# Outlook crashed, any chances of resurrecting the open email? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 16, 2002, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-crashed-any-chances-of-resurrecting-the-open-email/143055 "2002-12-16T11:01:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-crashed-any-chances-of-resurrecting-the-open-email/143055/1 "2002-12-16T11:01:03Z")
After an hour of typing out a good 10 or 12 large paragraphs of email, I hit “send”. An error message popped up with something like “MSISN.EXE has generated errors, program closing and creating a log file”. Suffice to say, I was not a happy camper. Not at all. My drafts and outbox are empty, I checked. Is there any chance I could recover the text of the email in some sort of log file or use any other method to recover it? I’m guessing no, but if anyone might know, please give me any tips you can. ---
**Author:** ![deathawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@deathawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deathawk)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-crashed-any-chances-of-resurrecting-the-open-email/143055/2 "2002-12-16T12:42:04Z")
Here’s a real long shot for you, from KB article [291656](http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;291656): Please note this may only apply to OXP. I use O2K and do not see these files > [@](#): > > Outlook journalizes information about your use of various files in two log files. Offitems.log contains information on Microsoft Office XP program files, such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. Outitems.log contains information on Microsoft Outlook items, such as messages and tasks. These log files are normally stored in one of the following locations: > C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook > > -or- > > C:\Documents and Settings<username\>\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-crashed-any-chances-of-resurrecting-the-open-email/143055/3 "2002-12-16T14:16:04Z")
I can’t help you recover this but I can help you prevent it from happening again: Options Preferences E-mail options Advanced email options set up Autosave unsent to be something like 1 minute ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-crashed-any-chances-of-resurrecting-the-open-email/143055/4 "2002-12-16T14:24:26Z")
Guys, he’s not using Outlook, he’s using **Outlook Express** : “MSISN.EXE”. I don’t know of any way to “fetch” an email like that in Outlook Express, there are a number of ways to do this in “regular” Outlook. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-crashed-any-chances-of-resurrecting-the-open-email/143055/5 "2002-12-17T00:33:20Z")
My bad, yes, I’m using OE. I found the database files associated with it, but no luck finding what I want. Oh well, I’ll just have to type it all out and be more careful in the future. Thanks anyway.