Vista - LOTS of "Message not found" errors using Storage Folders

Yikes... made the jump from Windows Mail to WLM and some things are clearly
better, some things not so much... I'm noticing that WLM seems to "lose" a
LOT of messages I save in storage folders. I bet it's lost a dozen of
them... I'll take it from my inbox and stick it in a newly-created storage
folder for reference later... go to open and I get the dreaded

"Message cannot be found
The contents of this message cannot be found.
Windows Live Mail"

error message. Known bug? Unlucky? What, pray tell, have I done to
deserve this?

A little more info: I "brought over" a lot of my storage folders from
Windows Mail using import. Some folders seem to work fine, but one I
created just YESTERDAY has a lot of corrupted messages. This corrupted
folder is a sub-folder of one of the folders I imported from Windows Mail.

Help, please! I've got lots of important messages I definitely don't want
to lose...

brink

It will "lose" messages that you post to news groups too. That is, the
message may post successfully, but a phantom copy will remain in Drafts. If
you try to open it, you get the same message reported below. It is possible
to "delete" such messages though.

Earle

"brink" <brinknospam@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:665ghhF2j360vU1@xxxxxx

This 'phantom' copy of draft messages relates to a bug I reported here some time ago for WLMail 12.0.1365, which remains in WLMail 12.0.1365 (see quote below).

<quote>
All this 'saving to drafts' has revealed another bug in WLMail. A similar thing also happens with new email messages, but I will describe the bug involving a new news message. After saving a single newsgroup message to drafts, and later open the 'All drafts' Quick view, or the Drafts folder, I *sometimes* see *two* messages in the drafts message list. Both messages are marked as unread, and the number beside the drafts folder indicates (2).

Now one of these messages shows the 'received' icon (page with eye glasses) in front of it, and the 'To' field shows my newsgroup name and email address. However, the other message shows the 'composing' icon (pen) in front of it and the newsgroups name in the 'To' field. Both messages in the list have the same Subject title. The message with the received icon gives an error message (Message cannot be found) when trying to open it, whilst the message with the 'received' icon opens ok. However, opening this message reveals it is not a 'new' message window but a 'received' message window that has no option to 'send'.
</quote>

--
Cheers,
Peter
(Windows Vista Home Premium with Windows Live Mail 12.0.1606)
"There are more things in Heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Shakespeare

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"Earle Horton" <0123456@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:#NyJT5xmIHA.4536@xxxxxx

H brink.

When importing a lot of messages, WLMail has a lot of indexing to do indexing the imported messages in the "Imported items" folder. I found that if the messages are then moved too soon (before the indexing is complete), things can go awry. Also, dragging folders from one storage folder into another storage folder is not a good idea due to the way the indexing works.

It would appear that your WLMail database has lost track of many of your messages, thus they cannot be opened within WLMail. You should find that you can open them from where they reside in the sub-folders of your WLMail Message Store.

There are several options available that might correct your problem, some more dramatic than others, so you might want to backup/export all your messages first. From simplest to most dramatic, they are:

1. Delete the database file "Mail.MSMessageStore"* after first ensuring that its backup is in place. The backup** must be in place to avoid a full database recovery. When the database file is deleted when its backup is in place, WLMail will replace it from the backup when it is next started. If the backup is not in place, just leave WLMail open for a few hours and check again later. The backup should be in place unless a database compaction has been performed very recently.

*The database file "Mail.MSMessageStore" is found in WLMail's Storage Folder. This Storage Folder in its default location is a hidden folder, so ensure "Show hidden files and folders" is checked under Folder Options in Windows Explorer. To find the location of your message store, go to Tools->Options...->Advanced [tab]->Maintenance->Store Folder. The default locations are -

Vista: %localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail
(C:\Users\<Windows user account>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail)

XP: %userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail
(C:\Documents and Settings\<windows user account>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail)

**The backup of the database file "Mail.MSMessageStore" is found within the Storage folder in the folder Backup\new. This backup database file is also called "Mail.MSMessageStore".

2. Compact the database. This might seem a simple thing, but when there are problems with the database, a full database recovery can ensue, which causes all messages to end up in folders within "Recovered items" under "Storage folders".

To manually compact the database, in WLMail, go to Tools->Options...->Advanced [tab]->Maintenance [button]->check the option "Compact the database on shutdown every 'n' runs" and change the value 'n' to '1'. Then exit WLMail and select "Yes" when asked to "Recover unused disk space". If the database compaction process fails to start, open WLMail again and immediately close it (this is a workaround for the bug whereby database compaction sometimes fails after using newsgroups).

3. Force a full recovery of the database. This will cause WLMail to move all messages into folders within "Recovered items" under "Storage folders", and any messages left on your POP e-mail server's inbox will be re-downloaded unless the server has an option to prevent this (such as Gmail). As all the messages are moved into "Recovered items", they will be re-indexed at that location, so don't be in a hurry to move them to another folder (wait until the re-indexing is complete). If, after moving them, you delete the "Recovered items" folder or any other storage folder in WLMail build 1606, you will need to fix the broken "Quick views" as explained below^.

To force a full recovery of the database, there are several methods to choose from, which will cause the full database recovery when WLMail is next started -

a) For a while after compacting the database as explained in method 2, the backup of the database file "Mail.MSMessageStore" will *not* be in place. When it is *not* in place, deleting the database file "Mail.MSMessageStore" within the Message Store of WLMail will cause a full database recovery when WLMail is next started.

b) Delete the database file "Mail.MSMessageStore" within the Message Store of WLMail, and also delete the backup of the database file "Mail.MSMessageStore"**.

c) Delete the registry Value 'DatabaseVersion' under the key: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail.

^The Quick views will break in the current version of WLMail (12.0.1606) if any folder is deleted (in an Account or under Storage folders), if a Feed is deleted, or if one un-subscribes to a Newsgroup.
To repair the broken Quick views, delete the registry Value "SearchFolderVersion" under the registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail. This will cause WLMail to rebuild its Quick view data store when it is next started.

5. After backing up/exporting all messages, and accounts, rename your Windows Live Mail Message Store folder. When WLMail is next started, it will recreate the Message Store folder.

Then import your accounts and messages into WLMail (File->Import->Messages...->). Messages can also be imported directly from your old renamed Message Store by dragging them onto the WLMail interface, or by using the File->Import->Messages...->Windows Live Mail option and pointing it to your old renamed Message Store folder.

Remember not to move imported folders, but create new folders and move your messages into them.

Note: If any extra spellchecking languages have been installed, or you want to re-use your custom dictionary, then you can replace the contents of the "Proof" folder within the new Message Store with the contents of the "Proof" folder in your old Message Store.
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At least one of these options will fix the problem I am sure, but if you report back with the results, other people can benefit from your
experience.

--
Cheers,
Peter
(Windows Vista Home Premium with Windows Live Mail 12.0.1606)
"There are more things in Heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Shakespeare
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"brink" <brinknospam@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:665ghhF2j360vU1@xxxxxx