More new info... the other user has informed me that just before things
started to go wrong, OE compacted the files/folders.

"Kuay Tim" wrote:

Hi Curly,

What is the size of the missing folder DBX file? It should be larger than
about 137KB -- much larger if there are any number of messages included.
Indications are the old folder.dbx file may be empty. If the missing
folder.dbx files are of appropriate size you could try importing the
folders by first moving the folder.dbx files and a copy of Folders.dbx to
a desktop folder (Mail Backup). Do not leave a copy of the folder.dbx
files in the OE message store folder.

Instead of using search the store folder can be opened directly. Each
identity has its own store folder.



a.. In Outlook Express click on Tools, Options, Maintenance tab...Store
Folder.
b.. Place the cursor at the left of the text of the path to the folder.
c.. Drag the cursor to the right until the text scrolls to the end.
d.. Right-click on the text and choose Copy.
e.. In the Start, Run box right-click Paste. Click OK to open the store
folder.
f.. Close Outlook Express before working with the message store files.


Using Keyboard Shortcuts for Transfer of the Folder Path
Courtesy of: Jim Pickering, MVP-Outlook Express

An even easier method when opening that page is to use the Tab to
highlight the folder location, then Ctrl+C and close OE, then use Start/Run
and Ctrl+V. Same caveat about hidden files applies but can be easily
modified in Explorer by using Tools/Folder Options.

Also see:
OLEXP: How to Back Up and Recover Outlook Express Data

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;270670


--
Tim K.
aka Kuay Tim
MS-MVP - Outlook Express
Lynnwood, WA
*
"Curly" wrote in message
...
Ok - tried that, but no luck. I copied a message from the Inbox into the
new
"duplicate" folder and verified it was in there. When I copied the old .dbx
file over the new one, the new folder "lost" the message and was empty. (I
only have the one identity, so that isn't an issue.) What next?

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

1: Make sure you didn't switch to another identity.

2: Since you understand the Message Store, try this:

In Windows Explorer, click on the file and drag it to the Desktop. Open OE
and create a folder with the *exact* same name as the one on your desktop.
***Copy a message from any folder to the new one. You MUST do this.***
Close
OE. 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.

What you may have been lacking in your attempts, was the *dummy* message
that had to be in the newly created folder.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"Curly" wrote in message
...
I'm not sure what happened, but I cannot access several of my local
folders.
They are not listed on the left side of OE under folders anymore.
However,
they are still in the Store Folder. I have tried to create new folders
in
the same names and then copy the existing folders into them, but it does
not
work. The folder is listed on the lefthand side, but is empty.
Somehow,
OE
is not "seeing" what is in the Store Folder. Any suggestions? Thanks
in
advance.

"Curly" wrote in message
...
More new info... the other user has informed me that just before things
started to go wrong, OE compacted the files/folders.

Go to Help | About. What is the version number for directdb.dll? (e.g.
6.00.2900.2869)

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, OE/WM
Please reply in newsgroup.

Hi Curly,

Here is something to try.

Create a new "Test" folder in Outlook Express
Drag one message into the folder
Close and reopen OE

Next...

Create another (temporary) desktop folder -- it might be named Mail Test.
Copy (from the OE message store folder) the files "Test.dbx" and
"Folders.dbx".
Try importing the selected "Test" folder.
Are there now two copies of the message in the OE Test folder?

If successful...

Move a copy of DBX file you're trying to restore into the Mail Test folder.
Delete the Test.dbx file
Rename the file you want restored to Test.dbx
Try importing to see if the messages go to the OE Test folder.

--
Tim K.
aka Kuay Tim
MS-MVP - Outlook Express
Lynnwood, WA
*
"Curly" wrote in message
...
More new info... the other user has informed me that just before things
started to go wrong, OE compacted the files/folders.

"Kuay Tim" wrote:

Hi Curly,

What is the size of the missing folder DBX file? It should be larger
than
about 137KB -- much larger if there are any number of messages included.
Indications are the old folder.dbx file may be empty. If the missing
folder.dbx files are of appropriate size you could try importing the
folders by first moving the folder.dbx files and a copy of Folders.dbx
to
a desktop folder (Mail Backup). Do not leave a copy of the folder.dbx
files in the OE message store folder.

Instead of using search the store folder can be opened directly. Each
identity has its own store folder.



a.. In Outlook Express click on Tools, Options, Maintenance tab...Store
Folder.
b.. Place the cursor at the left of the text of the path to the folder.
c.. Drag the cursor to the right until the text scrolls to the end.
d.. Right-click on the text and choose Copy.
e.. In the Start, Run box right-click Paste. Click OK to open the store
folder.
f.. Close Outlook Express before working with the message store files.


Using Keyboard Shortcuts for Transfer of the Folder Path
Courtesy of: Jim Pickering, MVP-Outlook Express

An even easier method when opening that page is to use the Tab to
highlight the folder location, then Ctrl+C and close OE, then use
Start/Run
and Ctrl+V. Same caveat about hidden files applies but can be easily
modified in Explorer by using Tools/Folder Options.

