I have outlook express and a gazillion emails so when I close it I get the dreaded message that it will COMPACT them. I don't want to do that because I like to SAVE most of my messages. IF I compact them, does that render them UNSEARCHABLE later? For instance, I just needed an email that I had saved from last December today. So I'm not sure when I will need to pull something up so I HATE To compact them but I'm SICK of that message.
Mary

Turn off background compaction under Tools | Options | Maintenance for each Identity you have,
and then compact manually,when necessary.More HERE (http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx)

I strongly suggest you let OE compact the email when you get the message. The emails are saved in folders with a .dbx file extension on your system. Compacting them is a way of saving 'space'. I think you will find that not compacting will slow you down.

To read the messages, do a search on your system in All Files & Folders for dbx. You will find all your email boxes there and can read the messages.