Troubleshooting Outlook Express

Typical Outlook Express problems

• "Outlook express could not open this folder. Possible causes are: Low disk space. Low memory."
• "Folder could not be displayed."
• "There was an error opening this message:..."
• "Message could not be displayed:..."

These problems are all dealt with in a similar way described in a "Troubleshooting" section below.

Less common error message

• "An unknown error has occurred. An invalid character was found inside an entity reference." - suggests there is either a problem with a Hotmail account (refer to Microsoft at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;252518 for more information) or, if you are not using Hotmail, there may be a problem with a hard disk.

Troubleshooting Outlook Express

1. Reboot the system to get rid of a possible low-memory (or, generally, low-something) condition.
2. Locate and backup the Outlook Express email files (DBX). Refer here for a how-to. Make sure Outlook Express is not running during backup.
3. According to Microsoft (see http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=318378) , either resetting the Internet Explorer settings (for IE7) or just reinstalling Internet Explorer sometimes solves the problem with Outlook Express.
4. People say that "compacting" email databases can sometimes solve "could not open this folder", or "an error opening this message" problems. Be advised that compacting a database that is already damaged can make matters worse - make sure you have backed up all the original DBX files before you try this. If this fails, there is no turning back without a backup.
   1. Start Outlook Express
   2. Make sure you are offline; force offline mode by selecting "File" -- "Work Offline" from the menu.
   3. Then, select "File" -- "Folder" -- "Compact all folders" from the menu and do not touch anything until compacting is finished.
5. If the above did not solve your Outlook Express problem, then we suggest that you try our email recovery utility.

2 GB problem

Technically, Outlook Express and old MS Outlook folders were designed to have maximum 2 GB in size; therefore, when the storage exceeds this limit, mail clients fail. Thus, Outlook Express simply cannot handle a file with a size more than 2 GB at all.

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