Entourage losing everything (Contacts, emails, setup)

N

Nick_Bowers

Processor: Intel
Email Client: pop

Hi,
Im a school technician, we have only a few mac laptops at the moment as we are trialling them to see how they go in a windows server environment.

Anyway one of the teachers laptop keeps loosing everything in entourage, we re-configure it, add contacts again then soon they are gone. Its happened 4 times in the last 3 weeks.

Anyone know what could be causing this? how can i stop it?

Cheers,
Nick
 
D

Diane Ross

[email protected] said:
Anyway one of the teachers laptop keeps loosing everything in entourage, we
re-configure it, add contacts again then soon they are gone. Its happened 4
times in the last 3 week
Click to expand...

Is this a POP account only?

Usually, when Entourage starts up with a new blank database it's user error.
Entourage stores all it's data in an Identity folder. I would look for
either the Microsoft User Data folder or the Identity folder. The default
Identity is named "Main" by default.

~/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2008 Identities

Basics:
Entourage expects the Microsoft User Data folder to be in your Documents
folder. For OS X users, that's the Documents folder in your User's folder.

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 (under Entourage in the Menu bar) and see if your old
identity is still listed.

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.
 
N

Nick_Bowers

Hi,
the user did not move anything for starters. I am pretty sure that when in entourage nothing appears. No accounts, nothing at all. When im at the latop ill look at ~/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2008 Identities

Cheers
 
E

Ed Kimball

Hi,
the user did not move anything for starters. I am pretty sure that when in
entourage nothing appears. No accounts, nothing at all. When im at the latop
ill look at ~/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2008 Identities

Cheers
Click to expand...

It is very likely that the user either moved or deleted something because
s/he didn't know what it was for, didn't like where it was stored, or didn't
like the amount of storage it was using.

Entourage's "helpful" practice of creating a new blank identity when it
can't find one in the expected location, without any notification that it is
doing so, has caused a great deal of confusion.
 
G

Guest

Hi,
Nothing was deleted, i can tell you that. The teacher is pretty good with computers and knows not to delete things like that, and has assured us that they ran no utilities or done anything to gain speed or space.

What could have caused it if it haddent been deleted?

Many thanks,
Nick
 
D

Diane Ross

Nothing was deleted, i can tell you that. The teacher is pretty good with
computers and knows not to delete things like that, and has assured us that
they ran no utilities or done anything to gain speed or space.

What could have caused it if it haddent been deleted?
Click to expand...

Accidents happen and you might never know. Other than user error, the only
other causes of missing data like this for a POP account is the database is
quarantined by virus software and/or installing an update (not necessarily
Microsoft Office) caused the folder to go missing.
 
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