Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Outlook Express- import mail folder

Mar 21, 2004 5:31AM PST

Win ME and OE6. I have a backup from last year of my sent items folder in my documents. How do I install or move it to OE so it reads those messages. I deleted the current sent folder. Then sent a copy from my documents to c:/program files outlook express. It's there but OE does not open it, it creates a new sent folder. Thanks,

Rod

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Re:Outlook Express- import mail folder
Mar 21, 2004 6:51AM PST

The article [Q295965] states that when OE is started, some existing folders (Inbox, Sent, and so on) or personal subfolders may be missing and can be caused if the file "Folders.dbx" (the Indexer) is damaged or corrupted. To resolve this issue, rename or simply delete the Folders.dbx file for the impacted identity, and then start OE which rebuilds it.

CAVEAT: The Folders.dbx file keeps track of Active News Group Subscriptions also. Should that matter, do not delete it. If you do, this information will be lost. Again be advised, the file Folders.dbx is the file which categorizes and maintains the default mail Store (in OE, click Options, the Maintenance tab, click Store Folder, and then make a note of the path) and default OE files. If a certain file or folder is moved or copied into the mail Store in lieu of using the correct Import method, the Folders.dbx would not be aware of this change and therefore consider the replaced ?.dbx file or folder as corrupted. To make sure things are in sync when copying or moving files into a mail Store, delete the Folders.dbx file before OE is started to ensure this new file is created accurately. Should the system have asked, "Overwrite . . ."? when the copy or move was performed, anything previously in the overwritten one was lost.

- Collapse -
Re:Re:Outlook Express- import mail folder
Mar 21, 2004 7:33AM PST

Ok thanks but I did not want to lose that information. I did fix the problem. After I deleted the new sent folder, I put the backup sent folder in it's place. Then repaired IE with a reboot. It correctly linked the folder to OE. All is well.

Thanks again, Rod

- Collapse -
Glad to hear, but . .
Mar 21, 2004 8:35PM PST
but I did not want to lose that information.

What would you have lost?
- Collapse -
Re:Glad to hear, but . .
Mar 22, 2004 1:29AM PST

Well I don't know what I would have lost, if anything. The news groups for sure but that wasn't a big deal. It's what I don't know that gets me every time. The folders.dbx was not a problem though since I got the sent.dbx folder in place with everything working.
I was hesitant about going the route on the link you sent because it addressed Win 98 users and didn't mention win ME. At any rate all is well and I do appreciate all the help you all give, reguardless if I choose to use it or not.

Thanks,
Rod