[rhombus]

Hi,

I've got a client who is having a problem with opening already downloaded emails in there inbox.

The error message is as follow.

Message has not been downloaded
Outlook Express has not yet downloaded this message.
________________________________________
To download the message:
• Click here.
• Press Space.

Outlook Express

Computer info:
Windows XP
Home Edition
SP 3
AMD Sempron Processor
960 MB of RAM

Thanks for any help you can offer.

[throoper]

Hi rhombus,
I've got to say that everytime I think I've heard every weird thing that can happen with OE, someone comes along and proves me wrong.

You can get that if you have newsgroups set to download Headers only, but E-mails are all or nothing in OE. You can't get just the subject that will show in the message list.
It could be a simple DBX file problem or it may be a bigger problem with the Identity.
Either way, the first thing to do is make a backup of the Message Store folder if there are old messages you want to preserve. That will allow you to be fairly aggressive with OE and still be able to quickly restore any messages that may become lost.

To do that:

You need to have Hidden files and Folders showing.
At the top of any folder(My Documents for example) click Tools>Folder Options>View tab.
Scroll down the list and place a check next to "Show Hidden Files and Folders" then click Apply and OK.

In OE
Click on Tools>Options>Maintenance tab>Store Folder.
On the Store Location box, highlight the address by pressing the Tab key on your keyboard.
Press Control+C (both at the same time) to copy the address to the clipboard.
Click Cancel on all boxes and close OE.

Click on Start>Run.
Press Control+V (both at the same time) to paste the address into the command line and click OK.
The Store Folder containing all the DBX files should open.

Make a quick backup of the DBX files.
Click Edit>Select All.
Click Edit>Copy
Go to the Desktop and right click an empty area.
Select New>Folder from the menu. Name it Mailbackup.
Open Mailbackup and click Edit>Paste.
There should now be a copy of everything that was in the Message Store in the folder Mailbackup.
Close Mailbackup. DO NOT mess with this folder again unless you need to recover lost messages.

First thing to try is moving any messages that don't open to another folder and trying to open them. If that works, it's the Inbox.dbx causing the problem.
If that's the case (and only if) go into the Message Store folder, be sure OE is CLOSED and delete the Inbox.dbx.

If Messages fail to open after moving them to other folders, or if other folders are already having the same problem, go into the Message Store folder, again being sure OE is CLOSED, and click Edit>Select All then File>Delete to completely empty it.

After doing either of the above, Restart OE and see if new messages will download and open properly.

[rhombus]

Hi throoper,

Thanks for you help, but unfortunetly neither of the ideas helped.

Moved the emails in to another folder and other folders having the same issue. and deleted the message store file and still the same problem.

Any other ideas? is there a way of removing OE and putting all the email information back in to it again and keeping all the old messages?

[throoper]

Originally Posted by rhombus

Hi throoper,

Thanks for you help, but unfortunetly neither of the ideas helped.

Moved the emails in to another folder and other folders having the same issue. and deleted the message store file and still the same problem.

Any other ideas? is there a way of removing OE and putting all the email information back in to it again and keeping all the old messages?

If it wasn't a DBX problem, it may be a problem with the Identity itself.

First, Export the Account information by doing the following.

In OE.
Click Tools>Accounts.
In the Internet Accounts box, click the Mail Tab.
Highlight the Account and click Export.
The File Name: and Files of type: lines should be already filled. Save the IAF file to the Mailbackup folder you made on the Desktop.
If you have more than 1 Account, do that for each one.

Next, create a backup for the Address Book.

Open the Address Book.
Click File>Export>Address Book (WAB).
Just name it AB and save it to the Mailbackup folder on the desktop.
You should get a message box saying the Export was succesful. Click OK and close the Address Book.

Now create a New Identity for OE.

To create a New Identity, in OE click File>Identities>Add new Identity.
Type a name for it, leave "Require a password" unchecked (you can add a password later if you wish) and click OK.
Click "Yes" to switch to the New Identity.
Click cancel on the Internet Connection Wizard and any requests to Import anything.
Click "Yes" on the "Are you sure you want to cancel" nags.

In the New Identity click Tools>Accounts>Mail Tab.
It should be blank (no account listed).
Click the Import button and browse to the IAF file you saved in the Mailbackup folder on the Desktop.
When the Import is complete, on the Mail tab, highlight the newly Imported account in the list and click Properties>Advanced tab.
Place a check by "Leave a copy of messages on the server" (you can change this later if you wish) and click OK.
That's it.
Click Send/Receive and everything on the server should download into the New Identity.
Try it out and see if everything works.
If it does, we'll Import your mail and Address book into it.There's no sense in doing it until you're sure the problem doesn't exist in the New Identity.

[rhombus]

Manage to sort it now. It was a DBX problem.

Had to make a new inbox DBX file. and repush all the old message through.

Thanks for your help throoper

[throoper]

So it WAS the Inbox.dbx. It seems like it should have cleared when you emptied the Store folder.
Anyway, if there are messages that are now missing, you can try Importing from the backup copies.

File>Import>Messages.
Select OE6>Next.
Check Import from an OE6 Store directory>Next.
Click the Browse and select the Mailbackup folder on the desktop>OK>Next.
Select All Folders (Or pick the ones you want, probably in this case just the Inbox)>Next.
Let it run and hopefully everything will Import successfully.

If the Inbox.dbx was corrupted and causing the problem, the messages may not Import and if you need anything from it the best bet would be DBXtract to see if it can recover anything.
http://forums.techguy.org/attachment...6/dbxtract.zip