Your store folder is the folder that contains all your dbx data files for
your OE identity. See: Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store Folder for the
location. The folders in OE under Local Folders are either default OE
folders, or user created OE folders. You access them in OE. (I assume IE6
was a typo?).

You don't have to interrupt compacting. A minuscule power surge will do it
among other things. If you are working online when you compact, OE polling
for messages can cause it. (Always compact offline).

You seem to have found the message store for the current identity you are
using. Is this correct? Did you find other identities and store folders, or
just the one?

Did you fine the dbx file for the folder with the missing messages? What is
the size of it? Do you see any bak files for the folder with the missing
messages in either the message store or the Recycle Bin?

You can restore a bak file, and a dbx file as follows, assuming they still
contain data.

For a dbx file:

In the message store in Windows Explorer, click on the dbx file for the
missing folder and drag it to the Desktop at the top of the folder tree.
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. (You must do this). 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.

For a bak file:

All e-mail items may be missing when you start Outlook Express 6 Service
Pack 1:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918069

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. Minimize the Message Store.

Open OE and, if the folder is missing, 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. If the folder is there, but just empty, continue on to
the next step.

First, check if there is a bak file already in the message store. If there
is, and you removed the dbx file, go ahead and rename it to dbx.

If it isn't already in the message store, open the Recycle bin and right
click on the bak file for the folder in question and click Restore. Open the
message store back up and change the file extension from .bak to .dbx. Close
the message store and open OE. The messages should now be back in the
folder.

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


"shakey" wrote in message
...
Maybe our definition of a store folder is not the same. I am saying that
of the 20 folders listed under local folders 5 are now empty when viewed
by IE6; the normal way to access them.

They were small size,not bloated.

I would never interrupt compacting.

They were OK a few weeks ago, they are seldom used and only checked all
folders now as one was found empty when I went to retrieve a invite.

You gave me a idea though and looked at the folder using Windows Explorer
and found that the folder itself contained about what I expected to find
with messages stored. Could it be that my only identity currently
available is "main identity" as I deleted other identities recently.

If so do you know how I might recover the data found in the files.

SG



"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
How were you attempting to open a store folder? They are not readable.

What are the sizes of these dbx files?

What could have caused it? A lot of things such as e-mail scanning,
bloated folders and disrupting the compacting process are the most common
reasons.

No XP update is responsible for this.
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"shakey" wrote in message
...
I just discovered a problem similar to one by Joseph Malet in another
thread here but did not want to interrupt his thread.
In my case I went to open some seldom used store folders and find that
approximately one third of my 20 folders are EMPTY, others OK going back
years. I am using XP Pro SP3 and OE6 version ending in 5512 and use in
and out box only for immediate viewing then move to permanent storage
folders. The empty folders only had 5 or so messages in them so not
overloaded.
I have backups, not yet reviewed, and think I can recover but maybe what
he is seeing and what happened to me is a cause for worry about some XP
update?
Some empty - some not is strange. Cannot imagine how I could have caused
that.
SG