Linda & Dian Thanks for both your replies. The corrupted file is 200MB in size so I don't think Dian's suggested method is relevant. I cannot open the old pst file the way Linda suggests (or any other way). I could before but now (maybe because there is a new pst file?) it won't open. I get a message that there is no access to this file. Maybe it is write protected. Linda you are correct in your assumption that the problem wasn't (or isn't) caused by the pst file. In may happiness in being able to download mail because of the new pst file, I didn't even check the Incredimail. After your reply, I tried it and the problem of the inability to download mail still exits. The Incredimail can send mail but not receive. So the cause of the problem has not yet been found. All I have done is made a workaround. Now I really need help! Errol -----Original Message----- From: mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Linda F. Johnson Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2003 5:02 PM To: mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [mso] Re: a long sad tale Errol...did you try opening the old pst in Outlook? In Outlook's File Menu, choose Open>Personal Folder File (in OL2k) or Outlook Data File (in OL2k2). If you can get it open, you can drag and drop the mail and folders from the old pst to the new one (using the Folder List)..then, when you've moved what you want, right click on the old one and choose "Close <whatever it's called>". I'm assuming, from what you said, that you can still open this .pst file, but can't download new mail to it. However, if you can't open it, try running the Inbox Repair tool on it and see if you can open it then. The Inbox Repair Tool is a file on your hard drive named scanpst.exe. But, I'm confused as to why fixing your Outlook .pst file would also fix your wife's Incredimail? That makes me think it wasn't really a problem with the .pst file in the first place. Linda F. Johnson, M.A., MOS Linda's Computer Stop http://personal-computer-tutor.com Free e-Books, Newsletter, and tutorials -----Original Message----- From: mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Errol Sapir Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2003 4:02 AM To: mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [mso] a long sad tale Hi All I am now recovering from a traumatic "office" experience.Two days ago my mail didn't come into outlook. The receiving mail said that I had x number of mail and was downloading bit nothing happened. A while later, when trying, the number of letters "received" increased but still nothing was downloaded. It went through all the motions of downloading while taking an exorbitant amount of time. Still no mail in the "inbox". I went to Incredimail which my wife prefers for her mail. There the mail got "stuck" on 1% and refused to move. My IP enables me to get mail as "webmail". There there were no problems. I could read my mail, send mail, delete etc. It seems that only with the"pop" download did I have a problem. Before calling my IP I tried one more thing which worked. I used a "mobile"(for want of a better word) mail program called "Geminisoft Pimmy". Here again I was able to read my mail and do all actions with my mail. I called my IP and was convinced that the problem was on my computer (which I had already concluded myself). I then did everything except format my disk. I uninstalled outlook and incredimail and re-installed them. Did a scandisk and defrag etc.etc. Nothing helped. I then went to the pst file (which on windows xp is buried deep in documents) and tried to "do something" with it - move, copy, save etc. With some of the attempts I got a CRC message. My hard disk is ok so I couldn't understand that one. Eventually I succeeded in re-naming the pst file. I went back into outlook and created a new pst file, obviously without all the settings of the old one. Everything got back to working order. My mail now gets downloaded, I imported my saved address book again. The only thing I really would like to do and can't is read my old mail and get the letters I need from there. Is there any way of doing this? Errol ************************************************************* You are receiving this mail because you subscribed to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or MicrosoftOffice@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To send mail to the group, simply address it to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To Unsubscribe from this group, send an email to mso-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" (without the quotes) in the subject line. Or, visit the group's homepage and use the dropdown menu. This will also allow you to change your email settings to digest or vacation (no mail). //www.freelists.org/webpage/mso To be able to use the files section for sharing files with the group, send a request to mso-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx and you will be sent an invitation with instructions. 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