If you ever checked Do not show me this again when you saw the prompt to
compact, it may have done this without you knowing. If you are fully
patched, the latest does not allow you to uncheck that option, but for your
case, I would assume that you should do the following. Even if this was not
caused by compacting, I would choose DBXpress since your folders were
obviously overloaded and this will recover any mail it can faster than:

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

which can take days for large folders.

The two most common reasons for what you describe is disruption of the
compacting process, (never touch anything until it's finished), and 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 tool:

DBXpress run in 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 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.

And backup often.

Backup and Resto

http://www.insideoutlookexpress.com/backup/

http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx

http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

wrote in message
ups.com...
Yes, I am using Windows Xp/SP2. I did not remember choosing to compact
anything. Could OE have done this automatically? What is the solution
for getting my mail back and how to prevent this from happening again?
Thanks!

Jason


Bruce Hagen wrote:
Are you using Windows XP/SP2? Did this happen after your folders were
compacted?
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi, I just started up Outlook Express only to find that a big chunk of
messages were missing from my inbox. I see ones from the past 5 days
and then in jumps to ones from last year and all the previous years.
Can anybody tell me what happened to the rest of my mail? How can I
get it back? I didn't alter any settings or folders so this is very
puzzling. Thanks!

Jason