Fixing a corrupt Entourage database via Outlook Express

Caleb Clauset (of Tekserve) writes: "A customer recently came to us with a corrupt Microsoft Entourage database. Attempting to rebuild the database using the internal Microsoft rebuild functions (accessed by holding down the Option key when launching) didn't succeed , but I was able to recover everything by round-tripping the corrupt database through Microsoft Outlook Express." Here how:

1. Copy the suspected corrupt "Database" and "Messages" files from the Microsoft Entourage data folder (typically "Documents: Microsoft User Data: Office 2001 Identities: Main Identity" folder) into the Microsoft Outlook Express data folder (typically "Documents: Microsoft User Data: Identity"), replacing the existing "Database" and "Messages" files.
2. Now, launch Outlook Express while holding down the Option key to trigger a database rebuild. This is important because you want Outlook to merge the data from the Entourage database files into the Outlook Express database files. Depending on the size of the files, this can take a bit of time to complete. After the database is rebuilt, Outlook Express will popup an error message and immediately quit. Don't panic, this is normal.
3. Next, move the "Main Identity" folder (the one which you suspect is corrupt) from the "Microsoft User Data: Office 2001 Identities" folder onto the Desktop and re-launch Entourage. Go through the steps to create a dummy e-mail account, but in step 4 of the Setup Assistant choose "Import information from my e-mail program", and then "Outlook Express" in step 5. This will import the now clean data from Microsoft Outlook Express and merge it into a Microsoft Entourage database. This can take an exceedingly long time depending on the size of the "Database" and "Messages" files, but will result in clean, corruption free Entourage database files.
4. The final step is to quit Entourage and then copy the "Location Settings", "Mailing Lists", "Preferences", "Rules" and "Signatures" files from the original, corrupted identity folder into the new, uncorrupted "Documents: Microsoft User Data: Office 2001 Identities: Main Identity" folder. Now launch Entourage for the last time and verify that the clients account information is properly entered and that the e-mail and address books appear to be intact.

Note: We have not tried this out to confirm that it works. In any case, it seems a bit odd that the Outlook Express rebuild would work where the Entourage one did not. But if you are desperate, this is worth a shot. Just make sure you have back-up copies of your files.

Update: Caleb replies: "It's not that the Outlook Express rebuild is any better than the Entourage rebuild, rather the purpose is to maintain the integrity of the original files and force Entourage to recreate the database files from scratch. Using Outlook Express to rebuild the suspect files preserves the original database and creates a new copy, except with the Outlook Express type/creator and possibly other slight changes to the internals. This step is necessary in order to 'trick' Entourage into allowing you to re-import the data from the suspect files into new Entourage database files."