Sorry I can't help, but after having lost emails in Outlook Express and another mail manager, I decided to just read and reply to them at the Hotmail site. Going forward, you might want to consider that too.

Sue

If the compaction process was interrupted or the Outlook Express message store files get corrupted for another reason, Outlook Express may start to empty folders. Your messages probably are not gone, however.

I'd start at the link provided and see what you can do or if it even helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: expresstroubles

I did not interrupt the compaction process. Thank you for the link--I had found that on the internet and will give it a try in the morning. I am in shock now.

I back up everything else but have never figured out how to back up my email.

Click start/Control panel/Administrative tools/Event viewer Then you can see if there were any error messages about that time frame. As you are using IE7 I presume you have XP. You would not have to have done anything, perhaps it was a minor glitch with the computer as Zep suggests.

Try a system restore.

All programs, accessories, system tools, system restore. This is for xp sp2.

You should have a calender on there with restore points, pick the closest one before the event.

Owbist, I followed your directions and saw several things marked "error" but no date/time. And yes, sorry I didn't say, but I have Windows XP SP3.

Hendricus, Thanks to you too. I tried the system restore--first time ever--but it said it couldn't do it because no changes had been made to my computer since the date I chose--the day before the email loss.

Try the inbox repair tool in outlook, if you have not yet.

Here is a link

Here is a link that might be useful: support.microsoft.

Zep516, I have Outlook Express 6, not Outlook, so unfortunately those articles don't apply to me. Can't find anything that is an inbox repair tool.

Have spent the morning on this--frustrating. The About.com article looked promising. I got to the "store" folder--then it said hit control and C to copy the string--but nothing happened tho I did it repeatedly.

Here's a shot in the dark it's all I can think of for now.

See link.

Here is a link that might be useful: recuva

Ginny, I don't use Outlook Express, but highlighting the string and using "Control - C" is the old fashioned keystroke way of clicking Edit>Copy with your mouse. Often works in situations where the mouse won't. You won't actually see anything happen, but if you open a blank word processing page, set the cursor at the beginning and then hit "Control V", it will paste what you copied.

Don't want to insult you if you already know all that! But when you said "nothing happens," it made me wonder because using Control - C doesn't look like anything has happened until you paste it somewhere with Control - V.

Hope you get those emails back! I'd be in a panic too.

Please consider Zep's Recuva suggestion. It's free from the maker's of CCleaner, and has a user wizard making it very friendly. It is not 100% effective, but I have had average success with it.

DA

Silvervista, Thanks for your intuition. You are right. I came to computers in the post-keystroke era and it's Greek to me. Al the rest of those directions use keystrokes as well. They are not at all clear. Does Control - C mean click on Control and then C, or both at the same time, or Control hyphen C? And that's just for starters.

Zep and DA, Thanks for this suggestion. I am going to give it one last try tomorrow. If I can't do it, I will have to call a computer repair person.

Thanks for your advice and patience.

I just highlight what to copy, hold control down and hit c, then click where I want the copy to go and hold control down again and hit v.

I'm in fire-fox right now and clicking on the edit button gives you all the keystrokes for the edit functions. Internet explorer has the same thing, all the keystrokes listed next to the buttons. Saves a lot of time by not having to pull the menu down.

Hendricus is right, explained it better than me. :)

Good luck!

I want to thank everyone who helped me out on this. It was beyond my knowledge level but proved a quick and easy fix for the computer repairman whom I sometimes have to call. I think I could do it myself, if it ever happens again. The link zep provided in "express troubles" in an earlier message on this thread is the way to go.

So the good news is that all my emails are back. Thanks again to all.