compacting, again (OE6 XP SP2)

Topic

New Reply

New problem — When shutting down, OE offers to compact the email, if only I click on OK (or similar). When I click to let it compact my email it starts and then declines to go ahead because the “OE files are being used”. Of course they are, I’m trying to shut them down!
I have very few emails extant. I’ve read DocWatson’s replies of long ago. Don’t work for this problem.
Just darned annoying.
Help…..?

Reply | Quote

Replies

Ladimer,
Why compact the messages if you don’t have very many of them anyway?

Reply | Quote

Tnx for the reply.
It’s the opposite maddening situation. When I attempt to shut down OE it ALWAYS shows the “Do you want to compact the files?” A yes answer, I believe, starts the compacting process and then quits, declaring it can’t go on because OE or some other program is using the OE files!! A no answer clears the window and gets out of OE, but the same thing happens for the next OE shut down attempt. I don’t want to compact my trivial number of emails; I just want OE to stop asking me about them.

Andy

Reply | Quote

Andy, See if you have compacting turned on for your drives. This is from Help & Support:
—————————————————
To compress a file or folder on an NTFS drive
Open My Computer.
Double-click a drive or folder.
Right-click the file or folder you want to compress, and then click Properties.
On the General tab, click Advanced.
Select the Compress contents to save disk space check box, and then click OK.
In the Properties dialog box, click OK.
In Confirm Attribute Changes, select the option you want.
Notes

To open My Computer, double-click the My Computer icon on the desktop.
You can only use NTFS compression for files and folders on drives formatted as NTFS. If the Advanced button does not appear, the file or folder you selected is not on an NTFS drive.
If you move or copy a file into a compressed folder, it is compressed automatically. If you move a file from a different NTFS drive into a compressed folder, it is also compressed. However, if you move a file from the same NTFS drive into a compressed folder, the file retains its original state, either compressed or uncompressed.
Files and folders that are compressed using NTFS compression cannot be encrypted.
You can choose to display NTFS-compressed files in a different color. For more information, click Related Topics.
Related Topics
———————————————–
If you do have it turned on, then of course, do the reverse of the way the above states.

Reply | Quote

Bob — thanks for the reply, I learned some things about compressing files. But…I don’t want to compress any files. I want to get rid of the OUTLOOK EXPRESS invitation: “To free up disk space , Outlook Express can compact messages.” OK or CANCEL. An OK gets its email messages starting to compress — then stops and declares it can’t go ahead because “OE or some other program is using the files.” This happens every time I close OE!!

From your reply above I thought I’d try to see if some ‘compact files’ setting is around. I can’t find the email folder to make the attempt…..

Andy

Reply | Quote

Andy,
For a particular DBX folderfile, open WIndows explorer, drill down to:
Docs & Settings>(username)>local settings>App data>identities>(long clsid type numeric)>microsoft>Outlook Express.
Right click on a particular dbx file, like inbox.dbx>properties>Advanced.
A screen will appear like the screenshot below.
UNCHECK “compact this file to save disk space. OK out.

Reply | Quote