Infuriating Problem

T

Tengu

Once again Outlook 2007 hiccuped and my laboriously constructed set of e-mail
folder shortcuts vanished into thin air. This time I was in the middle of
writing an e-mail and just doing the mildest form of Outlook work, and in
mid-sentence Outlook evaporated/crashed before my eyes and when I restarted
it ALL my shortcuts were gone.

I had this problem in Outlook 2003 too. How can the writers of this
software let problems like this go on for so long? I thought at one time the
problem might be that I was letting Windows shut down Outlook instead of
manually shutting it down before shutting down the computer. But in recent
times I always close Outlook manually BEFORE terminating Windows, except for
those occasional times when Outlook WON'T shut down on its own (after I tell
it to close on these occasions it remains active in Task Manager Processes
indefinitely).

Is there any way to restore lost shortcuts aside from manually rebuilding
one hundred or more links under 8 different groups?

I find this problem absolutely infuriating and basically unforgivable after
all this time. This long-used program should be, at this point, more stable.

With Outlook 2003 I was using Win XP Pro. Now with Outlook 2007 I first
used XP Pro but now have in installed on a native Vista laptop so the problem
persists between Office versions and OS changes.

Can anyone give me useful advice or perspective on this?
 
J

Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]

Make regular backups of all the files you may need to restore later. To find
out what these are and what they do, see
http://www.slipstick.com/config/backup.htm. The shortcuts are contained in
an XML file and I have no idea why the file is so easily corrupted.

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please reply
only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***
 
T

Tengu

I do regular backups using Vista's integrated backup program. I'll try and
figure out if this program backs up the XML file and make a note of where
it's located.
eb
 
T

Tengu

I searched within my backup files and a gazillion *.xml files came up, none
of which were clearly Outlook related. If you can give me the complete name
of the relevant xml file and/or clarify its location that would be helpful.
Elliot
 
J

Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]

See http://www.slipstick.com/config/backup2007.asp#vista for Outlook file
locations in Vista. This file comes under the category of "Navigation bar
customizations". If your Outlook profile is named Outlook, then the filename
should be Outlook.xml.

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please reply
only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***
 
T

Tengu

Hi again,
I did a search on my c drive for "Outlook.xml." This is the only thing that
appeared. The file was dated February 2007 so obviously it's nothing to do
with anything recent: OutlookMUI.xml. Any other suggestions?
Elliot
 
J

Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]

Sorry, I don't know what happened to your original .XML file, but you should
try making new customizations to your navigation pane, note the .XML file
that is created and make sure it's backed up next time. You can open the
file with a text or HTML editor to see how it is constructed (that's how I
knew one of my old .XML file backups wasn 't going to help me the last time I
lost my customizations -- I didn't see them in the file anywhere).

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please reply
only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***
 
T

Tengu

Thanks for your help.
In that case I need to know the exact folder in which the relevant xml file
resides in Windows Vista (Home Premium). I did a complete search for xml
files AFTER I'd reconstituted the shortcuts and couldn't find anything I
could clearly identify as the relevant one.
Elliot
 
J

Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]

The Slipstick.com page I referred you to in an earlier reply tells you where
you would find it... http://www.slipstick.com/config/backup2007.asp#vista.
Looks like it would be under
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook (where <username> is
your Vista username, of course).

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please reply
only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***
 
B

Brian Tillman

Tengu said:
In that case I need to know the exact folder in which the relevant
xml file resides in Windows Vista (Home Premium). I did a complete
search for xml files AFTER I'd reconstituted the shortcuts and
couldn't find anything I could clearly identify as the relevant one.

It should be in %AppData%\Microsoft\Outlook (i.e.,
C:\{user}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook, but I use environment variables
whenever possible because the path is entered the same on XP or Vista that
way).
 

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