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Old January 5th 08, 07:56 PM posted to microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlookexpress
Bruce Hagen
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,210
Default .dbx Access Problem

It's a rare day that I don't learn something new. Luckily, it is usually
from someone else's mistake. wink
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"CWLee" wrote in message
...

It is a rare day that I'm able to help anyone on this list;
it is an even rarer day that I've helped an MVP. Wow!
Thanks. Keep up the good work Bruce.

Best regards.

=================

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
Your problem influenced me and I have altered my canned

reply for restoring
a lost folder. Note the last line. Now I won't have to

worry about this as
some people will not even mention that they moved the

store folder as you
properly did. Thanks for the eye-opener.

First, make sure it isn't in Deleted Items. If not, see if

the dbx file for
the folder still exists in the message store and manually

restore it as
follows.

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, Win2K & Win2K3, 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 Start | Control Panel |

Folder Options |
View.

In Windows Explorer, click on the dbx file for the missing

folder and drag
it to the Desktop. Open OE and create a folder with the

*exact* same name as
the one on your Desktop. Open the new folder and then

close OE. Go back to
Windows Explorer and Click Desktop and drag the file from

the Desktop to the
OE store folder that you clicked on to reveal the .dbx

files. Prompt - "Do
you want to overwrite......."? Click Yes.

*Note* If you have moved the Outlook Express store folder

from it's default
location on drive C to another drive, drag the dbx file to

a location on
that drive and not the Desktop.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"CWLee" wrote in message
...

Thanks, guys. I have been successful, thanks to both of

you
and to a tiny bit of research on my own. What I

discovered
may help you in your work with others, so I'll describe

the
quirk involved.

In the final analysis I was not being able to DRAG the
Jeep.dbx file from the message store location to the
Desktop. Whenever I did that it left a copy of the

Jeep.dbx
file in the message store location, as well as adding

one to
the Desktop. I figured I must not know how to DRAG a

file,
even though I had always believed that I was doing that
correctly, and even though I was doing exactly what

Bruce
had described as the DRAG procedure. So, I went to
Windows-2000/pro help, and read all I could find on

DRAG.
Guess what?

Per the help file, if one DRAGS a file from a location

on
one disk to a location on another disk, the DRAG

function
leaves a copy on the original disk. I believe both

Bruce
and Ken were assuming that my message store was on the

same
disk as Windows Explorer - but it is not. Windows

Explorer
is on my C-disk, and a long time ago I had re-located my
message store to my D-disk. When I realized that this

might
be the problem I then used the DRAG function to get the
Jeep.dbx file from the message store to another location

on
my D-disk, and without leaving a copy on in the message
store location. The rest of the process worked as you

guys
had described, and I how have completed the procedure
successfully.

Again, many, many thanks for taking the time to walk me
through what turned out to be an easy and

straightforward
process.

Best regards.

==============================
"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
Inline, with some snipping

"CWLee" wrote in message
...

Thanks again, Bruce - and thanks to Ken who posted

with
some
similar suggestions. First, Bruce, I'll address your
comments below, preceded by +++ symbols, and then

I'll
ask
some questions of both you and Ken about your common
suggestion.



Did you move the message store? That is not the

default
location. See if you
have the correct location.

+++ Yes, I moved the message store a long time ago,

and
I am
sure I am correctly navigating to it when needed.


If you are in the right place, then it seams that

you
have
done it right.

+++ Bruce says to open the Jeep folder in OE, and

then
close
OE whereas Ken says to open and then close the Jeep
folder
before closing OE. I'll try it Ken's way to see if

that
makes a difference.


It should work either way because the point is that the
folder must be
accessed once in order to get the overwritee prompt.



+++ Ken says to move the Jeep.dbx folder "out of

message
store." That may be the same step Bruce intended

when
he
spoke of moving the Jeep.dbx folder to the Desktop.

It
may
be that what I was doing was placing a copy of

Jeep.dbx
on
the Desktop, instead of removing Jeep.dbx from the
message
store. My first indication of that is when asked to
overwrite, both the old and new .dbx files are the

same
size. Ken's suggestion implies that the one being
overwritten should be zero.



Ken & I meant the same thing, I just suggedted the

Desktop
as a place to
drag it to. If you did not physically drag it out, (AKA
there was still a
Jeep.dbx in the store folder), then the operation will
fail. You want the
new folder to create a new dbx file when you drag it

from
the Desktop to the
store folder. If one already exists, nothing will be
accomplished excepting
another file with (1) included in the name.



+++ So, Bruce, could you confirm that I should use

"cut
and
paste" rather than "copy and paste" when moving the
Jeep.dbx
folder to the Desktop. I'm uneasy about doing that
unless
one or both of you assure me that is the proper

method.



You should /not/ use cut and paste, or copy and paste.

You
/must/ drag the
files.


This is another way of explaining how to import a

single
folder. It may make
things clearer, or it may confuse you more. I hope it's
not the latter.

How to restore individual dbx files:
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx#imp1
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA






+++ Many thanks to both of you - again and again!

=======================

The only other choice now would be a retrieval tool.

Macallan Outlook Express Extraction:
http://www.insideoe.com/resources/tools.htm#macallan

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

DBXpress: {much faster for large files}
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"CWLee" wrote in

message
...

