Entourage will no longer start

N

Neal Katz

Uh ohhhhh.

I was working in Entourage last night, shut it down when I went to bed, and
this morning it would no longer start up. I get an error to the effect of
"An error occurred while launching. The end of file was reached." (Okay, not
"to the effect of" - this is the actual wording of the message and the only
button is "OK").

I see that my Messages file is up to 1.99 gigs, which, I assume, is the
issue. But how can I access it now to delete messages and generally weed
stuff out so that I can use it again and back up what's left? I can't afford
to lose ALL of those messages....

Neal
 
D

Diane Ross

I was working in Entourage last night, shut it down when I went to bed, and
this morning it would no longer start up. I get an error to the effect of
"An error occurred while launching. The end of file was reached." (Okay, not
"to the effect of" - this is the actual wording of the message and the only
button is "OK").
Click to expand...

The file that has reached it's end is often the preferences file. Move the
'Microsoft' folder out of your local preferences folder and try again. If
this fails, "end of file" means the file is too corrupted to rebuild.

To rebuild hold down option key when starting Entourage. Try the typical
rebuild first. For details on rebuilding see

I see that my Messages file is up to 1.99 gigs, which, I assume, is the
issue. But how can I access it now to delete messages and generally weed
stuff out so that I can use it again and back up what's left? I can't afford
to lose ALL of those messages....
Click to expand...

You didn't bother to mention which version of Entourage you were using.

Entourage 2001 has a limit of 2 GB on both the Database and Messages file.
It does not handle this limit very gracefully, so you may experience data
loss if you hit it.

The latest Entourage X has a 4 GB limit on the Database file (there is no
Messages file), and you will be warned as you near the limit. As you finally
get close enough, it will force you to compact your database. You'd have to
work really hard to lose data with Entourage X.

Note: You must use the 10.1.2 updater from MacTopia to get that 4 GB size
plus warnings. The earliest release version of Entourage X did not have
those features. Regardless, it is advised that you should update to 10.1.2
(or latest) in any case.
 
E

Eneskay

The file that has reached it's end is often the preferences file. Move the
'Microsoft' folder out of your local preferences folder and try again. If
this fails, "end of file" means the file is too corrupted to rebuild.
Click to expand...

When you say "local preferences" folder, are you referring to the
Preferences Folder within the System Folder? (As you pointed out I neglected
to mention a few key things - I'm using Entourage 2001 on OS 9.2.2 on this
particular machine.)

You didn't bother to mention which version of Entourage you were using.

Entourage 2001 has a limit of 2 GB on both the Database and Messages file.
It does not handle this limit very gracefully, so you may experience data
loss if you hit it.
Click to expand...

Well, then it's certainly that 2 GB limit I've bumped up against. I'm glad
to hear that Entourage X finally gives you warning when you're approaching
the limits because it's truly disheartening to have no warning at all before
*POOF!*.....all your old messages are toast. Love your phrasing there, by
the way - not very gracefully, indeed! (^_^)

While inconvenient, I can certainly reinitialize things and create a new
identity, import my old rules and signatures and recreate my old folder
structure. But tell me - do you know of a way for me to reclaim the messages
trapped in that 1.99 GB mail folder?

Thanks, again!

Yours,
Neal
 
E

Eneskay

Okay, further to this:

I'm working from the assumption that you mean the Microsoft folder in System
Folder>Preferences, I moved that to the trash and made my original (and, for
the moment, at least, unusable) Identity the startup Identity. Then, I
restarted Entourage 2001.

While I got essentially the same error message as before, it appeared this
time as coming from the little Microsoft Assistant window (that oh-so-cute
animated Mac character) whereas before I'd been getting the message in a
Mac-standard dialogue window. I hope I'm describing that well enough that
you'll know what I mean.

Same message, though. So, I restored the Microsoft folder to the Preferences
folder, made my new Identity the startup Identity once again so that I'll be
able to receive and send emails and here I am once again.

Since my mail folder structure and all messages appear to be part of the
Messages file, I've tried moving that 1.99 GB file into the newly-minted
Identity's folder but, needless to say, this has NOT resulted in my being
able to access the emails contained therein.

Is there anything else I can try before I just have to give up?

Hopefully,
Neal
 
D

Diane Ross

Since my mail folder structure and all messages appear to be part of the
Messages file, I've tried moving that 1.99 GB file into the newly-minted
Identity's folder but, needless to say, this has NOT resulted in my being
able to access the emails contained therein.
Click to expand...

Since you can open the "full" identity, I suggest you do the following:

If you drag a folder to the desktop from the Entourage folder window, it
will create an MBOX file. You can then switch Identities in Entourage and
drag that file into the folder window. You will need to do this for
subfolders too.

