Where did my Outlook 2003 Personal Folder info (contacts, etc) go?

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Son of Bill - 22 Mar 2007 21:26 GMT

My computer was left on with no applications open while on vacation. When I
returned and opened Outook 2003, my sub-folders were gone, all the
information in my Contacts, Calendar, Journal, & Notes were gone. The only
thing left in my Tasks are the tasks that have been completed. Is it possible
a power outage could have "lost" my info? I do not have an Outlook.pst file,
only an Archive.pst and ArchiveBackup.pst file, and neither of them have my
original data in them. Any ideas on how to retrieve my data? Thanks.

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Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook] - 22 Mar 2007 21:48 GMT

When you look in the Folder List navigation pane, what do you see?

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Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

> My computer was left on with no applications open while on vacation. When I
> returned and opened Outook 2003, my sub-folders were gone, all the
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> only an Archive.pst and ArchiveBackup.pst file, and neither of them have my
> original data in them. Any ideas on how to retrieve my data? Thanks.

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Son of Bill - 22 Mar 2007 22:23 GMT

The Folder List shows: Outlook Today - [Archive Folders], with the following
subfolders:Calendar, Contacts, Deleted Items, Drafts, Inbox, Journal, Notes,
Outbox,Sent Items and Tasks followed by Outlook Today - [Personal Folders]
with the same content and subfolders as listed above.

The Calendar, Contacts, Journal, Notes and Tasks appear, but have none of
the data I had input. The Deleted Items, Inbox, Outbox and Sent Items in both
folders contain identical emails. Contacts and Drafts both say "There are no
items to show in this view".

> When you look in the Folder List navigation pane, what do you see?
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> > only an Archive.pst and ArchiveBackup.pst file, and neither of them have my
> > original data in them. Any ideas on how to retrieve my data? Thanks.

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Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook] - 22 Mar 2007 22:30 GMT

I can't explain any of that. It sounds like the mail profile itself could be corrupted, given the duplication and the two Outlook Today folders. If you want to explore that possibility, search your drive for all .pst files and jot down the locations. Use Control Panel | Mail to create a new mail profile and open each of the .pst files in that profile to see what they contain. Let us know what you find.

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> The Folder List shows: Outlook Today - [Archive Folders], with the following
> subfolders:Calendar, Contacts, Deleted Items, Drafts, Inbox, Journal, Notes,
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>> > only an Archive.pst and ArchiveBackup.pst file, and neither of them have my
>> > original data in them. Any ideas on how to retrieve my data? Thanks.

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