Bruce,

It still doesn't work.

The only thing I see different than your screen

shot
is
the
location of the message store folder. Your screen
shot
shows it within the C drive, under an identity,

and
apparently labeled Outlook Express.

On my computer the message store folder is on the

D
drive,
and under my name. Thus there is no folder above

it
labeled
Outlook Express - it has been renamed OEemail.

Earlier I was incorrectly following your

directions,
but
the
result has been the same when I dragged the

Jeep.dbx
folder
to the Desktop heading on Windows Explorer,

instead
of
to
the "main" desktop.

I'm guessing that I'm not doing something

correctly
with
respect to creating the Jeep folder in the Outlook
Express
tree. I have tried it both nested within another
folder,
and directly under Local Folders. In each case

after
creating the folder I open it (meaning I click on

it)
and
then close Outlook Express by clicking on the X in
the
upper
right corner.

Any other ideas?

I appreciate the time you have taken already with
this.

============================

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Hagen"
Newsgroups:

microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer.ie6_outlooke xpress
Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2008 10:12 PM
Subject: .dbx Access Problem


Irrelevant portions sniped


If not, see if the dbx
file for the folder still exists in the

message
store
and
manually restore
it as follows.

+++ Yes, it still exists, and I tried the steps
below
you
suggested.

In Windows Explorer, click on the dbx file for
the
missing
folder,
(Jeep.dbx) and drag it to the Desktop.

+++ Did that, and a small icon appears on the
desktop.


This is done totally within Windows Explorer.

Drag
the
Jeep.dbx file from
the message store opened in the right hand page

and
drag
it to the Desktop
at the top of the Windows Explorer folder tree.




Open OE and create a folder with the
*exact* same name as the one on your Desktop,
(Jeep).

+++ Did that - and I wonder if it must be

created
directly
under "Local Folders" or if it can be created
(nested)
within another folder, such as Cars?


It shouldn't matter, but you must click on that

new
folder
to open it.



Open the new folder ...

+++ Did that, and the only message shown is

that
"There
are
no items in this view." (My view option is set

to
show
all
messages.)


You should see a message as you did. There are no
messages
in this view.



and then close OE.

+++ Did that.



By closing OE while the new folder was open.



Go back to Windows Explorer and Click Desktop

and
drag
the file from the Desktop to the OE store

folder

+++ Did that, and the icon remained on the
Desktop,
after I
had dragged it to the store folder and released
it.
(Maybe
I don't know how to drag and drop? I believe

what
I
was
doing was creating a "shortcut" on the desktop

to
the
.dbx
file within the store folder - is that what I

was
supposed
to be doing?)



You may have been working with a shortcut. (Not
exactly
sure how).

In Windows Explorer, you wanted to click on the
Desktop
at
the top of the
folder tree to reveal all the Desktop icons in

the
right
hand panel. Prior
to that, you wanted to expand the path to the
message
store. (The Outlook
Express folder in Documents and settings).

To drag & drop, you grab the Jeep.dbx folder,

with
the
left mouse key, in
the right hand pane showing the desktop icons,

and
drag
it
over to the
Outlook Express folder in the left pane. The

Outlook
Express folder will
turn blue if you are over it. Now let go of the

key
and
you should see the
overwrite prompt.


See the attached screen shot. If you expanded the
path
to
the message store,
and then clicked on Desktop, this is what you

should
see.
(Some folder names
different, of course).

Grab the Jeep.dbx file in the right pane and drag

it
over
to the Outlook
Express folder in the left. Do you see the

prompt?

Hope this helps.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA




... that you clicked on to
reveal the .dbx files. Prompt - "Do you want

to
overwrite......."? Click
Yes.

+++ When I was prompted I did click yes.

+++ But the messages do not show when I go to

OE
and
click
on the folder that I created.

+++ Other ideas? Am I supposed to restart the
computer
after doing these steps?

+++ Thanks - I look forward to more guidance.

======================
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"CWLee" wrote in
message

...

(I'm using Windows 2000/pro on a Gateway
Computer.)

I had a folder in Outlook Express with a

title
of
Cars,
and
a corresponding folder Cars.dbx viewable via
Windows
Explorer. The folder was getting large, so

I
moved
various
messages into three newly created folders,
Ford,
Chevy,
Jeep - at least I thought that was what I

did.
However,
in
Outlook Express I now have only the folders
Cars,
Ford,
and
Chevy - but no folder for Jeep. When I use
Windows
Explorer
I find Cars.dbx, Ford.dbx, Chevy.dbx, and
Jeep.dbx.
The
Jeep.dbx folder has ~7,000 KB of contents,
which
seems
about
right.

My problem is how can I access the email

stored
in
that
Jeep.dbx folder, since there is no Jeep

folder
in
Outlook
Express?

(I created a new folder in Outlook Express,
named
Jeep,
but
that didn't do it. Via Windows Explorer

that
merely
resulted in a new folder titled Jeep(1).dbx.
having
75
KB.
Unsuccessful attempt.)

Any assistance appreciated.

--
----------
CWLee
Former slayer of dragons; practice now

limited
to
sacred
cows. Believing we should hire for quality,
not
quotas,
and
promote for performance, not preferences.












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