Listen carefully because no one else is telling you these things!:
1) when the dbx = databases of outlook express reach 2gb in size then
Outlook express crashes and you lose data!!
The way to avoid this is to make new folders along side the inbox and
not INSIDE the inbox, that way each new folder with have its OWN
database file (dbx) so more data will be spread out among more databases
creating more stability!
2) after moving or even deleting emails from outlook express the DBX
files DO NOT SHRINK UNLESS YOU COMPACT THEM!
even if you delete EVERY EMAIL the previous large size remains unless
you compact them!
so do what I said in step 1, create new folders along side the inbox,
outbox etc, and take the emails from the subfolders inside the inbox and
place them there...
then compact everything!
You can back up your dbx folder BEFORE doing all this if you are
afraid..
if you don’t know how, post back and I will tell you!
One of the problems of compacting files are that I have folders under
the
"Inbox" folders and then sub-folders under some of them for
organizational
purposes. The compacting process doesn't handle this well and data is
lost
during the compacting process, thus my reluctance to compact. Is there
something I can do about this issue?
Mike
:
[X-Posted to OE General]
How can you stop it? Let it compact and you won't be bothered for
another
100 closings of OE.
Why does OE insist on compacting folders when I close it?:
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/why.htm#compact
About File Corruption:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/filecorruption.mspx
Compacting your folders periodically is a must to keep OE functioning
well
and at some point, you may lose all your saved messages if you don't.
When
you delete, or move messages, the space they had used remains until
you
compact.
***Never touch anything until the compacting is finished.***
See:
www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#2
With SP2, automatic background compacting was removed due to problems
it
caused. Now you will get a prompt to compact after 100 OE closings,
which
you should do, and don't touch anything until it has finished. If you
compact manually, at your convenience, this will also set the counter
back
to zero. See this for more information:
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm#compact
If you are fully patched, you will also now see a copy of your dbx
files
being copied to the Recycle Bin as BAK files. Should something go awry
when
compacting, the messages can easily be restored from this backup. A
manual
compact will also reset the counter in the registry back to zero now.
For more info, see the information outlined in red here:
www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#2
To keep things running smooth, and for faster compacting:
Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually become
corrupt and you may lose mail. Create your own user defined folders
for
storing mail and move your mail to them. Empty Deleted Items folder
regularly. Keep user created folders under 100MB, and Default folders
as
empty as is feasible.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA
I've reached the point where every time I exit OE I'm asked if I
want to
compact my folders to save space. The answer is, and will be, no.
I have
plenty of space, back up often, and run Outlook Express Quick
Backup. No
sweat.
How can I stop the program from repeatedly asking me if I want to
back up
the folders?
Thanks a million!
Mike