I've done it again.

Can anyone suggest what I've done to lose *all* my local folders?

pmj...

Assuming that you're talking about the "Local Folders" in OutLook
Express (& not the Folders on the Hard Drive in the Machine itself),
there are various things that you may have done which would cause that.
(& also several things that *other people (or Programs) may have done)

This is the second time recently that this has happened so have now lost all
the contents of my Inbox,Outbox etc.

pmj...

They prolly aren't actually completey *lost*!
:-)

Just temporarily mislaid.
:-)

I also lost all the messages of the Silversurfers so have had to re-load.

pmj...

Sounds like something has happened, to do with the "Identity" stuff
in OutLook Express.

:-(
All the re-loaded messages are marked 'unread' so it's going to take ages

pmj...

Yep, they will be, cos when it Downloads them all from fresh (which
is what sounds like has happened) it doesn't know which ones were
previously marked as "Read" - if it did know that, then it wouldn't
have had to Download them all again, anyway, cos the List of Folders
is stored along with the Info about which Messages have been Read.

and ages to read them all again.

Rabbit...

Can't help with the first part but to make this part easier go
to --view--current view and untick group messages by conversation.Then go
to --edit-- and mark all read. With the posts still in the same order
highlight the first post from the last time you read them up to the newest
one, right click on the highlighted posts and --mark as unread.

jamps...

Thanks Sandra - that helped!
Still wonder what caused me to lose all the folders though.

pmj...

Well, you don't actually have to Read them all again!
:-)

One way would be to do what Rabbit (Sandra) suggested & sort the list
of Messages in "Date" Order - Click on the "Sent" Column in the Message
List, or use: Menu>View>Sort By>Sent - & also UnTick "Group Messages
by Conversation", that will then show all the Messages in Date/Time
Order, UnGrouped, so you can Highlight & Select the older Messages
(using SHIFT+Click to Select a Block of them) & then just Delete them
(or Mark them as Read)

If you want any Help in getting the *other* Messages (such as in the
"Local Folders" back, then Post back, OK?

Can you have a quick look & see what the Path (Location) of your
"Store Root" Folder is?

Menu>Tools>Options...>Maintenance
[Store Folder...]

RightClick in the Field below where it says "Your Personal Message
Store is located in the Following Folder" & choose "Select All"
(or use CTRL+A) & then RightClick>Copy (or use CTRL+C) & then Paste
it in a Reply (Just [Cancel] out of the Dialog Box, don't change
anything in there yet).

The Path may well be a great big long Path, with one of those long
(32 Digit Hexadecimal) "GUID" Strings in it, if it's reverted back
to the Default (I know that you *did* (a while ago) change it to a
more sensible Path, so you could Back the stuff up easily) [*1]

When we know where the "Store Root" is (for that Identity) we will be
able to take the next step in getting the original Folders (& the eMail
Messages in them) back.

[*1]
BTW - Since you originally Moved the Store Root Folder into your
"My Documents" Folder, so that you *could* easily Back them up, then
it would be very quick & easy to Restore them from the Backup!!!

& even if you never did actually get around to Backing them up,
I expect the Messages are still actually all intact in there & it
may well be just a matter of "Pointing" the OE Store Root Folder back
to where the Messages are.

jamps...

Great! It looks as though they are in the My Documents/Messages
folder.
What do I do now please?