Can't close a personal folder

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To retrieve an old email, I placed a backup .pst file on my desktop
and opened it from within Outlook 2003. I found the message I wanted
and then deleted the .pst file before closing it from within Outlook.

Now I can't "close" the folder. If I right-click on it (in the list
under "All Mail Folders") and click "Close" from the context menu, I
get an error message: "The operation failed. An object could not be
found." If i left-click on it, the error message is "The set of
folders could not be opened." If I click on the +, it's "Unable to
expand the folder. The set of folders could not be opened."

I have this problem even if I put the .pst file back onto the desk
top.

Is there another way I can remove these folders?

Thanks in advance,
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[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Perfect recipe for corrupting a profile. Create a new one if the reference
to the deleted file bothers you.

 

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Thanks for the quick reply. I won't want to go that route if creating
a new profile means losing all my data (guess I'll find out when I
look up how to do it).

For my future reference: is there a better way to do what I was trying
to do? I've done it lots of times before without making the dumb
mistake I did this time. Is Outlook so unforgiving?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Outlook is indeed very unforgiving. You must always close a PST file from
Outlook before you delete it.
Creating a new profile is very simple. You won't lose any data. Just set the
new profile to use your current data file.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;829918&Product=out2003

 

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I took your advice and created a new profile, then imported all my
data from the old pst file. Everything seems to be there except for my
email account information, which I suppose I'll now have to manually
re-enter.

There are now 2 pst files in my Outlook folder: outlook.pst and
outlook1.pst. I assume outlook1.pst is the one the program is now
using.

If I delete outlook.pst, can I rename outlook1.pst to outlook.pst, or
will that just screw everything up again?

Thanks so much for your help
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[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

You should never import a PST. That's another sure way to corrupt a profile.
You should just open a PST then set it to be the default. After you restart
Outlook, you can then close the original PST.
At this point, just look in the properties of the root folder in Outlook and
see which one Outlook is currently using as its default. See if your profile
has more than one PST in it. It most likely does if you imported a PST. If
so, see if you can close the one Outlook is not using as its default.