Identity/Database
The data for each Identity is stored in a folder called Office XXX Identities, which is located in the Microsoft User Data folder inside your Documents folder. You can have multiple Identities in your MUD folder. You can't switch to an older Identity without importing the data. In other words, Entourage 2008 cannot read your Entourage X or Entourage 2004 Identity without importing it first.
Example:
- Microsoft User Data folder
- Office X Identities
- Office 2004 Identities
- Office 2008 Identities
The terms Database and Identity are frequently used interchangeably. Identity is also referred to as "User" by some Entourage users, however "User" is a term used by the Mac OS. Entourage stores your data in an Identity, and the Mac OS creates Users. The Users folder resides at the root level of the startup disk and contains the home folders for all user accounts on the computer.
If you move the Microsoft User Data folder (also known as the MUD folder) in your Documents folder, Entourage will create a new blank Identity. Inside this folder is your Identity (named Main by default). All of your mail, contacts, etc are stored here.
- Where is my database located?
- How do I find my lost identity?
- Can I rename my database?
- Why does Entourage store all it's data in one big database?
- Isn't the Entourage database prone to corruption?
- How do I view Contacts in database
- How do I view mail messages as text files?
- Are there any size Limits?
- Is it necessary to quit all Microsoft Apps to switch identities?
- Where do deleted emails go?
- Deleting email does not reduce size of database. Why?
- Signs of database corruption
- What's new in the Entourage 2004 Database Utility
Database How to...
- Archive
- Backup
- Import/Export
- Maintenance
- Move to a new computer
- Reduce
- Rebuild Database
- Size Limits
- Sync
- Fix a Corrupt Database
- Entourage quits in Rebuild screen before I can choose an option.
- Receive I/O error when I try to rebuild
- Receive error "End of File"
- Signs of database corruption
- Help with other errors received during rebuild can be found on the Error Page
Note: It is a very bad idea to use the rebuild functionality when it is not needed. If you need space on your disk or you want to get the file into contiguous space on your disk, go ahead and use compact. Only use rebuild if your file is damaged. (tip provided by one of the Entourage developers)
1) Where is my data stored?
Rules, mailing lists, signatures, messages, address book, schedules, contacts, tasks, notes, calendar are located in a database:
Your Identity is named Main by default.
Entourage 2008: ~/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2008 Identities/your identity
Entourage 2004: ~/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2004 Identities/your identity
Entourage X : ~/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office X Identities/your identity
Entourage 2001: <Startup Disk>:Documents/Microsoft User Data: Office 2001 Identities:your identity
Microsoft Entourage installs the Microsoft User Data folder (MUD) in your User's Document folder. Inside this folder is your Identity (named Main by default). All of your mail, contacts, etc are stored here. If you move this folder, Entourage will not know where your mail is located and will open with a new default identity that will be blank. To find a missing Identity folder see Tip #9.
2) I lost my identity (Entourage uses a brand new identity when it starts up). What happened?
Most likely you have accidentally moved your data. Hopefully, you have not deleted the file. If you have deleted the trash, it's gone. Sorry!
Select Switch Identity and see if your old identity is still listed.
Entourage expects the folder to be in your Documents folder. For OS X users, that's the Documents folder in your User's folder.
To find your old database, search for "Microsoft User Data" (without the quotes).
If you have not used a new identity in Entourage, then copy the entire Microsoft User Data folder to the correct location.
Fix if you have more than one Microsoft User Data Folder...
Move the entire identity folder you want to use to the Office Identities folder that Entourage is recognizing. Your identity is named "Main" by default. Be sure to rename one so you do not overwrite. Your identity folder can contain more than one identity. Switch Identities to view your old mail. If you have not used the new identity, delete it. If you have used it and want to combine the new mail with your original database, drag each folder to the desktop from one identity. This creates an MBOX file. Switch identities. Drag the MBOX files into the folder window of Entourage.
You can delete the old folder after you are satisfied with the transfer.
