Alejandro
01-16-2003, 11:07 AM
Hi people,
I was wondering if there's a program to do this.
My main problem which i see frequently is this OE error message:
Outlook Express can't show this folder.
Possible causes:
* Little free hard disk space
* Little free memory.
(This is a translation)
As i found out through a lot of trial and error, this is not exactly the real cause of the problem. This happens when a folder accumulates too much big messages (2MB and up) elevating the corresponding .dbx file above 150MB or so. When it gets that big, it doesn't matter anymore if you delete them or not. The .dbx file keeps growing in size.
Even if you get rid of all the big ones and keep 5 small messages, it doesn't change anything.
So the only solution i've found to "regenerate" a folder in order for it to be of the real size (which also speeds up OE tremendously when loading the folder and gets rid of the above error message) is this:
1) I start Windows in safe mode, which lets me see the problem folder (i guess because more memory is available).
2) I tell the owner to get rid of the bigger messages, deleting them with Shift key pressed (so they don't go to Deleted items). If they need the attachment, they can save it to HD first. This is a time consuming task, unless the user doesn't care about the big ones.
3) I create temporary folders, for example Inbox2 and Sent2
4) When only the really needed messages are left, i select all and copy them to the temps folders. (This step is really long).
5) I CLOSE OE, and go to the Identity folder (you can see the path in Options > Manteinance > Storage folder)
6) If you compare for example inbox.dbx and inbox2.dbx, you'll see there's a big difference in their sizes, although they have exactly the same messages now.
7) I get the old .dbx out of the Identity folder and move it to another place in case anything goes wrong. Then rename the newly created .dbx to match the old one.
8) When OE is started again, the new will be used instead and the temp one will be generated empty again. If everything is fine, you can get rid both of the temp folder and the big old .dbx file.
This whole process takes a lot of time but works ok. However all this explanation was only to know if there's a program anywhere that automatically "cleans up" the .dbx files. If not, at least i hope this will be useful to someone. ;)
I was wondering if there's a program to do this.
My main problem which i see frequently is this OE error message:
Outlook Express can't show this folder.
Possible causes:
* Little free hard disk space
* Little free memory.
(This is a translation)
As i found out through a lot of trial and error, this is not exactly the real cause of the problem. This happens when a folder accumulates too much big messages (2MB and up) elevating the corresponding .dbx file above 150MB or so. When it gets that big, it doesn't matter anymore if you delete them or not. The .dbx file keeps growing in size.
Even if you get rid of all the big ones and keep 5 small messages, it doesn't change anything.
So the only solution i've found to "regenerate" a folder in order for it to be of the real size (which also speeds up OE tremendously when loading the folder and gets rid of the above error message) is this:
1) I start Windows in safe mode, which lets me see the problem folder (i guess because more memory is available).
2) I tell the owner to get rid of the bigger messages, deleting them with Shift key pressed (so they don't go to Deleted items). If they need the attachment, they can save it to HD first. This is a time consuming task, unless the user doesn't care about the big ones.
3) I create temporary folders, for example Inbox2 and Sent2
4) When only the really needed messages are left, i select all and copy them to the temps folders. (This step is really long).
5) I CLOSE OE, and go to the Identity folder (you can see the path in Options > Manteinance > Storage folder)
6) If you compare for example inbox.dbx and inbox2.dbx, you'll see there's a big difference in their sizes, although they have exactly the same messages now.
7) I get the old .dbx out of the Identity folder and move it to another place in case anything goes wrong. Then rename the newly created .dbx to match the old one.
8) When OE is started again, the new will be used instead and the temp one will be generated empty again. If everything is fine, you can get rid both of the temp folder and the big old .dbx file.
This whole process takes a lot of time but works ok. However all this explanation was only to know if there's a program anywhere that automatically "cleans up" the .dbx files. If not, at least i hope this will be useful to someone. ;)