I tried to open Entourage 2004 yesterday and was told my database was
unavailable When I was shunted to the database rebuild utility, I was
given an error "Unable to access database" Unkown error code -5000.
We have many error listed on the Error Page
<
http://www.entourage.mvps.org/error/page.html, but this one is not listed.
If your Microsoft User Data folder or Identities folder were moved the
rebuild process would fail and could result in the error you received.
I have since been able to get Entourage started by deleting the
Microsoft Entourage Preferences, but all my old email, contacts and
everything else from before yesterday is gone. HELP!
Most likely you have accidentally moved your data. Hopefully, you have not
deleted the file. If you have deleted the trash, it's gone. Sorry!
Select Switch Identity and see if your old identity is still listed.
Entourage expects the folder to be in your Documents folder. For OS X users,
that's the Documents folder in your User's folder.
To find your old database, search for "Microsoft User Data" (without the
quotes).
If you have not used a new identity in Entourage, then copy the entire
Microsoft User Data folder to the correct location.
Fix if you have more than one Microsoft User Data Folder...
Move the entire identity folder you want to use to the Office Identities
folder that Entourage is recognizing. Your identity is named "Main" by
default. Be sure to rename one so you do not overwrite. Your identity folder
can contain more than one identity.
Switch Identities to view your old mail. If you have not used the new
identity, delete it. If you have used it and want to combine the new mail
with your original database, drag each folder to the desktop from one
identity. This creates an MBOX file. Switch identities. Drag the MBOX files
into the folder window of Entourage.
You can delete the old folder after you are satisfied with the transfer.
