Mac Forum / Applications / Outlook Express / July 2004

Deleting messages and attachments from within OE will not reduce the size of
the Messages or Database files in the Identity folder. Deleting messages
just removes them from the OE database of saved messages (sort of leaving
empty spaces where they were.)

Actually, just like your HD itself, OE will slowly replace the deleted
spaces in the database as new stuff is saved.  The size of those files won't
get any bigger until you re-collect enough stuff.

But if you want to reduce the size of the "database" and "messages" files,
you must perform a "Compacting of the Database."

Look at the below links for great tutorials on this procedure.  But you
should consider temporarily allocating as much RAM as possible to OE during
the compacting. Then when you are done, restore the RAM to normal levels.

http://techiegrim.webhop.net/keyboard/oe5_database.html

That said, did you realize that the result of this procedure, is TWO
database and messages files? The freshly compacted set remains called
Messages and Database, and the other are called Old Database and Old
Messages. (Those can be tossed ONLY AFTER CONFIRMING THAT OE IS FUNCTIONING
PROPERLY.)

So did you perhaps accidentally look at the file size of the OLD MESSAGES
file? It would of course not be reduced at all. Only the newly compacted
Messages file would be reduced.

=========================
Kenny F