Thanks for the information, Bruce. I have copied your reply to a .doc so that I
can refer to it should I have need - as long as I remember where I put it, of
course!

Kate

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
Yes. They are copies should anything go wrong during the compaction process.
Compacting only removes wasted space. If you lose messages when compacting, it
is usually because compacting was interrupted, or there was a file much larger
than recommended.

To restore a bak folder to the message store folder, first close OE and locate
the Message Store in Windows Explorer.

Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store 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 Start | Run | Ctrl+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 WinXP, the .dbx files are by default marked as hidden. To view these files
in Explorer, you must enable Show Hidden Files and Folders under Start |
Control Panel | Folder Options | View.

In Windows Explorer, click on the dbx file for the missing, or empty, folder
and drag it to the Desktop. It can be deleted later once you have successfully
restored the bak file. Click on the Microsoft folder to close the store
folder, but leave the path expanded.

Open OE and create a folder with the *exact* same name as the bak file you
want to restore but without the .bak. Eg: If the file is Saved.bak, the new
folder should be named Saved. Open the new folder and then close OE.

Go back to Windows Explorer and click on the Recycle Bin. Rename the .bak
extension to .dbx and drag the file from the Recycle Bin in the right pane to
the OE store folder that you clicked on to reveal the .dbx files. Prompt - "Do
you want to overwrite......."? Click Yes.

If the messages are successfully restored, you can go ahead and delete the old
dbx file that you moved to the Desktop.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA

"Kate" wrote in message
...
When I compact all files and folders, either Windows XP SP2 or OE6
automatically sends a .bak of each folder to the Recycle bin so, if any of
the compacted ones get corrupted, I can (presumably) restore from there. Is
that correct?

Thanks
Kate