Where does Outlook Express store local folders? (5)

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This question concerns OE 5 running under Win2K. I use OE only infrequently, at home, to access newsgroups and to download mail from my old Mindspring dialup account. Most of the time I’m using Outlook 2000 to access my Cox cable account. When I fired up OE last night to download two month’s worth of accumulated spam, I found that all my local folders (saved mail, etc.) are gone. I don’t remember whether I reinstalled OE in the interim. Before I give up on recovering those saved messages, I’d like to see if there’s any file on my hard disk that might contain this stuff. Is there an equivalent in OE-land to Outlook’s .pst file that I can search for? Many thanks, in advance, for any enlightenment you can provide.

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search for *.dbx. each oe folder is a separate file.

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Mary,

Many thanks for your quick reply. Unfortunately for me, it’s pretty clear that the data are just gone. At least now I can stop agonizing about it and get on with life. Thanks again.

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Hi John
If you’ve done the search that Mary suggests and there are no .dbx files, you’re probably right. However, try looking here :
Documents and Settings{Computer Name}Local SettingsApplication DataIdentities{Identity CLSID}MicrosoftOutlook Express

In Win 2k this is the only place they’re found (ignore all other Application Data folders). It may be that your search somehow was not specific enough to get to the correct folder. Possibly.

ps If you’ve re-installed/updated IE, this will update OE as well, but I have to say, it does not usually wipe out all traces of your previous installation. Do you have the option to keep a copy of mail on your server?

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Sorry if my reply to Mary wasn’t clear enough. I found the .dbx files just fine, but they contain only the folders and data that OE displays. It’s as if the lost folders were actually deleted on purpose from within OE itself (which they weren’t). Life is cruel.

John.

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I have found it useful to change the location for the OE folders through Options>Maintenenance>Store Folder and redirect it to a folder on a separate partition from the O/S. That way I don’t lose anything, short of a complete hard drive failure.

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I have Outlook Express V 4.72.3612.1700 (with IE 4.01 SP2 [V 4.72.3612.1713] and Windows 95). Is there a way to change the location of the OE 4 Mail folder? I see no obvious analog to the easy OE 5 procedure.

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Not so familiar with OE4. Have you tried upgrading it? Don’t know if Microsoft offer a downloadable upgrade, but it might be worth having a look. Alternatively, you could try switching to somenthing like Eudora, if you want a more flexible/powerful email program. Most cover discs (eg PCPlus) will have something. It’s very easy to choose a folder to save mail with Eudora, as it’s part of the setup process. I think it can do all sorts of other things as well, but cover discs don’t come with manuals, so I haven’t really figured them out!

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