Opening an Archived Entourage Database

[CharPatton]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: Power PC
Email Client: imap

Attempting to archive a bunch of my old e-mails, I copied the Users>Home>Documents>"Microsoft User Data" folder to an external drive. I then pruned the original Entourage data set to a much smaller size. Thus, I was left with a 3 GB "archived" folder on an external drive, and a 200 MB working folder.

Everything has been going fine working from the 200 MB working folder on my internal drive. However, at this point I would like to retrieve one e-mail from the archived data. I copied the "Microsoft User Data" folder back onto my internal drive, and navigated to "Microsoft User Data" > Office 2008 Identities > Main Identity > Database. I then double click on this 3 GB file, but what opens seems to be my 200 MB working data set; I have no access to all of the old e-mails.

Thus, how do I open my old 3 GB data set? Once I've done this, I'll copy out the single e-mail I need, and then revert back to my current 200 MB working data set.

Thank you so much in advance for sharing your knowledge and expertise; much appreciated!

OS 10.4.11, Entourage v 12.1.3

 

[Adam Bailey]

Attempting to archive a bunch of my old e-mails, I copied the
Users>Home>Documents>"Microsoft User Data" folder to an external drive. I
then pruned the original Entourage data set to a much smaller size. Thus,
I was left with a 3 GB "archived" folder on an external drive, and a 200
MB working folder.

I generally don't recommend archiving data in this manner. Next time use
File > Export, which will create files that can be easily re-imported.

Everything has been going fine working from the 200 MB working folder on
my internal drive. However, at this point I would like to retrieve one
e-mail from the archived data. I copied the "Microsoft User Data" folder
back onto my internal drive,

What did you do with your current MUD folder?

and navigated to "Microsoft User Data" > Office 2008 Identities > Main
Identity > Database. I then double click on this 3 GB file, but what opens
seems to be my 200 MB working data set; I have no access to all of the old
e-mails.

Rename the archived Main Identity. Have both in your Office 2008 Identities
folder. Then you can switch between them via Switch Identity in the
Entourage menu.

But as I said, this is just a solution to your issue. I don't recommend
handling archives in this manner.

 

[CharPatton]

Thanks for sharing your expertise. I'll try the "Switch Identity" suggestion you give. Much appreciated!