You're welcome and I'm glad you were able to get your folders back.

canned

What are bak files?:

This is due to the OE update, (KB923694). Now when you compact, a copy of
your dbx files are sent to the Recycle Bin in the event that something
should go wrong and messages, or entire folders, are lost when you are
compacting.

Many people do not back up Outlook Express on a regular basis. This new
mandatory backup is something people have been asking for quite awhile as we
spend a lot of time helping people getting their messages back, and they
have to purchase a tool to recover messages.

You can empty the Recycle Bin any time you want and the bak files will go
away until you compact again.

For more info, see the information outlined in red he
www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#2

If you don't currently back up OE regularly, I would suggest you get this,
or a similar tool, (freeware):

This freeware tool backs up everything in OE in seconds. Disregard what is
written in red. That is referring to a different program.

Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB):
http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx

uncanned

It is not uncommon to lose a percentage of messages. The dbx file system is
very fragile and it why the successor programs to OE do not use that system.
However, if you keep the folders trim in size and do not touch anything when
compacting, the chance of losing messages is much smaller.

I would also recommend compacting manually on a regular schedule, say once a
week. This way you will never see the prompt and be forced into compacting
at OE's request.

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

Compact Your OE Folders:
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm#compact
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Tony" wrote in message
news
Hi Bruce.
Problem sorted. You were 100% right. I found all the folders in the
Recycle
Bin and after following your detailed instructions, I have got all my
messages back where they were. I realise now these folders are not a safe
option to keep important data on and will be acting on it right away. I
have
learnt a very good lesson here and I consider myself lucky too, as I
normally
empty my recycle bin every couple of days or so. However, I wish to say
that
I am extremely grateful for your prompt reply and expert guidance. I think
you people deserve every commendation for the excellent work you provide.
As a matter of interest and before closing this chapter; I found all the
folders from the root OE Folder (dbx) in the recycle bin as BAK folders. I
did not loose any of my named folders in Folders/Inbox, only the messages
within in some of them. The mayority of these folders, as stated, had been
emptied but a few remained intact, so why only a percentage and not all of
them?
Anyway, many thanks for everything and best wishes.
Tony
(mmy thanks too to everyone else who joined in)

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

First, check the obvious. Go to the Inbox and click View | Current View |
Show All Messages.

If that was checked, then read on.

The two most common reasons for what you describe is disruption of the
compacting process, (never touch anything until it's finished), or
bloated
folders. More on that below.

Why does OE insist on compacting folders when I close it?:
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/why.htm#compact

Why Mail Disappears:
http://www.insideoe.com/problems/bugs.htm#mailgone

About File Corruption:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/...orruption.mspx

Recovery tools:

If you are running XP/SP2, or SP3, and are fully patched, then you should
have a backup of your dbx files in the Recycle Bin, (or possibly the
message
store), copied as bak files.

To restore a bak folder to the message store folder, first find the
location
of the Message Store.

Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store Folder will reveal the location of
your Outlook Express files. Write the location down and navigate to it in
Windows Explorer or, copy and paste it into Start | Run.

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.

Close OE and then 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.

If you do not have bak copies of your dbx files in the Recycle Bin, then:

DBXpress run in Extract From Disk Mode is the best chance to recover
messages:
http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx

And see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#4

A general warning to help avoid this 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.

Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a redundant
layer
of protection that eats up CPUs, slows down sending and receiving, and
causes a multitude of problems such as time-outs, account setting changes
and has even been responsible for lose of messages. Your up-to-date A/V
program will continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

And backup often.

Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB Freeware)
http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
--

Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA


"Tony" wrote in message
...
Hi, My email folders were recently compressed and I have only just
noticed
that the bottom half of the folders in my list are empty. The top half
have
all of the original messages as intended. I opened the root OE folder
and
can
see that all of the folders are present and under list/details, all the
data
is still present (just under 100mb for all of them) I did an import
only
to
find that, again, all of the top folders have got their messages
repeated
but
nothing dowloaded on the others (a second import brought same results).
What
might have been the reason for this? Why are they not importing and is
there
anything I an do to retrieve these? I am a bit worried because I do ot
have a
back up and they are important.
Any advise greatly appreciated.
Many thanks
Tony