Another OLK issue

[Guest Spoons]

Hi guys, hope you can help.

 

One of my users has an endless amount of problems with her PC. (I think most of which are ID-10-T issues) However in this case, it's kind of weird.

 

Her OLK is usually FULL of files and in her reluctance to slow down and save things to the hard drive, she has once again, worked on a spreadsheet (from Outlook) and saved it as she has in the past expecting to find it in the OLK.

 

For some strange reason, pretty much ALL of the files that were in the OLK have now dissapearred. Including the sheet she (and the COO) was working on for so long.

 

My question is (or questions rather), does or can Windows delete the OLK files at all for some reason OR would deleting the temp internet files delete the OLK content OR would a defrag have done anything silly with them (we defragged last week to try and fix the busted "BRAND NEW" PC, I think she's broken it.... AGAIN *sigh*)

 

Hope somebody can help, if not, does anybody require a new user at their site? I have one for ya

 

Spoons

[alexmvp]

Hey there, I feel your pain. I deal with users like this every day. First a few answers to your questions:

 

Will defrag remove the OLD folder? - No

Does Windows Delete the OLK files? Sometimes. The OLK folder is designed to just be a temp holding folder for files being worked on in Outlook, saved then sent out. When you close outlook the files are supposed to be deleted but that doesn't normally happen.

 

Does deleting the temp internet files delete the OLK content? - No

 

My advice is to be sure your looking in the correct OLK folder. If you delete the OLK folder Outlook will create a new one so you just need to make sure you are looking in the correct OLK file.

 

The best way to verify the location of the OLK folder is by looking in the Computer Registry and grabbing the location. Mrgroove wrote an article here with the various locations of the OLK folder: http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microso ... lk-folder/

 

Take a look there and it should point you right to the OLK folder.

 

If you goto the OLK folder and the files really are gone, you can use free tools to restore / undelete the files.

 

Is your user using Vista or XP? Outlook 2003 or 2007?

 

Hope we can help ya out !

[Guest Spoons]

Thanks Alexmvp

 

You did answer all my questions. She is using XP with Office 2003.

 

I did locate the OLK earlier from MrGroove's info (Thanks MrGroove) but if anybody is looking for an easier way, you could try OLK Finder 1.0 which I stumbled across after already locating it (link below) very simple little tool.

 

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/OLK-Finder.shtml

 

I was suprised though that deleting temp internet files doesn't delete the OLK contents (who'da thunk it?) being situated in the same folder and all.

 

I will contemplate restoring the files for her, but it might be the best way to get her to SAVE PROPERLY by making her re-do the sheet (nasty bugger I am)

 

Anyway, thanks heaps again for your help bud, really appreciate it.

 

Spoons

[Steve]

Hi Spoons! Welcome to the site!

 

Thanks for the tip on the OLK tool. Will check it out. Perhaps make an honorable mention in the article.

 

If your going to do a restore or at least see if the files are still there, take a look at these tools:

 

1 - http://www.recuva.com/ - Freeware and simple to use

2 - http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk - Open Source and very powerful

3 - http://undelete-plus.com/ - Freeware

 

Hope that helps ya!

[Guest freeche]

Would it be possible to redirect this "default auto save" location to a location that would be easier to find for the end user or is Outlook dependent on making it as hard as possible for the user to find it?

[alexmvp]

Would it be possible to redirect this "default auto save" location to a location that would be easier to find for the end user or is Outlook dependent on making it as hard as possible for the user to find it?

 

Yes. I'm pretty sure if you go into the Registry you can configure anywhere you want it to be placed.

 

Just open up the registry as outlined in this post here

 

It will be one of these paths probably:

 

Outlook 2002/XP HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Outlook\Security

Outlook 2003 HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security

Outlook 2007 HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Security

 

Then double click on the OutlookSecureTempFolder on the right side of the Registry Editor. From there you can change the path to anything you want. Just be sure to create the Folder before you do this so you can type it in.

 

But yeah, Microsoft makes it a bit cryptic that's for sure!

 

I installed Office on windows 7 and I already have 5 items in my OLK folder. Crazy security hazard if you ask me!

[Guest debbie]

I opened a PowerPoint presentation from Outlook and continued to Save the file as I worked on it. However, it turns out I mistakenly did not save the file properly - I was just saving it in Outlook. After reviewing all the other suggestions listed here, I located the OLK folder but my file is not there. I did find a shortcut to the file in the following path: Recent (C:Users\myname\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office). I tried sending the shortcut to the desktop and opening the file from there as suggested above but this did not work. Any suggestions to helping me revover this file? Thank you!

[alexmvp]

I opened a PowerPoint presentation from Outlook and continued to Save the file as I worked on it. However, it turns out I mistakenly did not save the file properly - I was just saving it in Outlook. After reviewing all the other suggestions listed here, I located the OLK folder but my file is not there. I did find a shortcut to the file in the following path: Recent (C:Users\myname\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office). I tried sending the shortcut to the desktop and opening the file from there as suggested above but this did not work. Any suggestions to helping me revover this file? Thank you!

 

Forget creating a shortcut, why not just navigate to the folder you found the file in and open it directly from there? Or, copy the file (right click copy) then Paste it on your desktop.

 

Does this not work?

 

BTW - the C:Users\myname\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office folder is probably the folder set as the default save folder for powerpoint. You might also try to find the default place for the AutoSave location (unless that's the location).