Outlook Express 6 Error message: Folder could not be displayed

I have Outlook Express (OE) 6.0 running on my system (Win ME) and keep getting the following error message pop up in the view pane when I switch from IE back to mail and my in box, or try to get back in to OE after doing something else; (note it looks like I can see all the other folders, just not the in box)

Folder could not be displayed
Outlook Express could not open this folder.
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Possible causes are:
Low disk space.
Low memory.
Also lately sometimes it will not send outgoing mail till I close out of OE, if I try to send I get an error message.

Note: still have over 30 GB on HD and have all other windows shut down, so I would'nt think memory would be a problem.

This just started happening recently. I also have Outlook loaded and if I open it up everything seems to run fine in Outlook with none of the error messages, but all my inbox notes from OE didn't transfer to Outlook from OE when I did an import.

I hate Win ME but also don't want to go throught he expense now to convert to XP with Vista and the new Office coming out later this year and.... I have RD ram and the cost of going from 256K to 512K, or more, is also not worth the price for my 4 year old system.

Any ideas on what is causig OE to start acting like this.

 

Your inbox in OE may be corrupt. It's a possibility given the fact that it's the folder that gives you the trouble in OE and also you couldn't import all of the messages from it to Outlook.

If it is, you need to delete or rename your inbox.dbx file. If you want to try it, first move everything you can out of the inbox to another folder. Then, close OE and either delete or rename inbox.dbx. When you restart OE a new inbox will be created. If you don't know where the file is located you can either do a search for it or, in OE, click tools>options>maintenance and click on the store folder button. It'll show you the location of your OE files there.

How many messages do you have in your inbox. If a lot, it's best to not keep a lot of messages there. Better to save them in a different folder in OE or, better yet (in my opinion) , save them to a seperate folder on your hard drive by creating a folder in windows explorer named emails (or whatever) and then while viewing an email, click file>save as and save it in the folder you created for this.

 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but it looks like that may have fixed it. It seems to be working now with a few IE windows open and received and sent mail wit out a problem so far... THANKS

 

Good. Hope it sticks.

Anytime I run into the problem of one folder misbehaving in OE a corrupt file is the first thing that comes to mind. More often than not (at least on those I've worked on) this is the case. The solution for other folders in OE is the same. Just delete the dbx file for the folder that's causing the problem.

 

Bob259--Indeed, I join Zander is hoping the problem is solved.
You mentioned that you also were having problems sending emails. If that continues, or, from time to time, just as good maintenance, you should consider the following.
Disconnect from internet. OE File|Folder|Compact all Folders.