Lost folder from Outlook Express.

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Emrys Davies - 07 Feb 2008 01:17 GMT

My friend has Windows98 SE.

He has lost a folder containing about 40 emails from Outlook Express,
Folders.

Following my advice, he has now found the folder via Tools > Options >
Maintenance > Store Folder > Start > Run > and by copying and pasting
the path obtained in Store Folder. He can read the emails, which are in
tact, via Wordpad, but it is a little messy in there.

How can he restore the folder and its contents to Outlook Express
Folders? I know how to backup and restore .dbx files, but I am not sure
that that is the answer. I have told him to make sure that 'Show all
files' is checked.

Any advice very welcome.

Thanks,
Emrys Davies.

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MasterBlaster - 07 Feb 2008 08:44 GMT

> My friend has Windows98 SE.
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> that that is the answer. I have told him to make sure that 'Show all
> files' is checked.

Okay, here we go.

I have occasionally lost a few newsgroup folders. They're still in my "store" folder,
but OE doesn't know they're there. It usually means Folders.dbx is corrupted.

What works for me (I still use Win95, but 98 should be similar) is to close OE,
navigate to the store folder, delete Folders.dbx, then restart OE, which rebuilds
that index file, using whatever .dbx files it finds. He will, of course, lose other
info that's stored in Folders.dbx, like the heirarchy (if any) of his folders.

Instead of:
Inbox
-----Mystuff (sub-folder)
------------Myimportantstuff (sub-sub-folder)
-----Hiscrap (sub-folder)
-----Herjunk (sub-folder)
-------------Heroldjunk (sub-sub-folder)
Outbox
Sent Items
Deleted Items
Drafts
etc..........

He'll find the "stock" arrangement:
Inbox
Outbox
Sent Items
Deleted Items
Drafts
Hiscrap
Herjunk
Heroldjunk
Myimportantstuff
Mystuff
etc..........

As well, any message rules that point to a previously "subbed" folder
won't know where that folder is, so he'll have to drag the sub-folders
back where they belong, and fix the message rules to match.

If he reads newsgroups, the "last message" pointers will be lost, and
possibly the "sync" settings (headers/all/new only) so OE will try to
download all 25,000,000 headers in a group, instead of just the 6 that he
hasn't seen yet. I usually go to tools/options/read, and set "Get x headers"
to 50 (the minimum), then go through each group letting OE download 50,
then right-clicking the group name in the list and picking "Catch Up" When
done, I turn off the "Get x headers" option, and recheck the "sync" settings.

I don't think I've forgotten anything. Good luck.

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Emrys Davies - 07 Feb 2008 13:55 GMT

> > My friend has Windows98 SE.
> >
[quoted text clipped - 61 lines]
>
> I don't think I've forgotten anything. Good luck.

Very interesting and explicit, but very involved to say the least; by
that I mean losing the hierarchy and its consequencies. Would backing
up and restoring Folders .dbx and the 'missing' folder work? The views
of P A Bear MS MVP and Frank Saunders MS MVP would also be most wecome
on this topic.

Thanks a lot.
Emrys Davies.

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Michael Santovec - 07 Feb 2008 20:48 GMT

First have him look in the folder list in OE. Do any folders have an +
in front of them? If so, click the + to expand the folder list. Does
his missing folder appear under any of them? If so, he can drag the
folder to the "Local Folders" to bring it back out.

If it's under the Deleted Items folder he accidentally deleted the
folder. That can happen if the folder was highlighted rather than an
individual message when he went to delete and then he clicked OK to the
are you sure prompt.

If it's under another folder, likely one next to where it was
originally, that happens if click on a folder and then move the mouse a
bit while doing that. OE then moves the folder to become a subfolder
and gives no warning.

I've done both of the above a few times.

If the folder is not found as a subfolder, he can use the following
procedure.

How to import a single mail folder (*.dbx)
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/how.htm#importdbx
For an alternate description, see the last paragraph here:
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx

Signature

Mike - http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_santovec/techhelp.htm

> My friend has Windows98 SE.
>
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> Thanks,
> Emrys Davies.

Reply to this Message

Emrys Davies - 08 Feb 2008 14:39 GMT

> First have him look in the folder list in OE. Do any folders have an +
> in front of them? If so, click the + to expand the folder list. Does
[quoted text clipped - 43 lines]
> > Thanks,
> > Emrys Davies.

Michael,

How do I import a single mail folder (*.dbx)?

Create a new folder in Outlook Express named "temp". Copy any message
into the new Temp folder. Close OE and rename "Temp.dbx" in your OE
store folder. Now copy the *.dbx to be imported into the store folder
and rename it to "Temp.dbx". Open OE and rename the Temp folder if
desired.

I have been experimenting with the above, but it does not work for me.
Creating the 'temp' folder and placing a message in it in OE is simple,
but when I get to the Store Folder and rename 'temp' to tempold.dbx
nothing will copy into it. Can you help me here?

I am using Win98 SE and OE6

Thanks,
Emrys Davies.

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Michael Santovec - 08 Feb 2008 19:19 GMT

The second reference that I gave may be a bit clearer

Importing single dbx files into OE

To backup and restore a single OE5 or 6 mail folder, save the
appropriate dbx file. To restore, create a new folder in OE5 or 6 (call
it archiv1, for example) and access it once. Then close OE and find
archiv1.dbx and delete it. Make a copy of the folder you want to restore
and rename it to archiv1.dbx. Then copy that file into the directory
where the previous file was deleted. Open OE and the messages you wanted
to restore will be accessible via opening that archiv1 folder.

Lets say your friend has a dbx file named Bob.dbx that he wants to make
accessible and it's already in the OE store folder.

Open OE, and create a new local folder and call it Bob2. Select the
folder in OE. Then close OE. If you look in the OE store folder you
should now see a new file named Bob2.DBX which is about 59 kb (the size
for an empty folder). You can now delete the bob2.dbx file (or to be
safe rename it to bob2old.dbx just in case you got the wrong file).
Then rename the original Bob.dbx file to Bob2.dbx. Now reopen OE. When
you access the Bob2 folder in OE you should see the messages that you
want.

Signature

Mike - http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_santovec/techhelp.htm

>> First have him look in the folder list in OE. Do any folders have an
> +
[quoted text clipped - 73 lines]
> Thanks,
> Emrys Davies.

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Emrys Davies - 09 Feb 2008 16:43 GMT

Michael,

You were spot on. My friend did as you suggested i.e., expanding the +
signs in the folder list in OE and there is was, just under the Deleted
Items folder. Everything is in tack and he is over the moon.

Thanks a lot. What would we do without you?

Regards,
Emrys Davies.

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Michael Santovec - 09 Feb 2008 19:14 GMT

You are welcome and thanks for posting back.

Signature

Mike - http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_santovec/techhelp.htm

> Michael,
>
[quoted text clipped - 65 lines]
>> > Thanks,
>> > Emrys Davies.

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