Also see:
OLEXP: How to Back Up and Recover Outlook Express Data

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;270670


--
Tim K.
aka Kuay Tim
MS-MVP - Outlook Express
Lynnwood, WA
*
"Curly" wrote in message
...
Ok - tried that, but no luck. I copied a message from the Inbox into the
new
"duplicate" folder and verified it was in there. When I copied the old
.dbx
file over the new one, the new folder "lost" the message and was empty.
(I
only have the one identity, so that isn't an issue.) What next?

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

1: Make sure you didn't switch to another identity.

2: Since you understand the Message Store, try this:

In Windows Explorer, click on the file and drag it to the Desktop. Open
OE
and create a folder with the *exact* same name as the one on your
desktop.
***Copy a message from any folder to the new one. You MUST do this.***
Close
OE. 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.

What you may have been lacking in your attempts, was the *dummy* message
that had to be in the newly created folder.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"Curly" wrote in message
...
I'm not sure what happened, but I cannot access several of my local
folders.
They are not listed on the left side of OE under folders anymore.
However,
they are still in the Store Folder. I have tried to create new
folders
in
the same names and then copy the existing folders into them, but it
does
not
work. The folder is listed on the lefthand side, but is empty.
Somehow,
OE
is not "seeing" what is in the Store Folder. Any suggestions? Thanks
in
advance.

If this happened while compacting was in progress, DBXpress run in disk mod
is your only chance of recovery.

*Canned* reply for this problem:

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~

"Curly" wrote in message
...
More new info... the other user has informed me that just before things
started to go wrong, OE compacted the files/folders.

"Kuay Tim" wrote:

Hi Curly,

What is the size of the missing folder DBX file? It should be larger
than
about 137KB -- much larger if there are any number of messages included.
Indications are the old folder.dbx file may be empty. If the missing
folder.dbx files are of appropriate size you could try importing the
folders by first moving the folder.dbx files and a copy of Folders.dbx
to
a desktop folder (Mail Backup). Do not leave a copy of the folder.dbx
files in the OE message store folder.

Instead of using search the store folder can be opened directly. Each
identity has its own store folder.



a.. In Outlook Express click on Tools, Options, Maintenance tab...Store
Folder.
b.. Place the cursor at the left of the text of the path to the folder.
c.. Drag the cursor to the right until the text scrolls to the end.
d.. Right-click on the text and choose Copy.
e.. In the Start, Run box right-click Paste. Click OK to open the store
folder.
f.. Close Outlook Express before working with the message store files.


Using Keyboard Shortcuts for Transfer of the Folder Path
Courtesy of: Jim Pickering, MVP-Outlook Express

An even easier method when opening that page is to use the Tab to
highlight the folder location, then Ctrl+C and close OE, then use
Start/Run
and Ctrl+V. Same caveat about hidden files applies but can be easily
modified in Explorer by using Tools/Folder Options.

Also see:
OLEXP: How to Back Up and Recover Outlook Express Data

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;270670


--
Tim K.
aka Kuay Tim
MS-MVP - Outlook Express
Lynnwood, WA
*
"Curly" wrote in message
...
Ok - tried that, but no luck. I copied a message from the Inbox into the
new
"duplicate" folder and verified it was in there. When I copied the old
.dbx
file over the new one, the new folder "lost" the message and was empty.
(I
only have the one identity, so that isn't an issue.) What next?

"Bruce Hagen" wrote:

1: Make sure you didn't switch to another identity.

2: Since you understand the Message Store, try this:

In Windows Explorer, click on the file and drag it to the Desktop. Open
OE
and create a folder with the *exact* same name as the one on your
desktop.
***Copy a message from any folder to the new one. You MUST do this.***
Close
OE. 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.

What you may have been lacking in your attempts, was the *dummy*
message
that had to be in the newly created folder.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"Curly" wrote in message
...
I'm not sure what happened, but I cannot access several of my local
folders.
They are not listed on the left side of OE under folders anymore.
However,
they are still in the Store Folder. I have tried to create new
folders
in
the same names and then copy the existing folders into them, but it
does
not
work. The folder is listed on the lefthand side, but is empty.
Somehow,
OE
is not "seeing" what is in the Store Folder. Any suggestions?
Thanks
in
advance.

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
If this happened while compacting was in progress, DBXpress run in disk
mod is your only chance of recovery.


With the latest update for OE (which you have), before compacting a folder
it copies it to the Recycle Bin with a BAK extension.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, OE/WM
Please reply in newsgroup.

"Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, OE/WM" wrote in message
...
"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
If this happened while compacting was in progress, DBXpress run in disk
mod is your only chance of recovery.


With the latest update for OE (which you have), before compacting a folder
it copies it to the Recycle Bin with a BAK extension.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, OE/WM
Please reply in newsgroup.


Darn. Gotta get used to that! Has MS released any articles on the correct
way to restore from the Bin?
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...

"Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, OE/WM" wrote in message
...
With the latest update for OE (which you have), before compacting a
folder it copies it to the Recycle Bin with a BAK extension.