2 b) I tried all the tips for finding my database, but I still can't find it. Is there anything else I can do?
If an anti-virus program has detected a virus stored in the database (probably in an infected email) it can quarantine the database, hiding it from the system. Check any AV products you are running and, if necessary, exclude the Microsoft User Data folder from their scans.
Also see this solution in User Experiences.
3) Can I rename my database?
Yes. Select Switch Identities under Entourage in the menu bar. This will allow you to rename. Main is the default name given. You can also rename in the Finder.
4) Why does Entourage store all it's data in one big database?
Like a lot of Macintosh applications, Entourage uses a database to organize information for quick retrieval. Using a single file as a database keeps your data organized in a single, easy-to-find location. Backing-up your mission-critical Entourage data is as simple as burning your single-file database onto a CD.
5) Isn't the Entourage database prone to corruption?
All databases exhibit a level of data degradation over time. Entourage's database is similarly vulnerable. If you start experiencing odd behavior, you may want to verify and rebuild your database with Entourage 2004's Database Utility (hold down option when launching Entourage). Regularly backing-up your Entourage database is a smart idea. You may want to create a task in Entourage that reminds you to create back-ups of your database on a recurring basis.
6) How do you view Contacts in the Database?
You cannot view contacts in the database, if you would like to view your contacts you can Export the data. Under File>Export select tab-delimited text file. This is a great way to keep a backup of your contacts.
New to Entourage 2004, you can export contacts as an Entourage archive.
7) How do you view mail messages as text files?
If you would like to view your messages, you can create MBOX files that can be opened by any text editor. There are also scripts that can save messages as text. You can find these free scripts on macscripter.net.
Entourage Many to Word... This script will take one or more selected messages (or a single message if open) and will write them all to a single Microsoft Word document.
MANY TO Tex-Edit...This script will take one or more selected messages (or a single message if open) and will write them all to a single Tex-Edit Plus document
Quick Save as Text... Yet another script to save messages as text files!
Messages to Text...Convert email messages into text documents
7a) Whenever I try to rebuild the database, I get to see the Rebuild screen, but Entourage then quits before I can choose an option. Any suggestions?
There could be a conflict with another application. Try restarted with Shift key down to quit remaining processes. Now try to Rebuild Entourage.
7b) If I run the Database Utility to verify database integrity, it tells me that my database is working correctly. But if I run the Database Utility to compact [or rebuild] my database, I get the following error:
"An error occurred while attempting to compact [or rebuild] your database. An I/O error occurred."
I/O error almost always means disk damage.
7c) "End of File"...
The file that has reached it's end is often the preferences file. Move the 'Microsoft' folder out of your local preferences folder and try again. If this fails, "end of file" means the file is too corrupted to rebuild.
9) Is there any way to not "quit all Microsoft Apps" to switch Identities in Entourage?
No. You must quit all Microsoft Applications. It's purposeful because all of the Office apps share the Address Book. If Word is running, and currently accessing the data base (Address Book) for 'Identity 1', and you switch to 'Identity 2' in Entourage, then Word won't know you've switched. Thus the need to quit all Office apps before switching identities.
10) Where do deleted emails go?
Like many file systems & databases, deleting a message in Entourage only deletes the index entry, and the actual disk space occupied by the message is left intact as a 'hole' in the database, and will remain like that until the space is re-used by fresh incoming content.
There is no way to securely overwrite these holes, but you can use the 'compact' function of the database utility to create a new copy of the database without any holes. Then, of course, the original database disk sectors would have to be securely overwritten.
Recovering deleted emails is an almost impossible task. You can open the messages file in BBEdit or other text editor and search for the message fragments. See Not for the faint of heart [Advanced]
11) Deleting email does not reduce size of database. Why?
When you delete emails, the size of the database does not, as one might expect, go down; instead, it remains the same. Entourage will overwrite the space you've created (by deleting your old messages) when new messages arrive, so in other words, your database will remain the same size for some time, until all the freed space has effectively been overwritten.