Outlook Express Compacted My Email!

The past few days i've been having a pop up in my inbox outlook express email that wants me to compact it. i kept saying no, now i accidently hit yes, and i didnt want it to happen !!!! how can i get it back??!?!?!? please help!

 

Did the compacting cause you any problems?

 

yeah! i dont know where all my mail went and i need the stuff that was there!!!!! is there any way i can reverse this affect?

 

I just searched Microsoft's website on this issue, and it doesn't look good for you! If copies of your email were kept on a server, then you're ok, as they aren't deleted. But you may be SOL if the only copies were stored locally on your computer. Someone may pop in with a better answer!

 

Compacting does not destroy your files in OE it merely compacts them and they should be accessible in the same way as before they were compacted. I do it all the time so as to save space. So unless I've misunderstood you all your stuff should still be there accessable thru outlook express. Either that or you have a serious fault with the OE program.
Any greater Xperts care to comment????
Robert

 

Robert,
Glad to see your reply, as that was why I asked if compacting caused problems. I do it frequently also, and don't experience any.

 

alright, i tried doing a search on my computer for my deleted items and my inbox items. i found the folder that they all went to but i cannot open it. it's a .dbx file. anyone know with what program i will need to open this with?

 

You open .dbx files with outlook express.... You should have the same folders and files available in your outlook express. Is your Inbox absolutely empty? This isn't making sense. Let us know even more details, if possible. Hope we can help.

Another thought, you may need to import the .dbx file into Outlook Express. In Outlook Express, go to File/Import/Messages. Select Outlook Express 6 (I assume that is what you are using) hit Next, select Import mail from an OE6 store directory, hit OK. Browse for the files you just found, and import them. Let us know if this helps.

Eric

 

alright, i still cant make it work. here's what happened

after i compacted all of my email it was gone, from my inbox and deleted items folder. i searched and found the .dbx files. i went to the file>import>messages like eclayton said. i went to browse and i cannot get the file into here. it's C:\Documents and Settings\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{D444D532-D7C5-4EBB-82A7-BB3E62A7958F}\Microsoft\Outlook Express\ i cannot find that in the browse file thingy. i dont know what else to do. this is driving me crazy. once again, i thank you all for all your help! -Jarfark

 

Hey, I just had a similar problem and could use some help. I also accidently pressed the "compress" email button. I had done this before and nothing horrible had happened, but I am always scepticle when I get unsolicited "pop-ups" from MS.

Anyway, this time the program froze during the process. I hardly ever get a freeze in XP. Even Ctr-Alt-Delete didn't bring up the task manager. Totally locked up. I had to do a hard reboot, which I hate doing.

When I logged back in, the emails in the INBOX were gone back to Jan 2005, which is when I installed Outlook Express 6.

I could sure use some help.

 

I keep very little mail in my OE but I received the compaction alert as well some time ago. It didn't cause any loss or where is it issue with my mail files but I did wonder why the alert came. However I'm reading these posts with interest.

 

The problem is that I "lost" the emails. They no longer show. Are you saying that these "lost" emails are still present and I can just re-import them? I'll give it a try if I can find where MS has "squirreled away" the file.

 

Well, I have had no luck in retreiving my lost compacted emails. I did the import trick and nothing. I did find out that you have to import the "folders" file along with the "inbox" file, or the import will not work.

Anyway, I am very disappointed. I have a Ghost backup from about 2 months ago, so I will be able to get this stuff mostly back. But sometimes computers can drive you crazy!

I guess the lesson here is if your data is important, backup often. Because MS may not be able to protect you, or even worse, may be the cause of the problem!

 

Just today I started to get this same popup in OE 6. Anyone know how to shut off the popup. I don't want to compress my files...I don't need to.

Thanks
Pat