I finally got tired of Outlook Express asking me to compress my messages, so
I clicked OK. Now all of my messages from the last 10 months have
disappeared. I can't find them anywhere. Any idea about how to correct this
problems.

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

If you are using a fully patched version of XP/SP2, see:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918069/en-us

If not:

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~

"David" wrote in message
...
I finally got tired of Outlook Express asking me to compress my messages,
so
I clicked OK. Now all of my messages from the last 10 months have
disappeared. I can't find them anywhere. Any idea about how to correct
this
problems.

same here they have gone to an AutoCAD file that I can't open


"David" wrote in message
...
I finally got tired of Outlook Express asking me to compress my messages,
so
I clicked OK. Now all of my messages from the last 10 months have
disappeared. I can't find them anywhere. Any idea about how to correct
this
problems.

"Janet Lowe" wrote in message
...
same here they have gone to an AutoCAD file that I can't open


"David" wrote in message
...
I finally got tired of Outlook Express asking me to compress my messages,
so
I clicked OK. Now all of my messages from the last 10 months have
disappeared. I can't find them anywhere. Any idea about how to correct
this
problems.




While AutoCad grabs the DBX file association, this does not affect Outlook
Express. The OE DBX files cannot be opened by double clicking them. If
you did open them in AutoCad and let AutoCad fix them, it probably destroyed
them. All I can suggest is DBXpress (www.oehelp.com) run in Disk Mode.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Answer in newsgroup. Don't send mail.

Same thing happened to me and it was in the Recycle Bin so just had to
restore from there.