-=PCTechTalk=- Email Folder Weaknesses WAS: outlook express problems, new

Thanks for adding that Gman.  The one dbx file in your message store that 
could really mess things up is the folders.dbx file.  That file stores all 
the folder names and their locations.  OE will use that to re-create dbx 
files that you delete and still have an active folder in your OE folder 
tree.

About compacting:

If you never delete a message from a given folder, you never have to compact 
it.

If a folder will not compact, it may be too large.  Archive (move to a 
different folder) or delete some of the messages to fix it.

Do not allow OE to automatically compact or to compact in the background 
unless you first insure you are offline and will stay offline (or at least 
NOT send/receive mail) during the entire process.

Before compacting, go through each folder and delete or archive your 
messages.

Even the deleted items folder needs to be compacted.  If it is pretty full 
and the dbx file size is 22,634 KB and you empty the folder, the file is 
STILL 22,634 MB in size until it is compacted or deleted from the message 
store and re-created by OE.

If you have a folder that is really huge and you have deleted a few thousand 
messages, it may be faster to archive the remaining messages and then simply 
delete the dbx file (close OE, Navigate to the message store, find the file, 
delete it, launch OE) rather than tie up OE for a VERY long time compacting. 
OE will re-create the folder.

Folder weakness:

One folder that can really cause some embarrassment if it gets too full is 
the Sent Items folder.

If you direct OE to keep copies of sent messages it will eventually get too 
full unless you relocate or delete some messages.  When it gets too full, it 
will stop accepting any more sent messages.

In that event, since OE cannot copy to the folder, it will leave a copy in 
the OUTBOX where it will get sent over and over and over until you get an 
angry message from someone that has received 43 copies of the same message.

Your turn:

If you have uncovered a specific weakness in an OE folder please share it 
and the way to fix or prevent it.

Don


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "GMan" <gman.pctt@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 8:22 PM
Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: outlook express problems, new


>I will also add that, as far as fragility is concerned, it matters not
> whether your personal folders are 'inside' or 'outside' of the default
> folders.  Each individual folder, regardless of location, is represented 
> by
> a single DBX file inside OE's store folder on your hard drive.  As a 
> result,
> if the Inbox becomes corrupted, it will NOT negatively affect any 
> subfolders
> under it.  It just means that the Inbox.dbx file is corrupted and will 
> need
> to be dealt with accordingly.


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