
location, then Ctrl+C. Close OE, then StartRunCtrl+V will put the location
in the box - Click OK and you'll see the OE files. Otherwise, write the
location down and navigate to it in Windows Explorer.

In WindowsXP, 2K & 3K, the OE user files (DBX and WAB) are by default
marked as hidden. To view these files in Explorer, you must enable
Show Hidden Files and Folders under StartControl PanelFolder
OptionsView.

When you see the compact option, and select OK, and never touch anything
until
it has completed. A power change can cause you to lose mail also. If you
checked the Do not show me this again, OE will compact without you knowing.
If this is the case, post back and I'll tell you how to replace the prompt.

Why Mail Disappears:
http://www.insideoe.com/problems/bugs.htm#mailgone

About File Corruption:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/...orruption.mspx

Recovery tool, (if the messages are still there):

DBXpress is the best chance of recovery when run in disk mode:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx

And this is a very good option for the futu

Steve Cochran has added a button in his new version of OE Tool
that will not only Compact All Folders, but at the same time,
resets the "Compact Check Count" to zero whenever you compact
manually. You will see the prompt again if you do not compact
before 100 closings.

http://www.oehelp.com/OETool/

It is still advised to check Work Offline before you compact.

A general warning to avoid losing mail in the futu

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually
become corrupted. Create your own user defined folders for storing
mail and move your mail to them. Empty Deleted Items folder
regularly. Keep user created folders under 100MB, and Default folders as
empty as is feasible.



Backup often:

Backup and Resto

http://www.insideoutlookexpress.com/backup/

http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx

http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"donputz" wrote in message
m...
Outlook Express performed it's compressing function upon closing the
program and when I opened it the next day, 5 months worth if email were
gone. Any ideas and suggestions gratefully accepted! TIA
Don

The only thing that can recover the mail after this problem is the extract
from disk feature of DBXpress (www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/) as the messages may
still be on the disk clusters of the hard drive, although they are gone from
the files.

steve

"donputz" wrote in message
m...
Outlook Express performed it's compressing function upon closing the
program and when I opened it the next day, 5 months worth if email were
gone. Any ideas and suggestions gratefully accepted! TIA
Don

I realised after I posted my question that I wasn't explicit enough in
regards to the problem. Not all the mail files were lost, only the period
8/8/2005 to 1/8/2006 was lost after the compacting. I tried the solution you
suggested thru Windows Explorer and found the same files that OE opens
regularly, not the missing emails for the time period above. Thanks again
for any and all help!
Don
"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
It's compacting, not compressing, which is essential to do to keep OE
running smoothly. Unless there was a power problem, (turning of the
computer), or doing something else while the compacting function was in
progress, this problem should not have happened.

ToolsOptionsMaintenanceStore folder will reveal the location
of your Outlook Express files. Press the Tab key to highlight the folder
location, then Ctrl+C. Close OE, then StartRunCtrl+V will put the
location in the box - Click OK and you'll see the OE files. Otherwise,
write the location down and navigate to it in Windows Explorer.

In WindowsXP, 2K & 3K, the OE user files (DBX and WAB) are by default
marked as hidden. To view these files in Explorer, you must enable
Show Hidden Files and Folders under StartControl PanelFolder
OptionsView.

When you see the compact option, and select OK, and never touch anything
until
it has completed. A power change can cause you to lose mail also. If you
checked the Do not show me this again, OE will compact without you
knowing. If this is the case, post back and I'll tell you how to replace
the prompt.

Why Mail Disappears:
http://www.insideoe.com/problems/bugs.htm#mailgone

About File Corruption:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/...orruption.mspx

Recovery tool, (if the messages are still there):

DBXpress is the best chance of recovery when run in disk mode:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx

And this is a very good option for the futu

Steve Cochran has added a button in his new version of OE Tool
that will not only Compact All Folders, but at the same time,
resets the "Compact Check Count" to zero whenever you compact
manually. You will see the prompt again if you do not compact
before 100 closings.

http://www.oehelp.com/OETool/

It is still advised to check Work Offline before you compact.

A general warning to avoid losing mail in the futu

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually
become corrupted. Create your own user defined folders for storing
mail and move your mail to them. Empty Deleted Items folder
regularly. Keep user created folders under 100MB, and Default folders as
empty as is feasible.



Backup often:

Backup and Resto

http://www.insideoutlookexpress.com/backup/

http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx

http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"donputz" wrote in message
m...
Outlook Express performed it's compressing function upon closing the
program and when I opened it the next day, 5 months worth if email were
gone. Any ideas and suggestions gratefully accepted! TIA
Don