Entourage just lost all my mail and contacts...

D

deegolden

I've been using several versions of Entourage for 4 or 5 years and
never had any sigificant problems. Today I went to check my mail and
in the middle of downloading the mail Entourage quit. When I
relaunched it, everything was gone...everything. Mail folders,
contacts, events......everthing. You know that "welcome to Entourage"
email you have when you first install and launch Entourage? That's
what it looks like. My mailserver and mail account information is gone
too.

I have read up about rebuilding databases etc....but the Microsoft
User Data folder contains a Mail DB that is only 18MB. I'm pretty
sure that 5 years of email (I save all sent email too) and contacts is
more than 18MB. I'd like to try and rebuild something, but I cannot
even locate the files that appear to have my information.

It's almost like my entire identity was deleted and Entourage is
completely new. Endless googling turns up no simliar scenarios. I
guess I just want confirmation that I really did just loose this
forever - or if there is some way to hack into the information. I'm
most concerned about 5 years worth of contacts.

I'm on OSX 10.4.8 using Entourage 2004 11.1.0

Thanks for any help.

Dee
 
D

Diane Ross

It's almost like my entire identity was deleted and Entourage is
completely new. Endless googling turns up no simliar scenarios. I
guess I just want confirmation that I really did just loose this
forever - or if there is some way to hack into the information. I'm
most concerned about 5 years worth of contacts.
Click to expand...

I'm surprised you didn't find anything on this it's one of the most asked
questions.

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/top_faqs.html>

This is normally a user error (see below), but if the Identity has
disappeared, a possible culprit is your anti-virus application. Some
versions identify a virus within the database and puts your database into
quarantine. You will need to read the directions on how to release.

Check any AV products you are running and, if necessary, exclude the
Microsoft User Data folder from their scans.

ClamXav has an option to move infected files to trash . Be sure to uncheck
this.

Also see this solution in User Experiences where the database is in "lost &
found". <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/user/index.html#user1>

Find Missing database: 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.


--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
One of the top five MS Entourage resources listed on the Entourage Blog.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>
 
D

deegolden

Diane - thanks so much. I actually searched up and down the Entourage
Help Page web site to no avail. I know that I never moved my User
Data folder - so that didn't seem to be an issue. I did through my
research however learn much about how Entourage stores data etc...

You'll probably think this is just some pilot error - and perhaps it
is - but I did my time as a tech support specialist at Apple for 3
years and consider myself in the top tier of mac users...in a totally
humble way. Once you learn how to troubleshoot - you never forget...no
matter the technology. There was a folder called "old" in my User/
Documents folder that had 2 previous copies of my database....one from
each time I got a new machine gauged by the dates...which is strange
anyways - because I always copied the MUD folder to the "correct"
location on my new machines. I copy/pasted that to replace the "new"
18MB DB Entourage created for me and viola - everything was back to
normal. How did my DB get into that folder - shoot - you got me.
Remeber, this stunt happened in the middle of downloading a load of
emails, so it never made sense to me because I never relocated my user
data.....I just figured my HD was farked or Entourage decided it was
going to relocate or erase my old DB.

I'm starting to ramble now, but the bottom line is that I'm very
thankful there is actually a community out there dedicated to helping
support Entourage. I eventually did a spotlight search for "database"
and found the missing files - who would have looked in my "old"
folder????? Perhaps I missed the critical support info because I was
totally psychotic about 5 years of mail and contacts being potentially
gone and I couldn't find the data even though I knew it was on my
stinkin hard drive somewhere.

Needless to say, I'm very much considering going to Apple Mail even
thought I think it sucks. At least it appears to store this
information in a common format that won't get completely corrupted all
at once. I've seen too many Entourage nightmares in searching for a
resolution to my problem.

Frankly, I never considered any kind of maintenance on a email program
- but considering the amount of data - it makes sense now....

Diane - thanks for your time and the energy you put into your work. If
you care to, let me know what you think about Entourage versus
Mail.app for the long term. I'd be willing to stick with Entourage if
I knew there was a dependable and fairly easy way to safeguard against
these or similiar DB corruption issues. I refuse to loose all this
data because the application corrupts itself.

Cheers,
Dee
 
D

Diane Ross

There was a folder called "old" in my User/
Documents folder that had 2 previous copies of my database....one from
each time I got a new machine gauged by the dates..
Click to expand...

Did you locate your most recent database?
Diane - thanks for your time and the energy you put into your work. If
you care to, let me know what you think about Entourage versus
Mail.app for the long term. I'd be willing to stick with Entourage if
I knew there was a dependable and fairly easy way to safeguard against
these or similiar DB corruption issues. I refuse to loose all this
data because the application corrupts itself.
Click to expand...

I've opened Mail a couple of times and it is a poor relation to Entourage.
From what you said about your experience with computers I can't imagine you
being happy with Mail, but that's just my opinion. Yours is what counts.

You could just as easily loose all of your Mail data with a hard drive
failure as you could with an Entourage database failure. Common backup
schedules take care of most scenarios.

Even though Entourage can handle an almost endless amount of mail, it's not
a storage facility. Your car might go 120MPH but you don't drive it that
way. Use Entourage sensibly with a good backup and you'll be OK.

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
One of the top five MS Entourage resources listed on the Entourage Blog.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>
 
D

deegolden

Did you locate your most recent database?
Click to expand...

Yes, I did. It was in the "old" folder along with the other versions
of my DB from years back. It was 1.8 GB in size.

I've opened Mail a couple of times and it is a poor relation to Entourage.
From what you said about your experience with computers I can't imagine you
being happy with Mail, but that's just my opinion. Yours is what counts.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I love the simplistic interface, but there are too many
features missing and I hate the fact that it embeds attachments in the
body of the email. Call it a personal quirk, but I cannot stand that
"feature"...and there is no way to turn it off. I've probably just
been using Outlook/Entourage style email for too many years. Gmail
also gets on my nerves....I like to organize my own mail thank you
very much.
You could just as easily loose all of your Mail data with a hard drive
failure as you could with an Entourage database failure. Common backup
schedules take care of most scenarios.
Click to expand...

I'm aware of that. I back up all my client files and projects weekly -
just never made a big deal about backing up applications, preferences
or the OS. I will be configuring Retrospect to backup my entire hard
drive now.....
Even though Entourage can handle an almost endless amount of mail, it's not
a storage facility. Your car might go 120MPH but you don't drive it that
way. Use Entourage sensibly with a good backup and you'll be OK.
Click to expand...

That's a good word and again, thanks for your help.

Dee
 
D

Diane Ross

Yes, I did. It was in the "old" folder along with the other versions
of my DB from years back. It was 1.8 GB in size.
Click to expand...

This is a strange case. Guess we'll never know how it got there. I lost a
file once that's name had been accidentally changed. It was somehow
highlighted and then renamed something like this: slljldjfsmnetuwuxhs,tjlti.
To top that off, I had trashed the file, but luckily had not emptied the
trash. I've learned not to let two year olds play with my computer AND to
check strange file names out before I trash them. :)

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
One of the top five MS Entourage resources listed on the Entourage Blog.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>
 
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