I am not able to compact the folders anymore in Outlook Express 6. OE is
configured with 8 different news-servers. There are no email accounts set up
in it.

OE sees heavy daily use and always before shutdown, the Maintenance routine
is called up and the folders are all reset and compacted.

Since yesterday, the compacting stops stating that the folder (Folders.dbx)
is in use by Windows or another application. I get this error on this
machine even after a reboot. A reboot into Safe Mode gets me the same error!

OE has been working perfectly otherwise in the present configuration for
several months now. No changes have been made either in its settings or in
the host Windows XP Pro OS.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Regards and thanks.

SafeHex
------------

Try going to File | Work offline. Then in the folder tree select Local
Folders from the top of the folder list. Then try compacting. If that
still doesn't work, you can try setting up a new Identity and importing from
the older Identity, or else just delete folders.dbx, but that will lose any
folder hierarchies you have set up.

Also see point 2 he www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx


steve

"SafeHex" wrote in message
...
I am not able to compact the folders anymore in Outlook Express 6. OE is
configured with 8 different news-servers. There are no email accounts set
up
in it.

OE sees heavy daily use and always before shutdown, the Maintenance
routine
is called up and the folders are all reset and compacted.

Since yesterday, the compacting stops stating that the folder
(Folders.dbx)
is in use by Windows or another application. I get this error on this
machine even after a reboot. A reboot into Safe Mode gets me the same
error!

OE has been working perfectly otherwise in the present configuration for
several months now. No changes have been made either in its settings or in
the host Windows XP Pro OS.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Regards and thanks.

SafeHex
------------

Thanks very much for the suggestion. The PC is in use already but I will do
as suggested around noon when it is free. I will post results in this thread
then.

That OE Tips link was very informative - I saved the page for future
reference.

Regards and thanks again.

Cheers.

SafeHex
------------



"Steve Cochran" wrote in message
...
Try going to File | Work offline. Then in the folder tree select Local
Folders from the top of the folder list. Then try compacting. If that
still doesn't work, you can try setting up a new Identity and importing
from the older Identity, or else just delete folders.dbx, but that will
lose any folder hierarchies you have set up.

Also see point 2 he www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx


steve

"SafeHex" wrote in message
...
I am not able to compact the folders anymore in Outlook Express 6. OE is
configured with 8 different news-servers. There are no email accounts set
up
in it.

OE sees heavy daily use and always before shutdown, the Maintenance
routine
is called up and the folders are all reset and compacted.

Since yesterday, the compacting stops stating that the folder
(Folders.dbx)
is in use by Windows or another application. I get this error on this
machine even after a reboot. A reboot into Safe Mode gets me the same
error!

OE has been working perfectly otherwise in the present configuration for
several months now. No changes have been made either in its settings or
in
the host Windows XP Pro OS.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Regards and thanks.

SafeHex
------------

Thanks Steve for the suggestion - believe it or not, I still kept gettng the
error!

However, before anything else, I tried out something else suggested by
someone who is here to watch the World Cup final game, over pizza, with us:

At his suggestion I reset all the folders, copied all saved messages and
emptied the saved folders, then restarted OE. Then I used the synchronize
utility to catch up on all new messages (headers only). After that process
finished, lo and behold - the compacting process started working again!

He was not able to provide an explanation but did say it was from something
"vaguely" related he read online "a couple of years back or so". There is no
rational explanation but the method works - he said he used it himself.
Luckily, I was able to add to my pizza order - he has earned it!

I am not overly religious but cannot help feeling strange that the solution
to a computer issue literally walked into my house to watch a football game
with us! Though not a tech, he is way out more savvy than I am!

Regards and thanks again.

Cheers.

SafeHex
------------



"SafeHex" wrote in message
...
I am not able to compact the folders anymore in Outlook Express 6. OE is
configured with 8 different news-servers. There are no email accounts set
up
in it.

OE sees heavy daily use and always before shutdown, the Maintenance
routine
is called up and the folders are all reset and compacted.

Since yesterday, the compacting stops stating that the folder
(Folders.dbx)
is in use by Windows or another application. I get this error on this
machine even after a reboot. A reboot into Safe Mode gets me the same
error!

OE has been working perfectly otherwise in the present configuration for
several months now. No changes have been made either in its settings or in
the host Windows XP Pro OS.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Regards and thanks.

SafeHex
------------

Glad to hear its fixed. I suspect there was some sort of corruption that
was fixed by resetting the folders.

cheers,

steve

"SafeHex" wrote in message
...
Thanks Steve for the suggestion - believe it or not, I still kept gettng
the
error!

However, before anything else, I tried out something else suggested by
someone who is here to watch the World Cup final game, over pizza, with
us:

At his suggestion I reset all the folders, copied all saved messages and
emptied the saved folders, then restarted OE. Then I used the synchronize
utility to catch up on all new messages (headers only). After that process
finished, lo and behold - the compacting process started working again!

He was not able to provide an explanation but did say it was from
something
"vaguely" related he read online "a couple of years back or so". There is
no
rational explanation but the method works - he said he used it himself.
Luckily, I was able to add to my pizza order - he has earned it!

I am not overly religious but cannot help feeling strange that the
solution
to a computer issue literally walked into my house to watch a football
game
with us! Though not a tech, he is way out more savvy than I am!

Regards and thanks again.

Cheers.

SafeHex
------------



"SafeHex" wrote in message
...
I am not able to compact the folders anymore in Outlook Express 6. OE is
configured with 8 different news-servers. There are no email accounts set
up
in it.

OE sees heavy daily use and always before shutdown, the Maintenance
routine
is called up and the folders are all reset and compacted.

Since yesterday, the compacting stops stating that the folder
(Folders.dbx)
is in use by Windows or another application. I get this error on this
machine even after a reboot. A reboot into Safe Mode gets me the same
error!

OE has been working perfectly otherwise in the present configuration for
several months now. No changes have been made either in its settings or
in
the host Windows XP Pro OS.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Regards and thanks.

SafeHex
------------