What I would do is to close OE and go to the Message Store. Rename the
Inbox.dbx to Inboxold.dbx. When you open OE, a new clean Inbox will be
created. After that, you should be able to retrieve the messages from the
old Inbox with one of these tools. (I recommend the second choice. It's
faster and has a better chance of recovery.

DBXtract:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtract/Default.aspx

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

An FYI for your client:

A general warning if you don't want to lose your messages 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.

After you are done, follow up by compacting your folders manually while
working *offline* and do it often.

Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no
folders are open. Then: FileWork Offline (or double click Working Online in
the Status Bar). FileFolderCompact all folders. Don't touch anything until
the compacting is completed.

In ToolsOptionsMaintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in background and
leave it unchecked. {N/A if running XP/SP2}.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"Dave Hardenbrook" wrote in message
ink.net...
Hello --

I am a computer technician with a client whose Inbox has become bloated
with over two years' worth of E-mail (over 300MB), and now when she opens
OE6, only about a dozen messages from the past few days will display.
After unsuccessful attempts to import the .DBX file into other E-mail
apps, including Thunderbird and The Bat, I have concluded that her
Inbox.dbx is trashed.

I've been reading posts on this group about programs that extract E-mails
from corrupted .DBX files, but the ones I've tried will only extract the
E-mails to individual text files. Is there a utility that would allow me
to actually rebuild the .DBX file so that she can see her E-mails in OE
again? (After this I would advise her to archive her old E-mails to
several separate, compressed OE folders.)

Thanks in advance,

Dave