Compacting oe files

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JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Compacting files in OE. Thread starter JohnO Start date Feb 16, Status This thread has been Locked and is not open to further replies. The original thread starter may use the Report button to request it be reopened but anyone else with a similar issue should start a New Thread. Watch our Welcome Guide to learn how to use this site.

JohnO Thread Starter. Joined Aug 28, Messages I don't really know when this started, but when I click on "Compact all folders" the box with the progress bar just flashes on screen for a moment. It seems to me the box used to stay on screen and the progress bar moved across, but I may be wrong. What is "normal" if there is such a thing with MS? EAFiedler Retired Moderator. Joined Apr 25, Messages 14, Hi JohnO The flashing and disappearing would be normal if you have a small amount of messages.

If you used to run Windows 98 and have moved to Windows XP with a faster processor, the speed at which the compacting is done is significantly faster. One way to check if the compaction has truly run through all the folders, is to check the size of the Folders. Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no folders are open. File Folder Compact all folders. Don't touch anything until the compacting is completed.

If you get it the habit of compacting before the th closing, i. Was this reply helpful? Yes No. Subscribe to Confident Computing! Less frustration and more confidence, solutions, answers, and tips in your inbox every week. OE stores emails in a text file — one per mailbox. That makes it a huge file but still readable through any text editor program independent of OE. The database is basically index that keeps tab on where each email begin among other information.

This index often gets corrupted. But is recoverable. I have in the past just deleted the index file and OE would create a new more clean index. When you delete a message, OE marks the email in the big text file with a flag. So a deleted message is still recoverable from the text file by just changing the flag back to the undeleted mail flag. The trade off for doing all this is that the files need to be reorganzed more often than with other programs. I would not suggest handling the OE files unless you know what you are doing.

But then my suggestion is to take a backup of the OE mail folders. If things go from bad to worse, get the data back from the backup and you are no worse of than you started. My reason also includes security. Many spam bots target the Outlook express mailing list. At all. I too have many customers using OE and a few have complained it loses their emails during the compacting process.

I have a greater issue with Tunderbird though. To export back to something else, especially Outlook, is an extreme hassle. Buyer Beware when going to Thunderbird! Yes, this is a very strange affair since, like the post by Cindy R. Yet the message to compact came up suddenly, without warning, asking me to compact the database. I have tens of thousands of emails stored in many folders, several levels deep.

I do compact the DB every so often, but have never had a problem. I do make regular backups, of course, but have never needed them. Desktop search engines access OE several times a day; at accesses OE sends the compact message. It resets the OE counter to zero.

Outlook Express is tempramental, but like all wild animals it is easily handled if it is managed well. My guide is less than 1, messages per folder. If the compact process is interupted, there is a V. For recovery, theres a good free extractor called DBXtract. Conversation Clean Up can remove those redundant messages automatically. For more information, see Use Conversation Clean Up to delete redundant messages. You can search for all messages larger than a specific size from Outlook's Search box.

This will find all messages larger than 5 MB. You can delete some or all of these messages or move them to another Outlook Data File. For more information on moving items, see Move or copy a message between folders.

If you delete items from an Outlook Data File. You can also use the following steps to manually start the compact process immediately, which may take several minutes to complete. Delete any items that you do not want to keep and empty the Deleted Items folder. On the Data Files tab, click the data file that you want to compact, and then click Settings. Note : If you are using an Exchange or Outlook. The Mailbox Cleanup tool is used to view the size of your mailbox and individual folders.

You can also archive older items to an archive Outlook Data File. You can also manually start the compact command immediately. It might take several minutes to compact an Outlook Data File. Click Account Settings , and then click Account Settings. You can use the Mailbox Cleanup tool, which allows you to view the size of your mailbox and individual folders. You can also archive older items to an archive Personal Folders file.

On the Tools menu, click Mailbox Cleanup. If you delete items from a Personal Folders file.