Outlook Express folder is missing

When I’m not writing comics or watching terrible films I also work as an IT consultant. Here’s a few things I’ve learned over the last 17 years.

 
Problem:

A user-created folder in Outlook Express is missing, probably deleted.
Solution:

I got a call the other night from a client who was extremely paniced. He keeps business files in an extra folder he created in Outlook Express. When he booted up his computer that day, the folder had vanished. I checked to make sure the folder hadn’t been moved into another folder or hidden, but no luck. It was GONE.

I opened up Tools/ Options/ Maintenance to find the path wher ehe was storing his data files and checked it out. Odd. In addition to the normal .dbx files (where the data and emails are actually stored) there was a .bak file. No sign of the missing folder’s dbx, but that bak file was indeed the right one.

I headed back into Outlook Express and recreated the folder, using the name from the .bak file. Then I closed OE and went back into the data folder, made a copy of the bak file and renamed the extension to dbx.

When we opened OE back up, the files were all back. No data loss whatsoever.

 

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