On or near 12/26/00 3:17 AM, Cecily Walker at [EMAIL PROTECTED] observed:
> HELP! :-)
>
> Suddenly I can't open Entourage -- when I launched it this morning, it asked
> me to re-enter all of my information. Since I don't believe there's any way
> to quit without entering this information, I completed the step. I then
> closed the application without checking mail. When I re-opened it, I got an
> error with the numeric code 4359.
I'm sorry, but I don't know what that error code means.
>
> What can I do to get all of my mail? Can I import any mail from Entourage
> into Outlook Express for the time being?
Do you still have access to your mail messages? That is, do any messages
show when you try to open Entourage? If yes, there is a chance you can
recover some or all of them.
>
> Please help -- all of my important wedding-related contacts are in Entourage
> and I'm only 16 days away from the wedding.
Well, when it asked you to re-enter all your info, that meant it had lost
track of where your files were (at least your preferences file). It sounds
to me like you had some kind of disk corruption that may have damaged either
one or more files or the directory info about where the files reside.
Before you do much more, I would run Disk First Aid with repair from a CD or
external drive of some kind; you can probably use your Apple installation CD
to do that. Second, try rebuilding your desktop file. The basic way to do
that is to restart and hold down the Option key until you get a message
asking if you want to rebuild (after all the extensions load). Let it do
that.
Those two things are just basic first aid when you have mysterious problems
involving files. If you have additional utilities, such as Tech Tool Pro or
Disk Warrior, you should also run their disk repair facilities.
Then, try to find your main Entourage data files. They are called "Messages"
and "Database". On my machine they are in this directory structure:
HardDisk:
Documents:
Microsoft User Data:
Office 2001 Identities:
Main Identity:
If you are using multiuser features they may be in a different identity
folder.
Check out the modification date on those files. Also, if you used Sherlock
to find the files, you may have turned up duplicate files--another
"Messages" and "Data" file set, perhaps in a different folder. The
modification date on the files currently in use should be today's date and
time. If there are files with earlier modification dates, check their size;
the odds are they are your original files. You may be able simply to copy
those files into the new location, replacing your current files (which, if
you just started them, are almost empty anyhow).
There's no good way to merge Entourage data files, unfortunately. You will
need to export the messages from one file in some format, then get Entourage
to open the alternate files and import those messages. One way of exporting
is just to drag one folder at a time to the desktop; Entourage will create
"mailbox" files with the folder name. However, there is a bug in this. You
will need to drag all those scripts onto my Applescript droplet, "Fix MBX
2.0", to repair those mailbox files and make them work properly. Then, you
can use Entourage's Import command to import those mailbox messages back
into Entourage.
If you come up with just one set of Messages/Database files, that's actually
a good sign. In that case, try starting Entourage while holding down the
Option key; it will ask if you want to rebuild the database. Reply yes, and
then see if your problem has been fixed. If not, try the advanced rebuild:
reply "No" the first time and you will get a second question asking if you
want to do a complex rebuild. Say yes.
The second option will destroy any "groups" in your contacts database. If
you can easily reconstruct those, no problem. If not, you'll want to save
them first and restore them later using my scripts, "Export Address Groups"
and "Import Address Groups".
All the scripts I mention, and more, can be found on my script web site, URL
BELOW.
Hope this helps somewhat.
--
Peace,
Allen Watson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> XNS name: =Allen Watson
A Mac family since 1984 <http://home.earthlink.net/~allenwatson/>
Applescripts for Outlook Express and Entourage:
<http://homepage.mac.com/allenwatson/>
--
To unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To search the archives:
<http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.boingo.com/>
