Where is the emails stored?

[cdacenzo]

Okay, so here is the scenario:

Someone at work deleted a user from our SBS server and I have since had to rename his computer and repoint his email and all of this. His email is operating properly and everything. However, he does not have access to any of his old emails. The person who deleted the user from SBS said that he told the system to keep his email folder. So, I know the information is there, it is just a matter of locating it.

Here is what I need to know:

Where are the emails stored? How do I get them, i.e. file format example maybe? How would I go about repointing this file to his email address once I have located this?

Any help would be nice.

 

[SimonDavis]

Depends. Mails can be in several places.

1. On the server. Each user has a mailbox on the server, and the mail is in the priv.edb file - forget about trying to 'pull' mails out of that, it should be available when he connects to the server.

2. In a mailbox file - could be on his hard disk or on your network. It will be something.pst - try searching. Perhaps if you check how other users are set up (right click their inbox, check properties) it will give you a clue as to where to look for his file.

 

[cdacenzo]

Okay, on his computer I found a .PST file under his old user profile. So I moved it from the old one to the new one; however, no old emails showed up when I started his outlook. Is there something else I have to do with the .PST file to make the files show up?

 

[SimonDavis]

Yes - which version of Outlook is it?

You need to add the private mailbox as a service, and point to the .pst file.

In older versions it's under tools / services / private mailbox.

Newer versions tools/options/mail setup/data files

Assuming you have an English version of Outlook, but I guess you can find the equivalents (mine is Portuguese . . .!)

 

[cdacenzo]

I have Outlook 2000. I went to tools/services, but there was no private mailbox located there. I went to tools/options, but there is no mail setup there either. Any other ideas?

And yes, this is the English version!

 

[SimonDavis]

OK, I'm using 2002 here.

On 2000, I think it's tools / services / add / private folders, then point to the .pst file.

You will also need to decide whether or not you want new incoming mails to go to that folder - I assume the answer is yes, so AFTER you hava added the mailbox to the profile, click tools / services, then look for a tab that says 'delivery' at the top, and set it to the private mailbox.

Just for info, you will have 2 mailboxes (and public folders if you use them). The Inbox folders are where mail arrives - they are stored on the server. Using the scheme I mentioned, Outlook moves any mail that arives in the inbox to the private folder, which is the .pst file.

Just make sure the .pst file is somewhere it'll gt backed up though!