Ok, I am going batty here because Microsoft Outlook Express Compacted my messages to save space and now they are gone. I tried to do a system restore to a previous date, the folders and messages are still not there. I tried to import messages from the default store directory and it says it can't access them because they are in use by outlook express or another program. Many of my folders where I store my mail are gone along with the messages themselves. I don't recall this happening before when I allowed it to compact. Any ideas ? I have lost alot of important data here and any help you can offer would be great !

I done a quick google, try this site for a recovery. http://www.oemailrecovery.com/outlook-express-repair.html I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as the fly by.

Tried half a dozen recovery tools. Strangest thing. Even after the error, one third of my local folders are there, as if they weren't affected and I can still check the saved messages etc. (the ones not affected are simply the ones at the beginning, alphabetically to c) However, for the others, I can see them when I go to the outlook express storage folder manually by searching through C: (not in the actual application), they do in fact have a file size of a certain number of kilobytes or megabytes. The recovery programs can see them. However, when I go to recover, nothing happens. It can see the file, and scan it, but the file comes up as empty, as containing nothing. When I scan the folders that weren't affected they show their saved emails no problem. Any ideas ? I am stumped and annoyed. Many thanks. Weasyl

try this site for your problem, it's similar to this one but with more people to ask. www.tek-tips.com you'll ned to create an account, find the forum for email and post your message. I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as the fly by.

I'll give it a shot. Thanks for all your help. If I find an answer I'll post here perhaps.