View Full Version : Loss of Sent Items in Outlook Express
Help Please
Last week I had a connection problem eventually traced to a duff BT Master Socket, however, while I was at work Mrs NRU used the TalkTalk Helpline to the man in Bombay to try and fix it herself.Result was she's deleted the Sent Items in Outlook Express 6.Talk Talk won't help as they don't now 'support' OE
I've found the .dbx folder [file?] but can't open it, but what I really want to do is put it back into OE. .. and Yes - I have spent ages on Google without success
Anyone help ?-I'm using Windows XP
Gertrude the Wombat
6th Aug 2011, 15:17
Well, you could delete folders.dbx (or whatever it's called) and restart OE. On a good day it'll search for all the .dbx files it can find and show you a flat list of them; you'll have to rearrange the folders how you actually want then nested.
On a bad day that'll lose more stuff for you. So take a backup of the entire message store directory first.
Silly question - are the sent emails not in the 'deleted' folder?
Possibly silly Q2 - do you have any backups?
" " " 3 - are your emails accessible via the web? If so they (recent ones, anyway) should still be there unless you have purged them.
Spurlash2
6th Aug 2011, 18:43
THIS (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/283205)link may be of assistance. Ignore the reinstall bit. Follow steps 1 to 5 in the More Information section.
I guess it's not important right now, Shirley...........
Thanks for the help folks.
Unfortunately I still can't open the folder nor can I, despite your assistance, move it.
Gertrude -I don't want to risk losing the in box as well
BOAC I don't have any back ups and only in incoming e mails are on the server
I'll try again when I get home from work tonight.
Good to see you are still around!
What is in the deleted folder?
Why did Talktalk 'help' your wife if they do not support OE????
What happens when you try to open the folder? What is the message?
If I go to Start/Search/type .dbx I get 18 .dbx folders, one of which is Sent Items C\Documents and Settings\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\ followed by a string of Letters and Numbers. The Folder is 8.41MB
If I Right Click and select 'Read' the caption says 'Adobe Reader can't open Sent Items.dbx either because it's not supported or damaged etc
So, I can't open it, nor move it and open it either eg if I select Shortcut to Desktop I get the same Adobe msg when clicking the desktop icon
Regarding TalkTalk,my wife had been on the Helpline and had been thru' the tick box list of questions - it looks,however, as if she'd managed to reverse the LAN and ADSL connections on the Router at at some stage which may have resulted in the loss of the Outbox.When,later,I asked TalkTalk for help they said they hadn't supported OE since last Dec and that I should use their website for mail
TalkTalk did diagnose the intermittent fault as being the Master phone socket and that is now fixed and everything works except the pre 1/8/11 OE Sent Items are inaccessible
Right -
1) You do NOT use Adobe to open these folders - they are Outlook Express folders.
2) Have you followed THIS from Spurlash's link?
Find this folder - it will be in your Documents and Settings Folder under the relevant username folders.
Windows\Application Data\Identities\hexadecimal_string\Microsoft\Outlook Express
'hexadecimal_sString' means something like
{83281ABB-FA7E-4DA0-867C-2089360CBB7C}Then just copy the WHOLE (yellow) folder with that name to another location as a backup.Do not try to open it, read it or eat it. When that is done, come back and PLEASE tell us what is in the Outlook Express Deleted folder?
I do not understand anything you say your wife did with the 'LAN and ADSL connections' - whatever it was, as far as I know it should not/cannot affect the Outlook Express files.
The reason I used Adobe is because every single one of the eighteen .dbx folders found in searching is prefixed by the Adobe symbol
I can't follow Spurlash's THIS as I don't know how to do step 1
I feel a bit like Homer Simpson looking for the 'any' key but pse tell me how to find 'Windows\Application Data\Identities\hexadecimal_string\Microsoft\Outlook Express'
Obviously I can't tell you what's in the folder as I've never managed to open it
I appreciate your help but I think this is a tad beyond my ability
Spurlash2
9th Aug 2011, 14:25
I think you already have all the bits required to fix this, as you say you have 18 .dbx folders.
Try this:
Copy the Folders and Sent items .dbx folders to your Desktop. The Folders.dbx file ensures that OE recognizes the data when you import the data.
Start Outlook Express, click Import on the File menu, and then click Messages to start the Import Wizard.
In the Select Program dialog box, click Outlook Express as the e-mail program from which to import, and then click Next.
In the next dialog box, click Import mail from an OE store directory, (which in this case will be your desktop) and then click OK.
Locate the temporary location of the .dbx files on your Desktop, and then select the 2 files (Folders and Sent) that you want to import. (Hold down Left mouse button and drag over the 2 files to select both files). Outlook Express should begin to import the old mail and to create or to populate folders.
Make a note of how that goes and let us know.
Saab Dastard
9th Aug 2011, 18:17
File association for *.dbx should be Open, "C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\msimn.exe" "%1"
It sounds like Adobe (what?) hijacked the extension for whatever reason.
If so, I suspect that resetting the file association would help.
SD
Again! What is in the Outlook Express deleted folder?
Regarding 'finding' the folder - you tell us you already have as you have tried to open the files with Adobe!I've found the .dbx folder [file?]
Gertrude the Wombat
9th Aug 2011, 19:45
Still sounds like my original suggestion would work. But of course if people don't want to try it, why bother to tell them the answer ...
NRU74
10th Aug 2011, 06:10
Again! What is in the Outlook Express deleted folder?I just don't know simply because I can't open it.If I go to Start/Search, in the Search Box under Name each of the entries is prefixed by that Adobe Reader three bladed prop icon.Under 'In Folder' the entries are either in My Documents or C;\Documents and Settings.....
Gertrude-please don't get cross - just tell me in the most noddy terms how to take a backup of the entire message store directory first.and I'll try it but I'm wary of screwing up the e mails even more by losing my In Box.
mixture
10th Aug 2011, 07:03
Sounds like you're looking for stuff in hidden folders when you have not got them visible, see here for instructions on how to make them visible (http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial62.html).
and I'll try it but I'm wary of screwing up the e mails even more by losing my In Box.
That's why people have suggested you make a good backup before proceeding any further.
NRU - I'm asking you to confirm the 'missing' emails are not in the Deleted Items folder in the OE window.
WE are getting confused here! First, in post #1, you tell us you have found the dbx files. Now you say you cannot???
NRU74
12th Aug 2011, 06:08
BOAC
They aren't in the 'Deleted Items' in the OE window
The reason I said I'd found them is that if I search I get this list of .dbx files, some of which include the term Sent Items,and which I cannot do anything with.
Thanks to all for your assistance-I think I've got to accept that I've lost them-or at least can't retrieve them.