Darn. Gotta get used to that! Has MS released any articles on the correct
way to restore from the Bin?
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~


I don't think so, but I see several ways:

1. The easiest way is to close OE, go to the message store and delete the
DBX file for that folder. Then go to the Recycle Bin and restore the BAK
file. Go bact to the message store and rename the BAK file to a DBX file.
Then open OE.

2. If the folder has new messages that you want to keep, close OE. Restore
the BAK file. Go to the store folder and move the new DBX file to an empty
Windows folder. Rename the BAK file to a DBX file. Run DBXtract on the
moved DBX file, Open OE and drag the restored EML files from the Windows
folder to the restored folder in the Folder List.

I'm sure you can think of three or four other approaches.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, OE/WM
Please reply in newsgroup.

Thanks for all of your input. After trying all of your suggestions and
coming up empty (literally), I resorted to DBXpress. It went through its
extracting process and indicated there were 391 messages that were sent to
their new output directories. However, those directories were empty when I
went to transfer the contents back into OE. Any more suggestions?

"Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, OE/WM" wrote:

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...

"Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, OE/WM" wrote in message
...
With the latest update for OE (which you have), before compacting a
folder it copies it to the Recycle Bin with a BAK extension.

Darn. Gotta get used to that! Has MS released any articles on the correct
way to restore from the Bin?
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~


I don't think so, but I see several ways:

1. The easiest way is to close OE, go to the message store and delete the
DBX file for that folder. Then go to the Recycle Bin and restore the BAK
file. Go bact to the message store and rename the BAK file to a DBX file.
Then open OE.

2. If the folder has new messages that you want to keep, close OE. Restore
the BAK file. Go to the store folder and move the new DBX file to an empty
Windows folder. Rename the BAK file to a DBX file. Run DBXtract on the
moved DBX file, Open OE and drag the restored EML files from the Windows
folder to the restored folder in the Folder List.

I'm sure you can think of three or four other approaches.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, OE/WM
Please reply in newsgroup.

It doesn't put them in OE. It puts them in the output directory you chose
on the first page. I suggest making a new, empty Windows folder (directory)
for the output. The messages can be dragged from a Windows folder back into
a folder in OE's Folder List.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
"Anyone who prefers security over freedom deserves neither."

"Curly" wrote in message
...
Thanks for all of your input. After trying all of your suggestions and
coming up empty (literally), I resorted to DBXpress. It went through its
extracting process and indicated there were 391 messages that were sent to
their new output directories. However, those directories were empty when I
went to transfer the contents back into OE. Any more suggestions?

"Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, OE/WM" wrote:

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...

"Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, OE/WM" wrote in
message
...
With the latest update for OE (which you have), before compacting a
folder it copies it to the Recycle Bin with a BAK extension.

Darn. Gotta get used to that! Has MS released any articles on the
correct
way to restore from the Bin?
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~


I don't think so, but I see several ways:

1. The easiest way is to close OE, go to the message store and delete
the
DBX file for that folder. Then go to the Recycle Bin and restore the BAK
file. Go bact to the message store and rename the BAK file to a DBX
file.
Then open OE.

2. If the folder has new messages that you want to keep, close OE.
Restore
the BAK file. Go to the store folder and move the new DBX file to an
empty
Windows folder. Rename the BAK file to a DBX file. Run DBXtract on the
moved DBX file, Open OE and drag the restored EML files from the Windows
folder to the restored folder in the Folder List.

I'm sure you can think of three or four other approaches.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, OE/WM
Please reply in newsgroup.


It doesn't put them in OE. It puts them in the output directory you chose
on the first page. I suggest making a new, empty Windows folder (directory)
for the output. The messages can be dragged from a Windows folder back into
a folder in OE's Folder List.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
"Anyone who prefers security over freedom deserves neither."

Search for *.eml if you can't find them.

I suspect your message store got wiped.

If the bak files are in the Recycle bin then move them to an empty
directory. Then you can run DBXpress and point to that directory and check
the All Files checkbox to let it list the bak files. Then run it on the bak
files.

steve

"Curly" wrote in message
...
Thanks for all of your input. After trying all of your suggestions and
coming up empty (literally), I resorted to DBXpress. It went through its
extracting process and indicated there were 391 messages that were sent to
their new output directories. However, those directories were empty when I
went to transfer the contents back into OE. Any more suggestions?

"Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, OE/WM" wrote:

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...

"Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, OE/WM" wrote in
message
...
With the latest update for OE (which you have), before compacting a
folder it copies it to the Recycle Bin with a BAK extension.

Darn. Gotta get used to that! Has MS released any articles on the
correct
way to restore from the Bin?
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~


I don't think so, but I see several ways:

1. The easiest way is to close OE, go to the message store and delete
the
DBX file for that folder. Then go to the Recycle Bin and restore the BAK
file. Go bact to the message store and rename the BAK file to a DBX
file.
Then open OE.

2. If the folder has new messages that you want to keep, close OE.
Restore
the BAK file. Go to the store folder and move the new DBX file to an
empty
Windows folder. Rename the BAK file to a DBX file. Run DBXtract on the
moved DBX file, Open OE and drag the restored EML files from the Windows
folder to the restored folder in the Folder List.

I'm sure you can think of three or four other approaches.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, OE/WM
Please reply in newsgroup.