Outlook Compact Messages Lost

[johnpol78]

My computer Operating System is Windows XP, but this may not be relevant. when using Outlook Express for emailing, a window appears asking if you would like to free up disk space by "Compacting Messages" I always click cancel. Today, my small brother was using the computer and clicked yes.

For reasons I cannot understand, a large amount of messages have now been removed from my Sent Folder so please help me where these deleted mails stored in the hard disk.

[Pete_C]

http://email.about.com/od/outlookexpresstr..._compact_oe.htm

* Make sure Outlook Express is not running.

* Open the Recycle Bin on your Windows Desktop.

* Locate the ".bak" files corresponding to the Outlook Express folders you want to recover.

o The ".bak" file will be named like the folder in Outlook Express.

o To restore a folder called "Archive", look for "Archive.bak", for example.

* Click on the ".bak" file with the right mouse button.

* Select Restore from the menu.

* Open your Outlook Express store folder in Windows Explorer.

* Drag and drop the ".dbx" file corresponding to the Outlook Express folder you want to recover to your Desktop.

* In the Outlook Express store folder, click on the ".bak" file to be recovered with the right mouse button.

* Select Rename from the menu.

* Change the ".bak" file extension to ".dbx".

o If the file was called "Archive.bak", for example, make sure it is named "Archive.dbx" now.

* Open Outlook Express.

* If your emails have been recovered, delete the ".dbx" file you moved to the Desktop.

Looks like you have it set to empty the sent folder when you do cleanup.

[novi]

Pete's option is the best. If you have lost the emails and can't recover them, there is a program called e-Recovery for outlook express. You can download the program to see if the emails are still on the computer. If they are you can pay for the program to recover the emails. (one time payment not sure of the cost. After that you own the program) good luck.

take care,

Pat

[johnpol78]

i have no problem while using the outlook . my outlook is working fine. mail are sending and receiving.

but my sent folder is empty. there are only few mails so where is my rest of mails . i did not delete any mail in my outlook. these are the important mails.

so i want to recover these mails.

[novi]

e-recovery for outlook express is a program that will find deleted emails on your computer. (provided they have been overwritten). Go to the website and download the free version, (for detection) run the program. If it finds the lost sent folder the emails will be listed. then you pay for the program and recover your lost email. I had the very same problem a while back. The program worked very well for me. I think the cost is $27.00 (I think) It was well worth it for me.

Take care,

Pat

www.winutils.net

look for e-recovery for outlook express

[Pete_C]

Outlook or outlook express?

If you look in the profile folder where your dbx or pst files are saved is there more than one sent files?

Like sent.dbx and sent.old

[johnpol78]

i downloaded the recovery software free version from the internet and most of the mails are recovered.

thanks for your suggestions.

[novi]

any time, I'm glad it worked.

Take care,

Pat

[johnpol78]

now my outlook 2003 is working fine and i am sending and receiving the mails before .

i have recovered the deleted mails , all the mails are not recovered but most of the mails are recovered . so i am very thankful for everyone who help me to resolve my problem.

thanks .