Outlook Express downloading old emails

A friend called me this evening with a strange problem. Her old emails are
being downloaded by OE. ALL of her old emails! She has been with Earthlink
for over seven years and it appears that Outlook Express is going to
download every one of the emails she has received since she signed up with
them. She booted up her system, and like usual, opened Outlook Express to
check her email and this is where she finds herself now.

I have never heard of such a thing happening and had no idea it was even
possible. I thought ISP's only archived emails for a certain period of
time. At this time she is looking at over 6000 emails and counting. She
hasn't stopped the process as she is curious to see if all of her emails
will be available. She does want to know how this is possible and why it is
happening. She can't get through to Earthlink technical support at this
time or she would be asking them.

Does anyone have any ideas? This doesn't appear to be a dangerous or
harmful event, but now both she and I are intrigued.

ToolsAccountsMailPropertiesAdvanced. Uncheck: Leave copies of
messages on server. And get the mail out of *any* default OE folder
as it will cause corruption.

When all is well:

Compact your folders manually while working *offline*.

FileWork Offline (or double click Working Online in the Status Bar).
FileFolderCompact all folders.

In ToolsOptionsMaintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in background
and leave it unchecked.
--
Bruce Hagen
~IB-CA~






"Kevin" wrote in message
...
A friend called me this evening with a strange problem. Her old
emails are
being downloaded by OE. ALL of her old emails! She has been with
Earthlink
for over seven years and it appears that Outlook Express is going
to
download every one of the emails she has received since she signed
up with
them. She booted up her system, and like usual, opened Outlook
Express to
check her email and this is where she finds herself now.

I have never heard of such a thing happening and had no idea it was
even
possible. I thought ISP's only archived emails for a certain
period of
time. At this time she is looking at over 6000 emails and
counting. She
hasn't stopped the process as she is curious to see if all of her
emails
will be available. She does want to know how this is possible and
why it is
happening. She can't get through to Earthlink technical support at
this
time or she would be asking them.

Does anyone have any ideas? This doesn't appear to be a dangerous
or
harmful event, but now both she and I are intrigued.

Hi Kevin,

Normally with a POP3 account messages are only on the server until they are
downloaded. However, it is possible to instruct the server to keep messages.
Often there is a limit to the space available for this purpose. It is
advisable to limit the time for leaving messages on the server. If the
account is checked from two locations it is best to have one location clear
the messages from the server.

This setting is in Tools, Accounts, Mail tab, Mail Account, Properties,
Advanced tab.

Other than this I'd say it's a job for Earthlink support.

--
Tim K.
aka Kuay Tim
MVP - (IE/OE)
Lynnwood, WA
*
"Kevin" wrote in message
...
A friend called me this evening with a strange problem. Her old emails
are
being downloaded by OE. ALL of her old emails! She has been with
Earthlink
for over seven years and it appears that Outlook Express is going to
download every one of the emails she has received since she signed up with
them. She booted up her system, and like usual, opened Outlook Express to
check her email and this is where she finds herself now.

I have never heard of such a thing happening and had no idea it was even
possible. I thought ISP's only archived emails for a certain period of
time. At this time she is looking at over 6000 emails and counting. She
hasn't stopped the process as she is curious to see if all of her emails
will be available. She does want to know how this is possible and why it
is
happening. She can't get through to Earthlink technical support at this
time or she would be asking them.

Does anyone have any ideas? This doesn't appear to be a dangerous or
harmful event, but now both she and I are intrigued.

Thanks Bruce! We both know about the "leave copies of messages" options,
and she has had the option to leave them on the server unchecked since
forever. But seven years worth of messages? Wow! Right now she is up to
10,000 and counting. It is downloading messages from 1999 at this time. It
looks like it won't stop until it reaches late 1996.

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
ToolsAccountsMailPropertiesAdvanced. Uncheck: Leave copies of
messages on server. And get the mail out of *any* default OE folder
as it will cause corruption.

When all is well:

Compact your folders manually while working *offline*.

FileWork Offline (or double click Working Online in the Status Bar).
FileFolderCompact all folders.

In ToolsOptionsMaintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in background
and leave it unchecked.
--
Bruce Hagen
~IB-CA~






"Kevin" wrote in message
...
A friend called me this evening with a strange problem. Her old
emails are
being downloaded by OE. ALL of her old emails! She has been with
Earthlink
for over seven years and it appears that Outlook Express is going
to
download every one of the emails she has received since she signed
up with
them. She booted up her system, and like usual, opened Outlook
Express to
check her email and this is where she finds herself now.

I have never heard of such a thing happening and had no idea it was
even
possible. I thought ISP's only archived emails for a certain
period of
time. At this time she is looking at over 6000 emails and
counting. She
hasn't stopped the process as she is curious to see if all of her
emails
will be available. She does want to know how this is possible and
why it is
happening. She can't get through to Earthlink technical support at
this
time or she would be asking them.

Does anyone have any ideas? This doesn't appear to be a dangerous
or
harmful event, but now both she and I are intrigued.

Kuay,
Thanks and see my reply to Bruce. Thank you both for the info. A very
interesting event.

"Kuay Tim" wrote in message
...
Hi Kevin,

Normally with a POP3 account messages are only on the server until they
are
downloaded. However, it is possible to instruct the server to keep
messages.
Often there is a limit to the space available for this purpose. It is
advisable to limit the time for leaving messages on the server. If the
account is checked from two locations it is best to have one location
clear
the messages from the server.

This setting is in Tools, Accounts, Mail tab, Mail Account, Properties,
Advanced tab.

Other than this I'd say it's a job for Earthlink support.

--
Tim K.
aka Kuay Tim
MVP - (IE/OE)
Lynnwood, WA
*
"Kevin" wrote in message
...
A friend called me this evening with a strange problem. Her old emails
are
being downloaded by OE. ALL of her old emails! She has been with
Earthlink
for over seven years and it appears that Outlook Express is going to
download every one of the emails she has received since she signed up
with
them. She booted up her system, and like usual, opened Outlook Express
to
check her email and this is where she finds herself now.

I have never heard of such a thing happening and had no idea it was even
possible. I thought ISP's only archived emails for a certain period of
time. At this time she is looking at over 6000 emails and counting.
She
hasn't stopped the process as she is curious to see if all of her emails
will be available. She does want to know how this is possible and why
it
is
happening. She can't get through to Earthlink technical support at this
time or she would be asking them.

Does anyone have any ideas? This doesn't appear to be a dangerous or
harmful event, but now both she and I are intrigued.

After the download stops, move any messages that she wants to keep to
another folder.
Any corruption to the inbox.dbx file could cause a loss of all the messages.
--
Ron Sommer

"Kevin" wrote in message
...
Thanks Bruce! We both know about the "leave copies of messages" options,
and she has had the option to leave them on the server unchecked since
forever. But seven years worth of messages? Wow! Right now she is up to
10,000 and counting. It is downloading messages from 1999 at this time.
It
looks like it won't stop until it reaches late 1996.

"Bruce Hagen" wrote in message
...
ToolsAccountsMailPropertiesAdvanced. Uncheck: Leave copies of
messages on server. And get the mail out of *any* default OE folder
as it will cause corruption.

When all is well:

Compact your folders manually while working *offline*.

FileWork Offline (or double click Working Online in the Status Bar).
FileFolderCompact all folders.

In ToolsOptionsMaintenance: Uncheck Compact messages in background
and leave it unchecked.
--
Bruce Hagen
~IB-CA~






"Kevin" wrote in message
...
A friend called me this evening with a strange problem. Her old
emails are
being downloaded by OE. ALL of her old emails! She has been with
Earthlink
for over seven years and it appears that Outlook Express is going
to
download every one of the emails she has received since she signed
up with
them. She booted up her system, and like usual, opened Outlook
Express to
check her email and this is where she finds herself now.

I have never heard of such a thing happening and had no idea it was
even
possible. I thought ISP's only archived emails for a certain
period of
time. At this time she is looking at over 6000 emails and
counting. She
hasn't stopped the process as she is curious to see if all of her
emails
will be available. She does want to know how this is possible and
why it is
happening. She can't get through to Earthlink technical support at
this
time or she would be asking them.

Does anyone have any ideas? This doesn't appear to be a dangerous
or
harmful event, but now both she and I are intrigued.