some of my sub-folders just disappeared

[Brian Tillman]

In an effort to
stop this error, I went to tools, email accounts. In this box, I
see an entry for bellsouth and for exchange server. The exchange
server was listed first and bellsouth second. To stop the error when
trying to connect to the exchange server, I selected remove for the
exchange server.

By doing so you deleted any connection to your mail, contacts, calendar, and
everything. Your data was being kept in the OST (offline folder file) that
was active when you used the Exchange account. That OST was your delivery
location where Outlook kept your default folders. By removing the account
you removed the ability of Outlook to access those folders. Were I in your
position, I'd try restoring to a System Restore point made prior to your
removal of the account. If you don't have a recent restore point, then
you'll need to acquire an OST to PST converter. There are many commercially
available applications that can do that conversion. I've also seen
referecne to a free one called OST2PST, but most of the existing references
in Google to that program seem to go nowhere. If the data is important
enough to you, you'll pay the money for a converter and then get in the
habit of making backups so you don't screw yourself again