Re-link message header with body text in Windows Live Mail

Hi Dan Hemenway,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A Forum. I understand that you are experiencing an issue where email message headers do not match the body text.

This is a classic sign of database corruption within the Windows Live Mail index. Because Windows Live Mail is discontinued and no longer supported, there are no official patches for this. However, you can force the program to rebuild its index, which usually resolves this "linking" error.

Important Warning: Before proceeding, please backup your email data. Since the database is already corrupted, there is a small risk of data loss during the repair. If possible, export your mail or copy your entire Windows Live Mail folder to an external drive before deleting any files.

Here are the steps to rebuild the database:

1. Locate the Store Folder

• Close Windows Live Mail completely.
• On your keyboard, press the Windows Key + R to open the Run box.
• Type/copy the following path exactly and press Enter: %localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail

2. Delete the Corrupted Index

• This will open your storage folder. Look for the file named Mail.MSMessageStore (depending on your view settings, it might just be named Mail).
• Right-click this file and Delete it. Note: By deleting this, you are not deleting your actual emails (which are stored as individual .eml files), just the corrupted index list.
• Next, look for a folder named Backup inside this same directory. Open it and delete everything inside.

3. Trigger the Recovery

• Restart Windows Live Mail.
• The program will display a message saying "Recovering database...".
• Let this process finish. It may take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour depending on the size of your mailbox.
• Once it finishes, the headers should properly correspond to the correct body text.

Recommendation for the Future:

Please be aware that Windows Live Mail has been officially discontinued since 2017. It no longer receives security updates, and issues like this database corruption will likely become more frequent as Windows 10/11 continues to update.

I strongly recommend migrating to a modern email client, such as the Classic Outlook desktop app, to ensure your data remains safe and accessible in the future.

The initial response might not address the problem. So, if your problem persists or you need any assistance, feel free to ask me by clicking "Add Comment". Thanks for your effort.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Best regards.