I'm not sure what to tell you .I just checked my folders and I have mail from over a year ago. I've allowed the compactor to run several times since this those messages were saved. ----- Original Message ----- From: Gerald Levy To: JFW list Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 8:49 AM Subject: Saving Messages In OE Hi listers. What is the maximum number of messages that can be safely saved in a user-defined Outlook Express folder? The reason I am asking this question is that I just noticed that some of the earliest messages in my largest user-defined OE folders have inexplicably disappeared. Are messages automatically deleted from a folder if it has grown too large? Or are messages deleted after they have been saved for a certain period of time? Could the Compact All Folders function possibly delete the oldest messages from some folders? Or am I way off base? Thanks for any explanation. Gerald