How to recover folders/messages lost while migrating to Outlook?

[selwyn]

Recently I did an upgrade of Outlook Express and then migrated to Outlook.
Now I find I have lost some important Folders/Messages. How do I recover them?

 

[Gordon]

Recently I did an upgrade of Outlook Express and then migrated to Outlook.
Now I find I have lost some important Folders/Messages. How do I recover
them?

How did you do the "migration" to outlook?

 

[selwyn]

:

Recently I did an upgrade of Outlook Express and then migrated to Outlook.
Now I find I have lost some important Folders/Messages. How do I recover
them?


How did you do the "migration" to outlook?

I followed the Office Online instructions "Import your messages or account
from Outlook Express to Outlook"

 

[Gordon]

:

Recently I did an upgrade of Outlook Express and then migrated to Outlook.
Now I find I have lost some important Folders/Messages. How do I recover
them?


How did you do the "migration" to outlook?

I followed the Office Online instructions "Import your messages or account
from Outlook Express to Outlook"

Unfortunately Office Online, as with so much of MS information, does not
comply with received wisdom. The preferred method for email is to export
FROM Outlook Express TO Outlook. One of the main reasons for this is that
Outlook uses the Modified date of items to perform certain functions,
(archiving amongst them), and using the Import function within Outlook
changes all the Modified dates to the date of import.

Try creating a new Outlook profile, and then in OE, exporting your email to
that. Empty deleted Items Folder and do a "Compact All Folders" first,
before you do the export.

If that works, then use the new Profile and delete the old.

HTH

 

[selwyn]

Unfortunately Office Online, as with so much of MS information, does not
comply with received wisdom. The preferred method for email is to export
FROM Outlook Express TO Outlook. One of the main reasons for this is that
Outlook uses the Modified date of items to perform certain functions,
(archiving amongst them), and using the Import function within Outlook
changes all the Modified dates to the date of import.

Try creating a new Outlook profile, and then in OE, exporting your email to
that. Empty deleted Items Folder and do a "Compact All Folders" first,
before you do the export.

If that works, then use the new Profile and delete the old.

HTH

I am not sure if that will work, because I went back to my OE to check if
the missing Folders/Messages was still there and it wasn't!

Now I am not sure if
1. In the course of the migration it is still lying hidden somewhere either
in OE or Express, or
2. It has got permanently deleted by mistake.

Also funnily I noticed that there are some Folders in My Documents which are
not something I saved... They look like dbx files but I am not sure because I
can't open them.

 

[Gordon]

I am not sure if that will work, because I went back to my OE to check if
the missing Folders/Messages was still there and it wasn't!

Now I am not sure if
1. In the course of the migration it is still lying hidden somewhere
either
in OE or Express, or
2. It has got permanently deleted by mistake.

Also funnily I noticed that there are some Folders in My Documents which
are
not something I saved... They look like dbx files but I am not sure
because I
can't open them.

if you did a compact all folders and you are fully patched in OE then it
would have made a copy of all your folders in the Recycle Bin.
hat are the names of the folders in your Documents folder?

 

[selwyn]

I am not sure if that will work, because I went back to my OE to check if
the missing Folders/Messages was still there and it wasn't!

Now I am not sure if
1. In the course of the migration it is still lying hidden somewhere
either
in OE or Express, or
2. It has got permanently deleted by mistake.

Also funnily I noticed that there are some Folders in My Documents which
are
not something I saved... They look like dbx files but I am not sure
because I
can't open them.

if you did a compact all folders and you are fully patched in OE then it
would have made a copy of all your folders in the Recycle Bin.
hat are the names of the folders in your Documents folder?

A Folder called Outlook Express Deleted Files, with 6 Files called for example "Shortcut to ------[name of the original Folder].dbx"

 

[Brian Tillman]

I am not sure if that will work, because I went back to my OE to
check if the missing Folders/Messages was still there and it wasn't!

Importing from OE or exporting from OE will NOT remove data.

Now I am not sure if
1. In the course of the migration it is still lying hidden somewhere
either in OE or Express, or

I don't think OE hides folders or messages in folders.

2. It has got permanently deleted by mistake.

I'll vote for this choice.

Also funnily I noticed that there are some Folders in My Documents
which are not something I saved... They look like dbx files but I am
not sure because I can't open them.

Neither Outlook nor Outlook Express whould have made these. It you see
them, then you created them somehow.

 

[selwyn]

If that's the case:
1. Is there some way I can recover the deleted Folders/Files... [if they
were deleted, it would have been about a month back].
2. Any way I can migrate these dbx files lying in My Documents to OE.

Incidentally my PC skills are very basic, so anything short of hand-holding
or step-by-step instructions, sends me into a tail-spin

 

[Brian Tillman]

1. Is there some way I can recover the deleted Folders/Files... [if
they were deleted, it would have been about a month back].

If the DBX files representing the folders were deleted from you disk about a
month ago, you have extremely little chance of ever recovering them.
However, a disk undelete utility might be able to help. Here's a free one:
http://www.officerecovery.com/freeundelete/

2. Any way I can migrate these dbx files lying in My Documents to OE.

Start Outlook and click File>Import>Messages. Select Microsoft Outlook
Express 6 and click Next. Select "Import mail from an OE6 store directory"
and click OK. Browse the the folder where your DBX files are (My Documents)
and finish answering the prompts.

Note that this type of question rightfully belongs in an Outlook Express
newsgroup. This group discusses Office Outlook.

 

[selwyn]

PS: Sorry, I meant migrate files to Outlook... not OE!

1. Is there some way I can recover the deleted Folders/Files... [if
they were deleted, it would have been about a month back].

If the DBX files representing the folders were deleted from you disk about a
month ago, you have extremely little chance of ever recovering them.
However, a disk undelete utility might be able to help. Here's a free one:
http://www.officerecovery.com/freeundelete/

2. Any way I can migrate these dbx files lying in My Documents to OE.

Start Outlook and click File>Import>Messages. Select Microsoft Outlook
Express 6 and click Next. Select "Import mail from an OE6 store directory"
and click OK. Browse the the folder where your DBX files are (My Documents)
and finish answering the prompts.

Note that this type of question rightfully belongs in an Outlook Express
newsgroup. This group discusses Office Outlook.

 

[Brian Tillman]

PS: Sorry, I meant migrate files to Outlook... not OE!

After importing them into OE as I describe, while still in OE, click
Tools>Export>Messages, select Outlook as the destination.