My boss just returned from vacation, and she has lost all data
(messages, account settings, contacts etc) from Entourage. She is
using Entourage 2001 on Mac OS 9.x on a G3 PowerBook. When she starts
the program, she is prompted to enter account information, as if
starting completely from scratch.
Can anyone please point us in the direction of troubleshooting this?
The usual scenario is that someone moved the Microsoft User Data folder or a
subfolder within it, from where it should be, so Entourage created a new one
and a new identity. But there are other possibilities.
First just go to File/Switch Identities, and see if there's any other
identity sitting there. If so, switch to it. That may bring back the
familiar identity with everything intact.
If not, quit Entourage. Do a Find in the Finder for "Office 2001 Identities"
or "Microsoft User Data". You'll probably find more than one. The one that
isn't in the Microsoft User Data folder in the Documents folder is the one
you want. ***If there are no new messages received or sent in the last few
days that need to be kept, you can simply move the old MUD folder (or old
Office 2001 Identities folder) back to where it should be, replacing.*** But
if any of the new data needs to be preserved, it's more complicated. Rename
the new "Main Identity" subfolder which is in the correct place
(Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2001 Identities/Main Identity) to
something else (e.g. "Temp"), and move the Main Identity folder from the
other location into the right place.
Now open Entourage. If you've opened back into the old familiar identity
with all the old data, File/Switch Identities to the "Temp" identity. Drag
out all messages, contacts, even calendar events, that need to be kept, to
your desktop or a Finder folder. Switch identities back to Main Identity.
Drag in the saved files to make messages, contacts, etc. here. When all
done, and you're sure that no more needs to be salvaged, you can delete the
Temp identity either from within the Switch Identities dialog or simply by
deleting its folder from within Office 2001 Identities. And you can delete
any of the external MUD folder or its contents not needed. Take a look in
the other subfolders first, to see if there's anything else that should be
salvaged by being moved back to the correct location.
--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <
http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <
http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>
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PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.
