Outlook Express 2Gb limit problem.

How to fix Outlook Express dbx 2Gb limit problem.

Outlook Express stores emails in special files with .DBX extension. Every Outlook Express folder has its own file with DBX extension. For example,Inbox folder has a corresponding Inbox.dbx file, Outbox folder has a corresponding Outbox.dbx file and so on. There is a 2Gb limit for every DBX file and that can cause some serious problems. The matter is that the users often use e-mail nowadays to exchange different files with each other. As a rule, these are documents, photos, music, videos, program files, etc. All these files are of big size and your mailbox can eventually reach the 2Gb limit.

When Outlook Express folder reaches its 2Gb limit you can't place any messages in it anymore. But the worst is that you can't delete any emails from this folder to make its size smaller. Actually there are two options for your to choose:

to delete a corresponding DBX file and create a new empty one instead loosing all the messages stored in this file at that;
to use a special tool to repair your Outlook Express folder.

If you are not going to lose all the emails stored in the folder irrecoverably, use Repair Tool for Outlook Express (download).

To solve the Outlook Express 2GB problem, do the following:

Use Repair Tool for Outlook Express (download) to extract messages from the Outlook Express folder to Windows folder.
Delete the Inbox.dbx file. At the next Outlook Express startup, the Inbox.dbx file will be recreated and of course it will be empty. To find out where Outlook Express stores DBX files, start Outlook Express and click "Tools" -> "Options" -> "Maintenance" -> "Store Folder".
Then import your messages from the Windows folder to the Outlook Express folder. To import messages, just drag and drop them to the OE folder. Do not drag all files at once but do it in parts otherwise you will get the 2Gb problem again. For example, you can select about half of the messages in the Windows folder and drag them to the OE folder, then view these messages in Outlook Express and delete/move the unneded ones. Then, similarly drag the remaining messages.