[kerlerecman]

Tried to send an email with a large attachment that locked up outlook express 6 and cannot be deleted. With this situation, system will continually lock up whenever I attempt to send an email. Can someone tell me how to delete this email that is stuck in my outbox?

[smax013]

kerlerecman said:

Tried to send an email with a large attachment that locked up outlook express 6 and cannot be deleted. With this situation, system will continually lock up whenever I attempt to send an email. Can someone tell me how to delete this email that is stuck in my outbox?

If you can get into Outlook Express, you should be able to got to the Outbox and delete it like any other message (i.e. select it and hit the delete key). If OE is locking up immediately on openning the program up, then try to use the "Work Offline" command right when it opens up. If that does not work, try the "Work Offline" in Internet Explorer...I believe IE and OE are "tied" together. Once Offline, you should be able to try deleting the message.

[kerlerecman]

Tried that. As soon as I right click, OE hangs up and has to be ended. Tried other things also, but to no avail. I don't understand that if the attachment isn't even loaded how it can tie things up. The only way to end OE is to go into task manager and end now.

Any more suggestions? Help!

[smax013]

kerlerecman said:

Tried that. As soon as I right click, OE hangs up and has to be ended. Tried other things also, but to no avail. I don't understand that if the attachment isn't even loaded how it can tie things up. The only way to end OE is to go into task manager and end now.

Any more suggestions? Help!

When you say you tried that, does that include FIRST setting Internet Explorer into "Work Offline" mode before starting up Outlook Express?

[Tech4me]

[~157368] . Look like You have to restore your outlook.....Follow the link...this will give all kind of outlook fix. ( It 'll show you how to extract email before you send)

Email and Outlook Tips & Tricks...: Good Luck.

www.emailaddressmanager.com/outlook/not-responding.html

[kerlerecman]

Yes, offline or not, I couldn't delete the message -- OE becomes non-responsive and needs to be immediately shut down or its use of memory goes up so high that the entire system will hang.

Update: Was able to move the message to sent folder, so I can now send emails. But the message is there and if I try to even open it, -- the same scenario.

There must be a way to open the folder in windows explorer and remove it that way. Does anyone know how to do this?

[smax013]

kerlerecman said:

Yes, offline or not, I couldn't delete the message -- OE becomes non-responsive and needs to be immediately shut down or its use of memory goes up so high that the entire system will hang.

Update: Was able to move the message to sent folder, so I can now send emails. But the message is there and if I try to even open it, -- the same scenario.


There must be a way to open the folder in windows explorer and remove it that way. Does anyone know how to do this?

What specifically have you done to try to delete it? Have you tried just selecting it (don't open it) then hit the delete key (on the keyboard)? If you are still having a problem because it tries to open in the Preview pane, then temporarily turn off the Preview pane (under the View menu, there should be a "Layout..." command...it will open up a window where you can turn off the Preview Pane in the bottom part).



If that does not work, then I will see if I can find where it might be stored in Windows Explorer and see if we can do it that way.

[kerlerecman]

Right click, delete; highlight, select delete X at top; did not try the delete key, but don't see any difference in what I tried. Closed preview pane and turned off download when the message is previewed -- no difference.

I think that the last option is to find where the file is and delete it in Windows Explorer as you indicated.

Thanks,

[smax013]

kerlerecman said:

Right click, delete; highlight, select delete X at top; did not try the delete key, but don't see any difference in what I tried. Closed preview pane and turned off download when the message is previewed -- no difference.

I think that the last option is to find where the file is and delete it in Windows Explorer as you indicated.


Thanks,

I don't know if this will work or not...try at your own risk. The individual messages are NOT stored seperately, but rather all things in the Inbox are in one file...all things in the Outbox are in one file, etc.



If you right-click on the Outbox (I believe that is where the message is currently located), and then select "Properties" from the popup menu, a dialog box should open up. It should list the path to where the Outbox.dbx file is located. If go to that location in Windows Explorer, you can try deleting it. I would suggest that you copy it off to a flash drive as a safety measure so that you can copy it back if this goes badly. Make sure Outlook Express is closed when you delete that file. Then open up Outlook Express. My hope is that it will recreate that file (empty) and you will be back in business.



Let us know if that works. If not, then copy back the file and we will explorer other options (I don't give up easily).

[kerlerecman]

Open, delete or selecting Properties hangs OE. The only thing that I have been successful at is to move the message to the sent folder.

If I move it back to outbox and then delete the entire outbox file, that should solve the problem, right? Do you know the name and location of the outbox file.

Thanks,

[smax013]

kerlerecman said:

Open, delete or selecting Properties hangs OE. The only thing that I have been successful at is to move the message to the sent folder.

If I move it back to outbox and then delete the entire outbox file, that should solve the problem, right? Do you know the name and location of the outbox file.


Thanks,

You like to make life difficult don't you?!? ;)



The path to ALL the files for the various folders/items in Outlook Express should be:



C:Documents and Settings[USERID]Local SettingsApplication DataIdentities[SOME NUMBER THING]MicrosoftOutlook Express



Where USERID is your user ID for Windows (i.e. your login ID or user account name) and where SOME NUMBER THING is some long string of numbers and letters...don't know what it will be...I believe it is created by Outlook Express.



In that folder should be Outbox.dbx, Inbox.dbx, Deleted Items.dbx, Folders.dbx, and Offline.dbx. If you can get the message back into the Outbook, then you can try to delete the Outbox.dbx file. I don't know where Sent Items is kept.

[mphenterprises]

Hi Kerlerecman. I do not use Outlook Express so I am not going to be able to help you with that; however, as a last resort, you could simply attempt a System Restore to a date prior to when you attempted to send the email.

Normally, System Restore reverts a system to a prior date by reversing any system settings and removing any programs that were installed after the restore date your choose. I cannot guarantee a System Restore will work; however, the likelihood is good and System Restores are reversible. If you do not know how to run a System Restore, please follow these steps:

Click on Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore and follow the prompts

[kerlerecman]

Thanks, very useful information, but I'm not quite ready to attempt a system restore at this point.

Have you ever heard of this? Sounds interesting -- if true. What do you think?

www.mail-repair.com/index.html

Thanks, again.

[mphenterprises]

Unfortunately, I personally do not provide hardware component or software application recommendations. However, if you have not already, I would advise you to continue to follow the steps outlined by SMax to see if that works for you.

[kerlerecman]

Okay, if I can get the message back into the Outbox, then delete the Outbox.dbx file, how do I create a new outbox.dbx file?

Thanks,

[smax013]

kerlerecman said:

Okay, if I can get the message back into the Outbox, then delete the Outbox.dbx file, how do I create a new outbox.dbx file?

Thanks,

I am hoping that Outlook Express will do that automatically when it does not fine one. But, I don't know if it will or not...that is why I suggested backing up the Outbox.dbx file to a flash drive or something BEFORE you trash it.



The other alternative would be to create another Identity within Outlook Express and just copy over the empty Outbox.dbx file that it will create.



As I said before, I don't know if this will work or not. In theory, I believe it will...but just don't know. You might also want to create a restore point BEFORE doing any of it.

[kerlerecman]

Okay, sounds good. I'll try that.

Thanks, again.