Booted up as usual this morning to find all folders showing at same level
under Local Folders - structure of folders gone.
I have just compacted all folders but that has not sorted problem.
Help please to recover structure.
If not recoverable I have a copy from a week ago.
Urgent.

Just grab them and drag them back where they belong.

Check the size of Folders.dbx. It is the file that controls the folder
structure.

Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store Folder will reveal the location of
your Outlook Express files. Write the location down and navigate to it in
Windows Explorer or, copy and paste it into Start | Run.

In WinXP, Win2K & Win2K3, the OE user files (DBX and WAB) are by default
marked as hidden. To view these files in Windows Explorer, you must enable
Show Hidden Files and Folders under Start | Control Panel | Folder Options
Icon | View, or in Windows Explorer | Tools | Folder Options | View.
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"AT and HMB" wrote in message
...
Booted up as usual this morning to find all folders showing at same level
under Local Folders - structure of folders gone.
I have just compacted all folders but that has not sorted problem.
Help please to recover structure.
If not recoverable I have a copy from a week ago.
Urgent.

FOLDERS.DBX was corrupted.

How to avoid this problem in the futu

- Don't use Inbox or Sent Items to archive messages. Move them to local
folders created for this purpose.

- Empty Deleted Items folder daily.

- Frequently perform a manual compact of all OE folders while "working
offline". More at http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm

- Do not cancel Automatic Compacting, should it occur, and do not attempt to
close OE via Task Manager or shutdown your machine if Automatic Compacting
is taking place.

- Disable email scanning by your anti-virus application. It can cause
corruption (i.e., loss of messages), it provides no additional protection,
and even Symantec says it's not necessary:

QP
Disabling Email Scanning does not leave you unprotected against viruses that
are distributed as email attachments. Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect scans
incoming files as they are saved to your hard drive, including email and
email attachments. Email Scanning is just another layer on top of this. To
make sure that Auto-Protect is providing the maximum protection, keep
Auto-Protect enabled and run LiveUpdate regularly to ensure that you have
the most recent virus definitions.
/QP
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...02111812533106
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002
AumHa VSOP & Admin http://aumha.net
DTS-L http://dts-l.net/


AT and HMB wrote:
Booted up as usual this morning to find all folders showing at same level
under Local Folders - structure of folders gone.
I have just compacted all folders but that has not sorted problem.
Help please to recover structure.
If not recoverable I have a copy from a week ago.
Urgent.

Thanks.
I do the good things (I think) thanks to your previous advice, especially
clearing the deleted stuff which I have set to clear under the
Tools/Options/Mtce.
I don't let the Inbox get clogged and I do structure well.
Since I had a full copy at 28 Aug in Explorer, I did this:

From "find messages" I copied all messages from 28 Aug into relevant temp.
folders (24 messages in 6 folders, 26 messages in Inbox and 3 in Sent box.
I then changed to the "28 Aug" copy in Tools/Options/mtce/store folder.
I then imported the messages form 28 Aug from temp folders in original store
folder.
All is now well and folder structure seems OK.
Incidentall I have 170 folders which I assume is not overly large.
Again thanks for help.

"PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote in message
...
FOLDERS.DBX was corrupted.

How to avoid this problem in the futu

- Don't use Inbox or Sent Items to archive messages. Move them to local
folders created for this purpose.

- Empty Deleted Items folder daily.

- Frequently perform a manual compact of all OE folders while "working
offline". More at http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm

- Do not cancel Automatic Compacting, should it occur, and do not attempt
to close OE via Task Manager or shutdown your machine if Automatic
Compacting is taking place.

- Disable email scanning by your anti-virus application. It can cause
corruption (i.e., loss of messages), it provides no additional protection,
and even Symantec says it's not necessary:

QP
Disabling Email Scanning does not leave you unprotected against viruses
that are distributed as email attachments. Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect
scans incoming files as they are saved to your hard drive, including email
and email attachments. Email Scanning is just another layer on top of
this. To make sure that Auto-Protect is providing the maximum protection,
keep Auto-Protect enabled and run LiveUpdate regularly to ensure that you
have the most recent virus definitions.
/QP
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...02111812533106
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002
AumHa VSOP & Admin http://aumha.net
DTS-L http://dts-l.net/


AT and HMB wrote:
Booted up as usual this morning to find all folders showing at same level
under Local Folders - structure of folders gone.
I have just compacted all folders but that has not sorted problem.
Help please to recover structure.
If not recoverable I have a copy from a week ago.
Urgent.

As long as your message store doesn't approach or exceed 1GB, all should be
well.

AT and HMB wrote:
Thanks.
I do the good things (I think) thanks to your previous advice, especially
clearing the deleted stuff which I have set to clear under the
Tools/Options/Mtce.
I don't let the Inbox get clogged and I do structure well.
Since I had a full copy at 28 Aug in Explorer, I did this:

From "find messages" I copied all messages from 28 Aug into relevant temp.
folders (24 messages in 6 folders, 26 messages in Inbox and 3 in Sent box.
I then changed to the "28 Aug" copy in Tools/Options/mtce/store folder.
I then imported the messages form 28 Aug from temp folders in original
store
folder.
All is now well and folder structure seems OK.
Incidentall I have 170 folders which I assume is not overly large.
Again thanks for help.

"PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote in message
...
FOLDERS.DBX was corrupted.

How to avoid this problem in the futu

- Don't use Inbox or Sent Items to archive messages. Move them to local
folders created for this purpose.

- Empty Deleted Items folder daily.

- Frequently perform a manual compact of all OE folders while "working
offline". More at http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm

- Do not cancel Automatic Compacting, should it occur, and do not attempt
to close OE via Task Manager or shutdown your machine if Automatic
Compacting is taking place.

- Disable email scanning by your anti-virus application. It can cause
corruption (i.e., loss of messages), it provides no additional
protection,
and even Symantec says it's not necessary:

QP
Disabling Email Scanning does not leave you unprotected against viruses
that are distributed as email attachments. Norton AntiVirus Auto-Protect
scans incoming files as they are saved to your hard drive, including
email
and email attachments. Email Scanning is just another layer on top of
this. To make sure that Auto-Protect is providing the maximum protection,
keep Auto-Protect enabled and run LiveUpdate regularly to ensure that you
have the most recent virus definitions.
/QP
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...02111812533106
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002
AumHa VSOP & Admin http://aumha.net
DTS-L http://dts-l.net/


AT and HMB wrote:
Booted up as usual this morning to find all folders showing at same
level
under Local Folders - structure of folders gone.
I have just compacted all folders but that has not sorted problem.
Help please to recover structure.
If not recoverable I have a copy from a week ago.
Urgent.