Is there anything else I can try?  This office does not have a backup

system for their emails (I know, not real smart).  Should I assume at

this point the emails are lost forever?

You might go through all of the files in the users mail directory that are not known files, i.e. odd extensions and open them with a ASCII editor to see if they look like a folder.   Open a PMM folder data file to see what one looks like, the long folder name will be the first thing in the file.  If you find the file save it with restore.pmm and create a zero byte restore.pmi file as well.  Now when you re-open WinPMail is will find the folder and you can re-index it to recover it.

If you can't find it this way then you might try using one of the various deleted messages recovery utilities on the users home mail directory to recover PMM/PMI type files.  If this does not work it's gone forever.

FWIW, I run Mercury with WinPMail and use a Mercury "always" filter to send a copy of all mail passing through the server (except the spam) to the archive user.  It's fairly easy for the postmaster to do and so all users mail can be recovered.

We use Pegasus mail v4.41 at work.  This problem occurred on a XP Pro SP3 box.  The user was closing pegasus and as he did so, he saw a "compressing folder" notice.  While waiting for this so called auto-compression to finish, pegasus crashed, closing itself.  The user re-opened the program to find an entire folder missing; it was just 14 emails but very important ones.  This happened a few days ago and the folder has not re-surfaced. 

The folder lost was not totally random he thinks.  He had moved an email from this now missing folder to another folder (which is still there).  After moving it, he closed pegasus and the crash occurred.

Any ideas on how to recover this folder?

We use Pegasus mail v4.41 at work.  This problem occurred on a XP

Pro SP3 box.  The user was closing pegasus and as he did so, he saw a

"compressing folder" notice.  While waiting for this so called

auto-compression to finish, pegasus crashed, closing itself.  The user

re-opened the program to find an entire folder missing; it was just 14

emails but very important ones.  This happened a few days ago and the

folder has not re-surfaced. 

The folder lost was not totally

random he thinks.  He had moved an email from this now missing folder

to another folder (which is still there).  After moving it, he closed

pegasus and the crash occurred.

Any ideas on how to recover this folder?

The first thing that comes to mind is that the hierarch.pm got trashed in the crash and so the folder is just missing from the list.  

Try  the following procedure.  This has worked for several others to restore the functionality of the  message folders:  

1.  Use Help | About Pegasus Mail | Info to determine your mail directory.  Exit Pegasus mail.

2.  Rename the file HIERARCH.PM in your HOME mail directory to HIERARCH.SAV.

3.  Run WinPMail.  Your HIERARCH.PM will be re-created and should start working correctly.

Note:  This will delete any tray structure you have created and it will have to be recreated.  The process will not affect any
          mail or mail folders you have, it only affects the display of the folders.   

If in fact the compression failed due a loss of connection to the network or a lack of disk space there mail be a temp file around in the users mailbox directory that can be used to recover the folder.  If not, then this means you'll have to use your backup data.

Hey thanks for the reply!

I followed your advice, step by step and did not see the missing emails appear.  There is also no temp folder inside his directory. 

Is there anything else I can try?  This office does not have a backup system for their emails (I know, not real smart).  Should I assume at this point the emails are lost forever?