Recover text from Entourage 2004 database & identity

U

usemco

I have a Mac running Tiger and Office for MAC 2004. Last week the
system crashed and now Entourage hangs when I try to open the
database. So far I...
1. Made a backup of the main identity with an open source backup
utility - compressed files to gzip.
2. Reloaded the OS and Office for Mac 2004
3. Expanded the main identity with StuffIt - database is 558,434 KB.
4. Ran the Entourage utilities to verify, compact and rebuild the
database. The rebuild says the rebuild was successful. Tried opening
the main identity - no go.
5. Ran a script to remove all extended ASCII characters (non-
printable) from the database. When I grep the file I can see email
messages. - MBOX text file is 453,648 KB
6. When I drag the the modified text file to the desktop the OS
changes the icon a mailbox. But I can't open it in Entourage or
Outlook (I wanted to import the file in Outlook and export to
Entourage.
7. Tried to parse the mbox file to a .csv file. When I try to open
the file in BBEdit or other text editors I get an error message that
the file is too large to open in that tool. Also tried parse-o-matic.
8. I tried to install splunk, but I'm new to Linux and Mac so I
wasn't very successful with the install. I haven't done anything with
the identity yet.

Can anyone help me with recovering the email from either the original
database or the MBOX text file?
 
D

Diane Ross

I have a Mac running Tiger and Office for MAC 2004. Last week the
system crashed and now Entourage hangs when I try to open the
database. So far I...
Click to expand...

Crashing usually doesn't require wipe and re-install. Usually restarting is
all that is necessary.
1. Made a backup of the main identity with an open source backup
utility - compressed files to gzip.
2. Reloaded the OS and Office for Mac 2004
Click to expand...

Even though you just installed fresh, it might be a good idea to run the
Apple combo updater. Running the combo updater overwrites potentially
problem-causing files.

3. Expanded the main identity with StuffIt - database is 558,434 KB.
4. Ran the Entourage utilities to verify, compact and rebuild the
database. The rebuild says the rebuild was successful. Tried opening
the main identity - no go.
5. Ran a script to remove all extended ASCII characters (non-
printable) from the database. When I grep the file I can see email
messages. - MBOX text file is 453,648 KB
6. When I drag the the modified text file to the desktop the OS
changes the icon a mailbox. But I can't open it in Entourage or
Outlook (I wanted to import the file in Outlook and export to
Entourage.
7. Tried to parse the mbox file to a .csv file. When I try to open
the file in BBEdit or other text editors I get an error message that
the file is too large to open in that tool. Also tried parse-o-matic.
8. I tried to install splunk, but I'm new to Linux and Mac so I
wasn't very successful with the install. I haven't done anything with
the identity yet.
Click to expand...
Can anyone help me with recovering the email from either the original
database or the MBOX text file?
Click to expand...

Try holding down the Shift key when launching Entourage. This will disable
any schedules that are set to run at launch. You could then turn off Preview
Pane and check the server looking for the suspect message.

If you have POP accounts, you'd do it by using your Webmail account or use
Allow Online Access in the Options window of the account settings. Next,
select the server icon now appearing in the Folders List and turn off
Preview Pane.

If IMAP, Exchange or Hotmail just check your Inbox and folders affected by
rules with Preview Pane turned off.)

Delete the message (which actually marks it for Deletion from the server),
connect to the server (Send & Receive All).

An alternative to finding ³some² mail is to check your Caches folder.
Spotlight caches Entourage messages there. Only the first 100 or 200k gets
indexed.

~/Library/Caches/Metadata/Microsoft/Entourage/

--
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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