Tools | Options | General. There is a box to Automatically expand folders
with unread messages. Even with this checked, the folders should not be
expanded when you open OE provided there are no unread messages, and you
closed the expanded folders before you closed OE.

I had one such instance where one group of folders would always open
expanded. For a totally unrelated incident, I deleted Folders.dbx [with OE
closed] and in doing so, it cured that problem. Note that if you delete
Folders.dbx, you will lose the folder hierarchy, but the folders can be
dragged back to where they belong.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA

"John Jeffrey" wrote in message
...
I keep my received emails in a hierarchical folder structure which has
several levels (similar to the way I organise my documents within
Explorer).
When I launch OE6 (Win XP Home) the left hand pane shows the folder
structure
completely expanded, ie with all the sub- and sub-sub-folders on display.
How can I arrange for just the top level of folders to appear at startup?