I have in my computer installed Outlook Express "6" after formating anew my hard disk. Outlook Express is working perfectly. But I cannot import my back-upped files "DBX" from the the folder where they were stored. ( I can see them all in this folder, found them during search process etc ) After starting the import operation and going trough all its recomended steps I am receiving the following message:
" Na messages can be found in this folder or another application is running that has the required file open".
Advise,pls
Thanks and regards
Erwin

Dani AI

Generated

A short, practical troubleshooting summary and safe fixes that complement the thread (notes on what went wrong and why ’s copy/paste and ’s folder-name fix often work).

Outlook Express stores one .dbx per folder and uses a master index (Folders.dbx). If the index or the individual .dbx files are missing, empty, corrupted, or belong to a different identity, the Import wizard will report “no messages found.” (learn.microsoft.com)

Common, reliable sequence (non-destructive): make a complete backup of the entire OE store first; ensure Outlook Express is fully closed (check Task Manager for msimn.exe); create an empty folder inside OE with the exact name of the folder to restore, close OE, then replace that new folder’s empty .dbx with the backed-up .dbx and reopen OE. That sequence recreates the folder entry in the index so OE will read the file if it is intact. Check the .dbx filesize in Explorer — zero bytes means no messages, and files over OE’s limit will often fail to load (OE’s .dbx limit is 2 GB). (learn.microsoft.com)

If the manual replace/rename fails: look for .bak copies (Recycle Bin), and consider a recovery product that can “extract from disk” (DBXpress is commonly recommended for damaged files). Before recovery attempts, work on copies, disable AV e-mail scanning (it can lock files), and avoid running compaction until recovery is attempted; compacting should be done offline and only after backups. (learn.microsoft.com)

A few extra points: confirm the DBX files were extracted from any ZIP/backup medium and placed in the correct OE identity/store folder (Identities folders use a GUID-like name). Always keep copies of originals before overwriting, prefer established recovery tools over unknown links (note the software link posted by ), and keep default Inbox/Sent small by moving older mail to user folders to reduce corruption risk. (support.microsoft.com)

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where did you store them for the format .
I just go to the backup folder and right click and copy the files ,then go the the new outlook store folder and open it an paste the old in .,that is if you backed them up right in the first place .
open outlook /tools options/maintenence /store folder to get the path to the new folder .

where did you store them for the format .
I just go to the backup folder and right click and copy the files ,then go the the new outlook store folder and open it an paste the old in .,that is if you backed them up right in the first place .
open outlook /tools options/maintenence /store folder to get the path to the new folder .

- Do you mean OUTLOOK EXPRESS store folder ?
I did all that copying & pasting of the .dbx files into the store folder, but O Express doesn't want to recognise them. Any ideas to solve this ?

- Do you mean OUTLOOK EXPRESS store folder ?
I did all that copying & pasting of the .dbx files into the store folder, but O Express doesn't want to recognise them. Any ideas to solve this ?

yes express, did you create an acct first in outlook ,while off line ,or before you download new emails ,so you don't loose them when you copy/paste

Not quite as you said; but I finally sorted it by matching the folder names created by OE to the names of the .dbx files. Tks for advice.

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