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Outlook Exp 6 has outbox holding and resending e-mail -- Help!

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run3ft

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Jun 20, 2006, 10:52:23 PM6/20/06
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Outlook Express is holding my sent amil in outbox and resending how do
I stop this other than deleteing contents of outbox each time I send
mail?

Bruce Hagen

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Jun 20, 2006, 11:00:33 PM6/20/06
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Delete the Outbox and repeat for Sent Items if the problem remains. Move any
mail you wish to save to a local folder you create first.

Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store Folder will reveal the location of
your Outlook Express files. Press the Tab key to highlight the folder
location, then Ctrl+C. Close OE, then Start | Run | Ctrl+V will put the
location in the box - Click OK and you'll see the OE files. Otherwise, write
the location down and navigate to it in Windows Explorer.

In Windows XP, 2K & 3K, the OE user files (DBX and WAB) are by default
marked as hidden. To view these files in Windows Explorer, you must enable
Show Hidden Files and Folders under Start | Control Panel | Folder Options |
View.

With OE closed, find the DBX file for the folder in question {Outbox.dbx}
and delete it. A new one will be created automatically when you open OE.

General advice for Outlook Express:

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually become
corrupt. Create your own user defined folders for storing mail and move your
mail to them. Empty Deleted Items folder regularly. Keep user created
folders under 100MB, and Default folders as empty as is feasible.

After you are done, follow up by compacting your folders manually while
working *offline* and do it often.

Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no folders are
open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online in the
Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch anything until
the compacting is completed.

Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a redundant layer
of protection that eats up CPUs and causes a multitude of problems such as
time-outs and account setting changes. Your up-to-date A/V program will
continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3

In Tools | Options | Maintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in background and
leave it unchecked. {N/A if running XP/SP2}.
--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"run3ft" <run...@mchsi.com> wrote in message
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run3ft

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Jun 20, 2006, 11:17:37 PM6/20/06
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Thanks Bruce I got e-mails copied to another folder then I deleted both
outbox and sent and it worked great. Then I tried to put the old sent
folder back and it happened again. Is there anyway I can retrieve my
old sent messages and maybe put them in another folder?

Chuck

Bruce Hagen

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Jun 20, 2006, 11:23:44 PM6/20/06
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Not sure of the question. Where did you move the messages in Sent Items to
before you deleted it?

If you read the entire reply:

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually become
corrupt. Create your own user defined folders for storing mail and move your
mail to them. Empty Deleted Items folder regularly. Keep user created
folders under 100MB, and Default folders as empty as is feasible.

--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"run3ft" <run...@mchsi.com> wrote in message

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run3ft

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Jun 20, 2006, 11:35:20 PM6/20/06
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I created another folder on my c drive and moved just the old sent
folder to there.

run3ft

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Jun 20, 2006, 11:36:52 PM6/20/06
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I moved remaining mail to a file that I associated with OE

Bruce Hagen

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Jun 20, 2006, 11:46:06 PM6/20/06
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Don't move the folder, only the messages. Create a folder in the OE folder
tree. Highlight one message in Sent Items | Ctrl+A will highlight them all |
Right click on the messages and | Move to folder and select the one you
created. *Leave the messages there*. Do not try to put them back in the new
Sent Items folder. Make sure you had OE closed when you deleted the dbx
files for the Outbox and Sent Items.

--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"run3ft" <run...@mchsi.com> wrote in message

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run3ft

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Jun 21, 2006, 12:16:31 AM6/21/06
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Bruce worked like a charm! Thanks. Just a couple more quick ones I
hope. Is there anyway to disable the do you want to compact your files
message that comes up each time I close out of OE? I am on XP.
Then some time this week OE asked to archive or compact and we lost 2
years of old sent mail. Where did those e-mails go? This is my wifes
computer and we didnt understand that those files should not have
gotten so big there were possibly 5,000 e-mails total in there. I
transfered 2800 from sent to another file from your message below.

Chuck

Bruce Hagen

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Jun 21, 2006, 12:21:41 AM6/21/06
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You lost the messages because of the size of the folders.

Why does OE insist on compacting folders when I close it?:
http://www.insideoe.com/faqs/why.htm#compact

Compacting your folders periodically is a must to keep OE functioning well
and at some point, you may lose all your saved messages if you don't. When
you delete messages, they are only marked for deletion and the space they
had used, remains until you compact, or the space is eventually overwritten.
See:
www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#2

With SP2, automatic background compacting was removed due to problems it
caused. Now you will get a prompt to compact after 100 OE closings, which
you should do and don't touch anything until it has finished. See this for
more information:
http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm#compact

To keep things running smooth, and for faster compacting:

Do not archive mail in default OE folders. They will eventually become

corrupt and you may lose mail. Create your own user defined folders for

storing mail and move your mail to them. Empty Deleted Items folder
regularly. Keep user created folders under 100MB, and Default folders as
empty as is feasible.

And this is a very good option:

Steve Cochran has added a button in his new version of OE Tool that will not
only Compact All Folders, but at the same time, resets the "Compact Check
Count" to zero whenever you compact manually. You will see the prompt again
if you do not compact before 100 closings.

http://www.oehelp.com/OETool/

You should still check: Work Offline before you compact.

And backup often.

Backup and Restore:

http://www.insideoutlookexpress.com/backup/

http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx

http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx


--
Bruce Hagen
MS MVP - Outlook Express
~IB-CA~

"run3ft" <run...@mchsi.com> wrote in message

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Ron Sommer

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Jun 21, 2006, 6:33:16 AM6/21/06
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OE uses dbx files, but will not open a dbx file if you click on one dbx
file.
The OE store folder contains a dbx file for every message folder in OE plus
folders.dbx, pop3uidl.dbx, and offline.dbx.
When OE displays the folder list, it uses folders.dbx to show the folders
used in that Identity.
If you open the Inbox folder in OE, OE uses inbox.dbx.
File, Open in OE opens a folder or a message.
It doesn't open a dbx file.

If you corrupt a dbx file by trying to open with another program, you could
lose all messages in that file.
The safest is to have no program associated with dbx files.

--
Ron Sommer

"run3ft" <run...@mchsi.com> wrote in message

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run3ft

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Jun 22, 2006, 9:50:56 AM6/22/06
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Thanks everyone for the help!
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