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#1
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Folder compacting interrupted
Whenever I run the folder compacting routine, it hangs up a couple of times
along the way, depicting the following message: "The folder is currently being used by OE or by another application." I then have to click on OK, so that the compacting can proceed. This has not always been the case, but it's been the rule for the last several months and I've learned to live with the interruptions. What might be causing this? I'm using OE6 and operating under Win XP Pro SP3, with all relevant patches installed. |
#2
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Folder compacting interrupted
Are you compacting manually? Reboot and open OE. Compact as follows before
you do anything else. Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no folders are open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online in the Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch anything until the compacting is completed. Compact Your OE Folders: http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm#compact If it still hangs, determine which folders it hangs on. You can move the "In Use" dialog box out of the way by grabbing the blue banner and see which folder it has stopped on. -- Bruce Hagen MS-MVP [Mail] Imperial Beach, CA "Nautico" wrote in message ... Whenever I run the folder compacting routine, it hangs up a couple of times along the way, depicting the following message: "The folder is currently being used by OE or by another application." I then have to click on OK, so that the compacting can proceed. This has not always been the case, but it's been the rule for the last several months and I've learned to live with the interruptions. What might be causing this? I'm using OE6 and operating under Win XP Pro SP3, with all relevant patches installed. |
#3
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Folder compacting interrupted
Nautico
In Outlook Express place the cursor on Local Folders and select File, Work Offline followed by File, Folder, Compact All. Do not attempt to interrupt or stop the process until it has completed. Close Outlook Express when it has completed. -- Hope this helps. Gerry ~~~~ FCA Stourport, England Enquire, plan and execute ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nautico wrote: Whenever I run the folder compacting routine, it hangs up a couple of times along the way, depicting the following message: "The folder is currently being used by OE or by another application." I then have to click on OK, so that the compacting can proceed. This has not always been the case, but it's been the rule for the last several months and I've learned to live with the interruptions. What might be causing this? I'm using OE6 and operating under Win XP Pro SP3, with all relevant patches installed. |
#4
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Folder compacting interrupted
I ran the compacting routine manually, as I have often done before. Same
result. The routine was interrupted twice, first at the end of the Deleted Items compacting and then again at the end of compacting a folder I have named Sent 2008. (Note: I do not archive OE folders, because they are then rendered unsearchable. Instead, I retain all messages in the Deleted Items folder for the last twelve months, permanently deleting those with an earlier date. As for Sent Items, I separate those messages out by year. For example, my main Sent Items folder contains only those messages sent since Jan 1. I have three other folders of sent messages entitled Sent 2006, Sent 2007, and Sent 2008.) "Gerry" wrote: Nautico In Outlook Express place the cursor on Local Folders and select File, Work Offline followed by File, Folder, Compact All. Do not attempt to interrupt or stop the process until it has completed. Close Outlook Express when it has completed. -- Hope this helps. Gerry ~~~~ FCA Stourport, England Enquire, plan and execute ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nautico wrote: Whenever I run the folder compacting routine, it hangs up a couple of times along the way, depicting the following message: "The folder is currently being used by OE or by another application." I then have to click on OK, so that the compacting can proceed. This has not always been the case, but it's been the rule for the last several months and I've learned to live with the interruptions. What might be causing this? I'm using OE6 and operating under Win XP Pro SP3, with all relevant patches installed. |
#5
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Folder compacting interrupted
Your folders are too large or corrupt.
Create two new folders and move all your messages from Deleted Items and Sent 2008 to them. Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store Folder will reveal the location of your Outlook Express files. Write the location down and navigate to it in Windows Explorer or, copy and paste it into Start | Run. In WinXP, Win2K & Win2K3, the OE user files (DBX and WAB) are by default marked as hidden. To view these files in Windows Explorer, you must enable Show Hidden Files and Folders under Start | Control Panel | Folder Options Icon | View, or in Windows Explorer | Tools | Folder Options | View. With OE closed, find the DBX file for Deleted Items and Sent 2008 and delete them. A new Deleted Items folder will be created automatically when you open OE. General precautions for Outlook Express: Do not archive mail in the Inbox or Sent Items. Create your own user defined folders and move the messages you wish to save to them. Empty Deleted Items folder daily. Although dbx files have a theoretical capacity of 2GB, I recommend about a 300MB max for less chance of corruption. Information about the maximum file size of the .dbx files that are used by Outlook Express: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=903095 After you are done, follow up by compacting your folders manually while working *offline* and do it often. Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no folders are open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online in the Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch anything until the compacting is completed. Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a redundant layer of protection that eats up CPUs and causes a multitude of problems such as time-outs and account setting changes. Your up-to-date A/V program will continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see: http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3 In Tools | Options | Maintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in background and leave it unchecked. {N/A if running XP/SP2}. And backup often. Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB): http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx -- Bruce Hagen MS-MVP [Mail] Imperial Beach, CA "Nautico" wrote in message ... I ran the compacting routine manually, as I have often done before. Same result. The routine was interrupted twice, first at the end of the Deleted Items compacting and then again at the end of compacting a folder I have named Sent 2008. (Note: I do not archive OE folders, because they are then rendered unsearchable. Instead, I retain all messages in the Deleted Items folder for the last twelve months, permanently deleting those with an earlier date. As for Sent Items, I separate those messages out by year. For example, my main Sent Items folder contains only those messages sent since Jan 1. I have three other folders of sent messages entitled Sent 2006, Sent 2007, and Sent 2008.) "Gerry" wrote: Nautico In Outlook Express place the cursor on Local Folders and select File, Work Offline followed by File, Folder, Compact All. Do not attempt to interrupt or stop the process until it has completed. Close Outlook Express when it has completed. -- Hope this helps. Gerry ~~~~ FCA Stourport, England Enquire, plan and execute ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nautico wrote: Whenever I run the folder compacting routine, it hangs up a couple of times along the way, depicting the following message: "The folder is currently being used by OE or by another application." I then have to click on OK, so that the compacting can proceed. This has not always been the case, but it's been the rule for the last several months and I've learned to live with the interruptions. What might be causing this? I'm using OE6 and operating under Win XP Pro SP3, with all relevant patches installed. |
#6
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Folder compacting interrupted
Thanks!
