MS Outlook ate all my emails for the last 1.5 years!

[FloridaPat]

I can't believe this program. Seems MS hides the mail files so well it took me 2 hours to find them. They are hidden on purpose so no one will play with them. And there is a special place to unhide them, not the ususal place where all other files can be unhide! I've been working with this program for over 10 years. This week it decided to compress my mail files. Didn't ask me. Didn't tell me. Did bother to backup the files before it started. Then off it goes, compacts the files and deletes 99 percent of my emails. Anyone know of a class action law suit for this?

[Old and In the Way]

1. Are you sure they aren't archived?

Do a search on archive.pst....you should find them there. Or click on "archive folders" in the folder list pane...they should be there.

BTW, I back all my e-mails to an external hard drive...just in case.

[FloridaPat]

3. How do I get to the folder list pane?

As for backups, my laptop stopped talking to my external backup drive a coupleof months ago. And because Miscrosoft hides the email databases and you have to unhide two "hide" buttons, it took a very long time to find them. I had thought I backed them up ages ago, but as far as I know hidden files don't get backed-up. And I have never had Outlook start compressing on it's own. I looked for the pst files when I found out they existed and so far can't find them. A search on the internet showed a lot of people have had this happen. The lack of pst files is a small bug they're working on some year.

[Old and In the Way]

5. Under "view", checkmark 'Folder List'

You should see a directory tree in the LH pane. At the top of the tree, there should be an 'Archive Folder', click on the "+" box and you should see the various folders available in archive including InBox, sent, etc. Check your Data File Management under File for your settings on this function.

You can do a search to locate the archive.pst and drag and drop (copy) to another back up folder for "just in case" instances where you might lose your C drive.

Hope that helps.

[jayfish]

2. I'm Sorry, But It Just Doesn't Work Like That.

Computer software doesn't have any magic properties that allow it to do things on its own. The archive process for Outlook is the same as it has been for the last ten years. What have you been doing differently? You (and computer users in general, need to take more responsibility for your usage habits and stop blaming software developers.

Jay

[youspeakmylanguage]

4. WRONG

With Microsoft software it DOES work like that.

My Outlook 2003 at work deleted an entire months worth of emails without any input from my keyboard or mouse. Our network admin, who is certified out the wazoo on Microsoft products, couldn't find a single trace of the emails on our network or my computer. He couldn't find a trace of anything even being deleted. They simply vanished. Remarkable.

Microsoft software is so riddled with bugs, security holes, and sh*t code that I can't believe their market share is still as dominant as it is, but even that is more a testament to the inability of the average desktop user to even explore software and OS alternatives than the Microsoft products themselves. I have to use their crap at work, but their software will never again touch my home computer unless tightly controlled and limited through a Linux-based emulator.

FloridaPat: I use web-based Gmail for my personal email, but if you can switch, Pegasus Mail is a good Windows-based alternative that comes highly recommended.

[jayfish]

6. Your Admin Needs To Find Another Line Of Work.

He is lying to cover his fuck-up. Sorry, certified up the wazoo or not, he needs to find another job.

Jay

[youspeakmylanguage]

7. LOL

He is more than capable with Microsoft products, or as capable as someone can be managing garbage proprietary software with gaping security holes and bugs. He manages a nationwide WAN for a mid-sized corporation.

But hey, you're the expert, right? :rofl:

[jayfish]

8. Actually I Am, But...

your friends skills seems to be on the decline. He went from being certified up the wazoo to more than capable. Too bad for him.

Jay

[youspeakmylanguage]

9. A fallacious debater arguing semantics...

Your kind is loved and cherished on message boards throughout the Internet.

It's been a long time since I came across someone who would rather question the qualifications of a professional network admin than admit that a Microsoft software product could, perhaps, have a bug or defect.

Are you typing this from a cubicle in Redmond? Will copying and emailing this to your supervisor earn you a certificate and gold star? Please, let us all know what your motivation is for defending Outlook 2003 against all criticism.

[jayfish]

10. Hmmmm.

Actually I haven't defended anything against criticism. It's just that the OP asked this question 2x. The 2nd posting was a typical boo-hoo end-user sob story about big bad old Microsoft and its' magic e-mail eating software. I hear it every day and 90% of the time it's the users fault. I could care less what software you use. MS software has bugs and hole, but so does everything else. Just don't blame everything under the sun on it. My kind is loved and cherished on message boards throughout the Internet huh? Well I guess I'll never be out of a job then. Especially with people like your admin friend on the case. :woohoo:

[youspeakmylanguage]

11. Last message...

So now you've gone from denying it could have happened, to questioning my friend's knowledge and expertise for not being able to figure out how I screwed it up and caused it to happen, to admitting that it happens 10% of the time but now we're blaming "everything under the sun" (instead of, say, blaming Outlook specifically like we've been doing since the beginning) AND my friend the admin is still an idiot compared to you, oh Grand Master of Redmond.

Your name isn't Bernard Shifman, is it?

Nevermind, this is over. *plonk*

[jayfish]

12. Good, I'm Glad It's Over...

because you don't get what I am saying. Don't blame software for shit that you did. That goes for Windows or Linux or Novell or UNIX or whatever.

[FloridaPat]

14. Thanks. I read a number of messages in forums on the internet

of people having the same problem. Outlook just started up on it's own and deleted everything. I write software. My stuff asks before it deletes or moves data. Almost every software package I've ever seen does that. Microsoft is highly annoying.

[hobbit709]

13. The first thing

I learned about Windoze is never save anything you want to keep in the default settings. I hate "My Documents" etc. I keep everything datawise on my D partition or burn it on Cd or DVD if its long term data storage.
I've been playing with computers since the old Altair kits.