Recovering corrupted Outlook Express folders step by step with the Recovery Toolbox for Outlook Express tool

DBX repair tool

The process of recovering corrupted Outlook Express folders takes four steps:

1. Extracting and saving messages from corrupted Outlook Express folders;
2. Backing up the *.dbx file;
3. Creating a new empty folder in Outlook Express;
4. Copying messages extracted and saved before to the new Outlook Express folder;

In the process of recovering Outlook Express folders, it is really important to stick to the sequence of actions specified in the description of the dbx recovery process and closely follow the recovery instructions.

Let us describe each step of the dbx recovery process in more details.

Step I - Extracting and saving messages

You should use Recovery Toolbox for Outlook Express (download Outlook Express repair tool) to extract all messages that should be recovered from the dbx repair file. You should save all extracted messages to the hard drive as message files in the eml format before a repairing Outlook Express.

Useful tip: each folder in Outlook Express corresponds to a separate file on the hard drive. The name of this file is almost always coincides with the name of the folder in Outlook Express. For example, the file named Send Items.dbx stores messages from the Send Items folder in Outlook Express. Thus, the process of repairing corrupted Outlook Express folders comes down to the process of repairing the corresponding *.dbx files (dbx repair, repairing Outlook Express).

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Step II - Backing up the .dbx file

To avoid data losses, you should create a backup copy of the .dbx file you want to recover on the hard drive, on a CD or a DVD or on a flash drive. The path to each specific .dbx file is displayed in the Source Folder Path field under the main menu of the program.

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Step III - Creating a new Outlook Express folder

After that you should delete the old corrupted .dbx file from the folder where it is located. After you delete the damaged dbx file, create a new folder in Outlook Express. To do it, start Outlook Express and click the folder the deleted dbx file corresponded to. Outlook Express will automatically create a new empty dbx file for this folder.

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Step IV - Copying saved data to the created folder

To copy messages saved before to the new empty Outlook Express folder, you should:

• simultaneously start two programs: Outlook Express and Windows Explorer;
• select all necessary messages saved before in the Windows Explorer window. To do it, use the Shift+arrow keys or press and hold down the Ctrl key and select all necessary files with messages with a mouse click one by one;
• drag all selected files to the new Outlook Express folder. To do it, move the mouse pointer over any of the selected files, press the left mouse button, hold it down and drag files from the Windows Explorer window to the new folder in the Outlook Express window. It will be easier to copy message files if you place the Outlook Express window in the right part of the screen and Windows Explorer in the left part of the screen.

Useful tip: the drag-and-drop technology is used to move messages from Windows Explorer to the new Outlook Express folder, which makes the process of copying information as easy as possible.

The process of recovering the corrupted Outlook Express folder is successfully finished. Outlook Express repair (dbx repair, repairing Outlook Express) procedure is over.

Also, you can use Recovery Toolbox for Outlook Express to:

• undelete accidentally deleted messages;
• move recovered correspondence to another computer or to another mail client supporting the eml message format.

The Recovery Toolbox for Outlook Express tool:

• supports files of the .dbx format for Outlook Express versions 5, 5.5 and 6;
• repair dbx files of Outlook Express in the batch mode;
• recovers information from *.dbx files up to 4GB in size;
• repair corrupted *.dbx files of Outlook Express greater than 2 GB in size;
• the dbx repair tool recovers attached files;
• the dbx repair tool undeletes deleted messages;
• the dbx repair tool verifies recovered messages before displaying them for the user.
• repair dbx files under Windows 98
• repair dbx files under Windows Me
• repair dbx files under Windows NT 4.0
• repair dbx files under Windows 2000
• repair dbx files under Windows XP
• repair dbx files under Windows 2003

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An example of step-by-step recovery for the Sent Items Outlook Express folder

Step I:

Download and install the Recovery Toolbox for Outlook Express tool

Select the file named Sent Items.dbx from the list of files in the left part of the Outlook Express repair tool window and click it or click the Read Source File button on the program toolbar.

After the file Sent Items.dbx is read, specify the folder on the disk where messages recovered by the DBX repair tool will be saved. To do it, click the Choose Save Folder button and specify the folder for saving recovered files. After that click the Save e-mail(s) button on the toolbar of the program. Select the Save all e-mails item in the popup menu to save all recovered messages.

Note: it is possible to save recovered messages only in the registered version of Recovery Toolbox for Outlook Express. You can buy it on-line on the Purchase page.

Step II:

Copy the path from the Source Folder Path field in Outlook Express repair tool to the Windows Explorer address bar and press the Enter key. Select the file Sent Items.dbx and back up this file (copy it to the location you find convenient).

Step III:

Delete the file Sent Items.dbx from the folder where it is located. Start Outlook Express. Click the Sent Items folder. Outlook Express will automatically create a new empty file named Sent Items.dbx.

Step IV:

Simultaneously start Outlook Express and Windows Explorer. Select all files with the .eml extension you need to copy to the new folder (Sent Items). To do it, use the Shift+arrow keys or press and hold down the Ctrl key and select all necessary files with messages with a mouse click one by one. Capture the selected message files by moving the mouse pointer over any of these files, pressing the left mouse button and holding it down. Drag the group of selected files from the Windows Explorer window to the new Sent Items folder in Outlook Express.

The repairing Outlook Express Sent Items folder is over.

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