"Bruce Hagen" wrote: Your folders are too large or corrupt. Create two new folders and move all your messages from Deleted Items and Sent 2008 to them. Tools | Options | Maintenance | Store Folder will reveal the location of your Outlook Express files. Write the location down and navigate to it in Windows Explorer or, copy and paste it into Start | Run. In WinXP, Win2K & Win2K3, the OE user files (DBX and WAB) are by default marked as hidden. To view these files in Windows Explorer, you must enable Show Hidden Files and Folders under Start | Control Panel | Folder Options Icon | View, or in Windows Explorer | Tools | Folder Options | View. With OE closed, find the DBX file for Deleted Items and Sent 2008 and delete them. A new Deleted Items folder will be created automatically when you open OE. General precautions for Outlook Express: Do not archive mail in the Inbox or Sent Items. Create your own user defined folders and move the messages you wish to save to them. Empty Deleted Items folder daily. Although dbx files have a theoretical capacity of 2GB, I recommend about a 300MB max for less chance of corruption. Information about the maximum file size of the .dbx files that are used by Outlook Express: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=903095 After you are done, follow up by compacting your folders manually while working *offline* and do it often. Click on Outlook Express at the top of the folder tree so no folders are open. Then: File | Work Offline (or double click Working Online in the Status Bar). File | Folder | Compact all folders. Don't touch anything until the compacting is completed. Turn off e-mail scanning in your anti-virus program. It is a redundant layer of protection that eats up CPUs and causes a multitude of problems such as time-outs and account setting changes. Your up-to-date A/V program will continue to protect you sufficiently. For more, see: http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#3 In Tools | Options | Maintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in background and leave it unchecked. {N/A if running XP/SP2}. And backup often. Outlook Express Quick Backup (OEQB): http://www.oehelp.com/OEBackup/Default.aspx -- Bruce Hagen MS-MVP [Mail] Imperial Beach, CA "Nautico" wrote in message ... I ran the compacting routine manually, as I have often done before. Same result. The routine was interrupted twice, first at the end of the Deleted Items compacting and then again at the end of compacting a folder I have named Sent 2008. (Note: I do not archive OE folders, because they are then rendered unsearchable. Instead, I retain all messages in the Deleted Items folder for the last twelve months, permanently deleting those with an earlier date. As for Sent Items, I separate those messages out by year. For example, my main Sent Items folder contains only those messages sent since Jan 1. I have three other folders of sent messages entitled Sent 2006, Sent 2007, and Sent 2008.) "Gerry" wrote: Nautico In Outlook Express place the cursor on Local Folders and select File, Work Offline followed by File, Folder, Compact All. Do not attempt to interrupt or stop the process until it has completed. Close Outlook Express when it has completed. -- Hope this helps. Gerry ~~~~ FCA Stourport, England Enquire, plan and execute ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nautico wrote: Whenever I run the folder compacting routine, it hangs up a couple of times along the way, depicting the following message: "The folder is currently being used by OE or by another application." I then have to click on OK, so that the compacting can proceed. This has not always been the case, but it's been the rule for the last several months and I've learned to live with the interruptions. What might be causing this? I'm using OE6 and operating under Win XP Pro SP3, with all relevant patches installed. |
#7
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Folder compacting interrupted
Nautico wrote:
snip (Note: I do not archive OE folders, because they are then rendered unsearchable. Instead, I retain all messages in the Deleted Items folder for the last twelve months... No, no, no, no, no!! See http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/...orruption.mspx (Yes, it's from 2004 but it's still applicable today!) General OE Caveats: - Don't use Inbox or Sent Items to archive messages. Move them to local folders created for this purpose. - Empty Deleted Items folder daily. - Frequently perform a manual compact of all OE folders while "working offline". More at http://www.insideoe.com/files/maintain.htm - Do not cancel Automatic Compacting, should it occur, and do not attempt to close OE via Task Manager or shutdown your machine if Automatic Compacting is taking place. - Disable email scanning by your anti-virus application. It can cause corruption (i.e., loss of messages) and provides no additional protection: Why you don't need your anti-virus to scan your email http://thundercloud.net/infoave/tuto...ning/index.htm |
#8
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Folder compacting interrupted
Nautico
