Solved Windows Mail holding onto deleted folders in Message.Store

Does anyone actually understand the Message.Store?

I've discovered some strange behavior in Windows Mail. My Message.Store recently corrupted so I let it rebuild itself.

In looking for messages that disappeared, I found that the message.store is using folders I deleted and saving folders in the wrong places.



Looking at the image above, the reader.xsusenet.com folder has been deleted from Windows Mail, but is still in the Message.Store. There are two free.xsusenet.com folders.

In my current Windows Mail, I have 3 discussion groups. Those three are located in the free.xsusenet.com folder of the Message.Store with 15 others I'm not subscribed to. Those 15 do not appear in Windows Mail. I am not subscribed to any in the free.xsusenet.com (1) folder.

New folders I create in Windows Mail have been put in Local Folders Inbox, but all my other folders are stored in Local Folders (2). I create folders for support requests by ticket number and company. Later I created a "Support Tickets" folder and put all of those folders in it. I also created a "Completed" sub-folder for one company. In Windows Mail, everything appears correct. In the Message.Store, none of those folders got moved.

How can I correct this misplacement of files and folders? I'm afraid if I try to move things around manually, the file is only going to rebuild itself again and create more useless folders.

I just exported all messages to a folder and even that is screwed up. Currently, there are 2 junk emails in the Junk Mail folder. Message.Store shows 23 in two different folders and Windows Mail exported 6 to the new folder.

Is there a way to set the folders up the way they should be and then import them into Windows Mail to replace what is there without duplicating all my emails (I have thousands)?

Windows Mail maintains a hold on folders that are exported.

I just tried renaming a folder in the exported files and Windows Explorer wouldn't let me because Windows Mail had that folder selected in the Message.Store. I wasn't renaming folders in the Message.Store.

The exported files contain old newsgroup messages that are not in Windows Mail any more.

Marking the problem solved since I had to Reset Windows Mail. Now I've got a new problem, but that will be a new discussion.