[Triple6]

You will get duplicates if you import messages that you already have.

If the messages are re-appearing in OE then you must not have renamed the files correctly; if you have NOT imported them back in yet. Also if the .dbx files are 2GB or close in size then you'll have the same problem again.

[mtg360]

OK I'll just run it and see what happens.

[throoper]

Originally Posted by mtg360

After I received your last message (I have not run the import tool yet) I did a send/receive and my inbox and deleted folders filled up with hundreds of messages dating back from 2008 to today, most of which I am sure I had deleted. Before I run the import tool, will I be getting duplicates of all those messages?

When you generated the new Message Store, one of the files that gets recreated is the pop3uidl.dbx which is what keeps track of what has been previously downloaded from the server.
If you have OE set to leave messages on the server, they redownload due to the new pop3 file.

Move any new messages (that were not previously downloaded and you wish to keep) to a folder other than the Inbox.
Then open the Message Store folder, close OE, and delete the Inbox.dbx to clear all the remaining messages that redownloaded.

Then run the Import.

[mtg360]

I don't want to do this wrong. I moved the inbox messages I still want (the recent ones) into a new folder. I still have the path from before pasted in my search box. When I run that it will open the message store. I can then delete the inbox.dbx file?

[throoper]

Yes, that's correct.
Be sure OE is closed when you delete the Inbox.dbx from the Store folder.
When you reopen OE, a new Inbox.dbx will be generated and should be empty of any messages.
The pop3uidl.dbx that is currently in the Store folder has now got a record of everything on the server that has been downloaded, so you won't have to worry about everything coming in again.

If you had message rules that automatically directed a bunch of the re-downloaded mail to other folders, you can delete the corresponding DBX files for those as well as the Inbox.dbx to clear them.

[mtg360]

OK, I did everything and it's all looking good. I'll monitor everything for the next couple of days to make sure it's all working right. Thanks again for all your help, it is much appreciated!

[mtg360]

Well it was working fine until a few minutes ago when I hit send/receive to send 2 messages, and I got the message I first received when all this started:

"An Outlook Express store file may be damaged. Please use a utility such as ScanDisk to verify and repair any damaged files. Protocol: SMTP, Port: 0, Secure(SSL): No, Error Number: 0x800C0155."

I restarted the computer and it's working now, but that is what I kept having to do before.

[throoper]

When you ran the Import did it reload your Inbox with it's original messages and are there a lot of them (or a lot of large attachments)?
If so, it's likely corrupted the Inbox again.
Create a new folder in OE by right clicking on Local Folders in the left folder pane and selecting New Folder on the menu.
Name it Old Inbox, or simply Old, or whatever you like.
Move ALL messages from the Inbox into the new folder (If there are a lot make a couple new folders and split them up so you don't overload the new folder(s).
Once the Inbox is empty, click File>Workoffline.
Select the Inbox and click File>Folder>Compact.
Don't do anything on the computer while it's compacting.
Click File>Workoffline to remove the checkmark.

If you get the error again, empty the Inbox of any new messages that have been received and go into the Message Store and, with OE closed, delete the Inbox.dbx.
This may be necessary as the Inbox.dbx may be too corrupted for the compact process to repair.

[mtg360]

OK I'm working on it. Will keep you posted, thanks

[mtg360]

Just deleted the inbox.dbx file

[mtg360]

Can I move back the messages from the old inbox to the new inbox?

[throoper]

Originally Posted by mtg360

Can I move back the messages from the old inbox to the new inbox?

It would be better not to. You want to keep as few messages in the Inbox as possible.
Best practice is to not store messages long term in any of the default folders (Inbox, Sent, Deleted Items, Drafts).
Also, no folder's DBX file should exceed 200MB in size. The larger the DBX, the more likely it is to suffer corruption and failure.

Regular Compacting also helps. OE should be asking you to Compact every 100 times it's opened.
Are you getting that prompt and allowing it to Compact?

[mtg360]

The messages I sent to the current inbox folder before deleting are all gone; the folder is empty for some reason. Can I get those back? Also, how many messages is 200MB? What happens when I compact messages. can they be retrieved if I need them later? I notice that if I want to look up a messge in the store folder it opens in MS Word as complete gibberish.

[throoper]

Originally Posted by mtg360

The messages I sent to the current inbox folder before deleting are all gone; the folder is empty for some reason. Can I get those back? Also, how many messages is 200MB? What happens when I compact messages. can they be retrieved if I need them later? I notice that if I want to look up a messge in the store folder it opens in MS Word as complete gibberish.

The DBX files are what contains the data that makes up the messages. Deleting the DBX also deletes the data along with it.
It should have gone to your Recycle bin. With OE closed, Select it in the Recycle bin and click Restore and it should go back to the Message Store folder. You'll get a message that there's already a file with that name and do you want to replace it. Click Yes.


How many messages depends on the size of the messages(large attachments, graphics, etc all contribute to the size).
Simplest is to just open the Message Store and look at the size of the DBX files.

You can't open a DBX file outside of the OE Program. The data they contain is encoded and not "readable" by a human.

Compacting doesn't affect the messages.
When you delete or move a message from a folder in OE, the data remains in the DBX file and merely gets "tagged" for later removal. That's why you can empty a folder, yet the DBX file for that folder will still have the same size. The data is still there, just hidden from view by OE.
The Compact process is what reads the "tags" and re-writes the DBX file without the "tagged" data, reducing it's size and only leaving the data that will be visible in OE.

[mtg360]

I see a file named inbox.dbx that was deleted at about that time yesterday, but not one that says "current inbox messages." When I click restore it asks if I want to replace the folder created today which holds 1.38mb. Will I be replacing my current inbox? That's not what I'm looking to do.

So what happens if I need to find an old compacted message?