Once you are sure you have the messages in the new identity, you can then
delete them from the full one that is causing problems.

You could just use the new identity as an archive for your old mail and
switch over to it when you need to search for older info stored there. This
should allow you to continue using your current identity.

Other ways to reduce your database:

€ clear newsgroups cache
€ remove attachments from sent mail
€ remove attachments from incoming mail

Details can be found here:

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/database.html#Anchor-Reduce-17304>
 
E

Eneskay

Since you can open the "full" identity, I suggest you do the following:

If you drag a folder to the desktop from the Entourage folder window, it
will create an MBOX file. You can then switch Identities in Entourage and
drag that file into the folder window. You will need to do this for
subfolders too.

Once you are sure you have the messages in the new identity, you can then
delete them from the full one that is causing problems.

You could just use the new identity as an archive for your old mail and
switch over to it when you need to search for older info stored there. This
should allow you to continue using your current identity.

Other ways to reduce your database:

€ clear newsgroups cache
€ remove attachments from sent mail
€ remove attachments from incoming mail

Details can be found here:

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/database.html#Anchor-Reduce-17304>
Click to expand...


Oh. No, actually. I haven't been able to open Entourage using that Identity
or to switch to it after getting the app running. I dragged the old Identity
out of the Microsoft User Data folder (to the desktop) and started up
Entourage that way....creating a new Identity in the process. Then, I tried
dragging elements from the old Identity's folder into the new Identity - the
Rules transferred just fine (except that the folder structure they were
looking for was missing) and Signatures came over just fine but the Messages
file doesn't get read by the new Identity and the Database seems to be what
hangs everything up.

Since I can't start the old Identity, I can't drag the folders from the
folder list onto the desktop to create MBOXes - I've only been dragging
around the single, huge Messages file from the Identity folder.

Neal
 
D

Diane Ross

Oh. No, actually. I haven't been able to open Entourage using that Identity
or to switch to it after getting the app running. I dragged the old Identity
out of the Microsoft User Data folder (to the desktop) and started up
Entourage that way....creating a new Identity in the process. Then, I tried
dragging elements from the old Identity's folder into the new Identity - the
Rules transferred just fine (except that the folder structure they were
looking for was missing) and Signatures came over just fine but the Messages
file doesn't get read by the new Identity and the Database seems to be what
hangs everything up.
Click to expand...
The full message file will not open any better in a new identity than it
would from an old one since it's full.

Unless you have an old copy of our database that's smaller, I don't you'll
be able to recover your messages.
 
P

Paul Berkowitz

I'm working from the assumption that you mean the Microsoft folder in System
Folder>Preferences, I moved that to the trash and made my original (and, for
the moment, at least, unusable) Identity the startup Identity. Then, I
restarted Entourage 2001.

While I got essentially the same error message as before, it appeared this
time as coming from the little Microsoft Assistant window (that oh-so-cute
animated Mac character) whereas before I'd been getting the message in a
Mac-standard dialogue window. I hope I'm describing that well enough that
you'll know what I mean.

Same message, though. So, I restored the Microsoft folder to the Preferences
folder, made my new Identity the startup Identity once again so that I'll be
able to receive and send emails and here I am once again.

Since my mail folder structure and all messages appear to be part of the
Messages file, I've tried moving that 1.99 GB file into the newly-minted
Identity's folder but, needless to say, this has NOT resulted in my being
able to access the emails contained therein.

Is there anything else I can try before I just have to give up?
Click to expand...

In Entourage 2001, there's also a Preference file in the individual identity
folder(s) within /Documents/Microsoft User Data/ Office 2001 Identities.
usually your identity will be "Main Identity" or whatever you might have
changed its name to. Remove the Preferences file in the "Main Identity" or
other identity folder.

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP Entourage
Entourage FAQ Page: http://www.entourage.mvps.org/toc.html

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Entourage you are using - 2001 or X.
It's often impossible to answer your questions otherwise.
 
E

Eneskay

In Entourage 2001, there's also a Preference file in the individual identity
folder(s) within /Documents/Microsoft User Data/ Office 2001 Identities.
usually your identity will be "Main Identity" or whatever you might have
changed its name to. Remove the Preferences file in the "Main Identity" or
other identity folder.
Click to expand...


Yeah, I know. I tried ditching that Preferences file, as well. I also tried
ditching the Internet Preferences file in System Folder>Preferences.

No dice.

If I were able to reduce the size of the Database file.....would that allow
me to use the old Identity and give me access to those emails? I heard a
nasty little rumour that one could edit the Database file in another app
(BBedit, perhaps?). I have plenty of space to duplicate that file so I could
work on it without damaging the original any further....

Neal
 
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