You lost the messages because of the size of the folders.
Why does OE insist on compacting folders when I close it?:
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/why.htm#compact
Compacting your folders periodically is a must to keep OE functioning well
and at some point, you may lose all your saved messages if you don't. When
you delete messages, they are only marked for deletion and the space they
had used, remains until you compact, or the space is eventually overwritten.
See:
www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#2
With SP2, automatic background compacting was removed due to problems it
caused. Now you will get a prompt to compact after 100 OE closings, which
you should do and don't touch anything until it has finished. See this for
more information:
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm#compact
To keep things running smooth, and for faster compacting:
Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually become
corrupt and you may lose mail. 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 this is a very good option:
Steve Cochran has added a button in his new version of OE Tool that will not
only Compact All Folders, but at the same time, resets the "Compact Check
Count" to zero whenever you compact manually. You will see the prompt again
if you do not compact before 100 closings.
http://www.oehelp.com/OETool/
You should still check: Work Offline before you compact.
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~
"run3ft" wrote in message
oups.com...
Bruce worked like a charm! Thanks. Just a couple more quick ones I
hope. Is there anyway to disable the do you want to compact your files
message that comes up each time I close out of OE? I am on XP.
Then some time this week OE asked to archive or compact and we lost 2
years of old sent mail. Where did those e-mails go? This is my wifes
computer and we didnt understand that those files should not have
gotten so big there were possibly 5,000 e-mails total in there. I
transfered 2800 from sent to another file from your message below.
Chuck
Bruce Hagen wrote:
Don't move the folder, only the messages. Create a folder in the OE
folder
tree. Highlight one message in Sent Items | Ctrl+A will highlight them
all |
Right click on the messages and | Move to folder and select the one you
created. *Leave the messages there*. Do not try to put them back in the
new
Sent Items folder. Make sure you had OE closed when you deleted the dbx
files for the Outbox and Sent Items.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~
"run3ft" wrote in message
oups.com...
I created another folder on my c drive and moved just the old sent
folder to there.
Bruce Hagen wrote:
Not sure of the question. Where did you move the messages in Sent
Items
to
before you deleted it?
If you read the entire reply:
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.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~
"run3ft" wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks Bruce I got e-mails copied to another folder then I deleted
both
outbox and sent and it worked great. Then I tried to put the old
sent
folder back and it happened again. Is there anyway I can retrieve my
old sent messages and maybe put them in another folder?
Chuck
Bruce Hagen wrote:
Delete the Outbox and repeat for Sent Items if the problem remains.
Move
any
mail you wish to save to a local folder you create first.
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
{Outbox.dbx}
and delete it. A new one will be created automatically when you
open
OE.
General advice for Outlook Express:
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: 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.
Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a
redundant
layer
of protection that eats up CPUs and causes a multitude of problems
such
as
time-outs and account setting changes. Your up-to-date A/V program
will
continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3
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~
"run3ft" wrote in message
ups.com...
Outlook Express is holding my sent amil in outbox and resending
how
do
I stop this other than deleteing contents of outbox each time I
send
mail?