Move any messages you wish to save from Sent Items to a local folder you
create, Then:

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 Windows XP, 2K & 3K, the OE user files (DBX and WAB) are by default
marked as hidden. To view these files in Windows Explorer, you must enable
Show Hidden Files and Folders under Start | Control Panel | Folder Options |
View.

With OE closed, find the DBX file for the folder in question {Sent
Items.dbx} and delete it. A new one will be created automatically when you
open OE.

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually become
corrupt. 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). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch anything until the
compacting is completed.

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

"CWLee" wrote in message
...

It happened again!

About 30 minutes after I thought I had solved this problem
(see my second post, above), it came up again, in a slightly
different manner. There was an incoming message in the
"Inbox". I read it, and then tried to move it to my
"to-file" folder. Unable to move it, same error message as
before, but it did not appear in the "to-file" folder. I
tried again, and it worked normally.

With respect to Bruce Hagen's suggestions, I already do all
of those items on a weekly or every 10-day basis. Except
when I'm away on a trip, I never have over 30 messages in
any designed-in folder. Even when I have been gone for a
few weeks the total in my inbox has never exceeded 500-600.
So, I believe I'm doing the things I should be doing.

Any other ideas about this inability (now sometimes) to move
a message from one folder to another?

Thanks to everyone.

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

"CWLee" wrote in message
...

I have copies of all of my emails automatically placed in
the "Sent Items" folder. Every day, or more frequently, I
then move those messages to another system of files.
Today,
when I tried to move a message from the "Sent Items"
folder
I received an error message saying it could not be done,
and
that an error had occurred. I tried two more times. Same
result. Then I looked at the destination folder into
which
I was trying to move that message, and there were 3 copies
of it there.

I have since sent other messages with the same result.

I cannot delete the messages in the "Sent Items" folder
either.

I'd appreciate any suggestions to fix this problem. If
unfixed I can still keep a full set of email files, but my
"Sent Items" folder will continue to grow.

Thanks.

--
----------
CWLee
"I appreciate those who walk out from the edges with
torches or even in the dark with their hands out in front
of them. We need those explorers and weirdos. I am
so grateful when I find that I am not the first." - Sally
Amsbury.