Bruce has dealt with general issues. There are no fixed definitions of what is too large. What is large on one system is not on another. The issues arise when the capacity ( CPU and RAM ) of the system struggle to handle the size of the folder. Compacting is an operation that is particularly demanding on the system capacity, probably more than any other in Outlook Express. Delays in compacting can lead to folders becoming very large but the size and number of file attachments is another factor, which can quickly increase their size. Leaving messages in the Inbox and the Sent Items folders is unwise. The risk of corruption and loss of messages is greater than with user created mail folders, probably because the Inbox and the Sent Items folders are constantly being accessed. Apart from the corruption issue there is a performance issue. The Inbox and the Sent Items folders are included when Synchronise All or Send and Receive are initiated, whereas user created mail folders are not. Reduce the size of the Inbox and the Sent Items folders and performance improves. Your original complaint was concerning two interuptions. Usually these arise in connection with folders.dbx. With an "in use" interruption it means what it says! An earlier intiated operation within Outlook Express has not completed. Thus operations like using the Move to Folder command can appear to have completed but in reality they are still continuing in the background. The Compact command also continues for a while after you may think the operation has completed. The way to eliminate the "In Use" issue is to close Outlook Express if it is open and then restart Outlook Express. This ensures that previously uncompleted operations have stopped. If you have Send and Receive at Start Up checked you have to be certain the operation has completed before you start compacting. This could be an explanation for your particular complaint. Placing the cursor on Local Folders ( Bruce likes Outlook Express ) seems to eliminate getting an "In use" response for folders.dbx. Compacting offline discourages interuptions by operations initiated during the compacting process. -- Hope this helps. Gerry ~~~~ FCA Stourport, England Enquire, plan and execute ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nautico wrote: I ran the compacting routine manually, as I have often done before. Same result. The routine was interrupted twice, first at the end of the Deleted Items compacting and then again at the end of compacting a folder I have named Sent 2008. (Note: I do not archive OE folders, because they are then rendered unsearchable. Instead, I retain all messages in the Deleted Items folder for the last twelve months, permanently deleting those with an earlier date. As for Sent Items, I separate those messages out by year. For example, my main Sent Items folder contains only those messages sent since Jan 1. I have three other folders of sent messages entitled Sent 2006, Sent 2007, and Sent 2008.) "Gerry" wrote: Nautico In Outlook Express place the cursor on Local Folders and select File, Work Offline followed by File, Folder, Compact All. Do not attempt to interrupt or stop the process until it has completed. Close Outlook Express when it has completed. -- Hope this helps. Gerry ~~~~ FCA Stourport, England Enquire, plan and execute ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nautico wrote: Whenever I run the folder compacting routine, it hangs up a couple of times along the way, depicting the following message: "The folder is currently being used by OE or by another application." I then have to click on OK, so that the compacting can proceed. This has not always been the case, but it's been the rule for the last several months and I've learned to live with the interruptions. What might be causing this? I'm using OE6 and operating under Win XP Pro SP3, with all relevant patches installed. |
#9
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Folder compacting interrupted
View, Layout, check Status Bar
Double clicking Working online on the Status bar will make OE go offline. To the right of Working Online is the status of the Send / Receive operation. You will see if OE is sending or receiving when you prepare to go offline. -- Ron Sommer "Gerry" wrote in message ... snipped The way to eliminate the "In Use" issue is to close Outlook Express if it is open and then restart Outlook Express. This ensures that previously uncompleted operations have stopped. If you have Send and Receive at Start Up checked you have to be certain the operation has completed before you start compacting. This could be an explanation for your particular complaint. Placing the cursor on Local Folders ( Bruce likes Outlook Express ) seems to eliminate getting an "In use" response for folders.dbx. Compacting offline discourages interuptions by operations initiated during the compacting process. |
#10
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Folder compacting interrupted
Good thought Ron. The "Retrieving Posts" display. It already appears on
my Status Bar. That's something worth checking after restarting Outlook Express. Of course that involves persuading users, who like to simplify windows, to display the Status Bar. I find the Status bar useful because the Online/ Offline button is quicker than using File, Work Offline / Work Online but the most users do not read Offline as I do. -- Gerry ~~~~ FCA Stourport, England Enquire, plan and execute ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ron Sommer wrote: View, Layout, check Status Bar Double clicking Working online on the Status bar will make OE go offline. To the right of Working Online is the status of the Send / Receive operation. You will see if OE is sending or receiving when you prepare to go offline. "Gerry" wrote in message ... snipped The way to eliminate the "In Use" issue is to close Outlook Express if it is open and then restart Outlook Express. This ensures that previously uncompleted operations have stopped. If you have Send and Receive at Start Up checked you have to be certain the operation has completed before you start compacting. This could be an explanation for your particular complaint. Placing the cursor on Local Folders ( Bruce likes Outlook Express ) seems to eliminate getting an "In use" response for folders.dbx. Compacting offline discourages interuptions by operations initiated during the compacting process. |
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