re :For some reason, and I do not know how I managed to fat finger this, the sent folder has split itself in eight separate yearly folders and placed all the emails into those 8 archive folders.

Sounds like whilst you were in the 'Sent' folder you did this:

• Used 'Ctrl+A' to select all in folder and then pressed 'A' again which is the shortcut keyboard instruction to 'Archive'.

To be honest and straight forward, it's actually a good idea to use folders to organise and store emails. In other words words use the 'Inbox' as the folder for new unsorted incoming emails that need reading etc but then move to specific folders to make it easy to locate emails. Eg: Folders such as 'Family', 'Friends', 'Hobby group', 'Online Orders' etc

When it comes to folders like 'Sent' using the archive option is handy, although perhaps it might be more useful to have the current year emails still in the original 'Sent' folder.

• Access the Archive subfolder year 2023
• click on first email in that folder to get focus on the email list
• Use 'Ctrl+A' to select all emails in that folder
• Right click on highlighted emails and choose 'Move to' and select 'Sent' folder on the account.

Why do I say it's better to not store all received emails no matter what age in the 'Inbox' or store all sent emails in just the 'Sent' folder? The emails are not stored as separate files in a folder. The emails are stored in a single text file called 'Inbox'. This means it is one single document and each received email is just a bunch of text appended to the bottom of that text file. It means you have all your eggs in one basket. It is the most risky method to use. If the file gets too large it can become very difficult to open because it is just a single text file. If you do not compact on a regular basis then that text file can be very messy containing old residual traces of deleted emails and it's even larger than it needs to be. It's more prone to getting corrupted. If Anti-Virus decides somethingis wrong with that file then you may lose everything because Anti-Virus does not understand the file contains more than one email.

So please seriously consider creating new folders and organising emails that are in Inbox to get put into folders. This means all your emails are spread across several files instread of just one.

Hi, Thanks for your prompt reply. In following your instructions, I now have all emails received in my inbox. How do I get copies of all my emails sent back into the sent box?

Same process.

If Archived sent emails are here: Archives >> 2023 >> >>'Sent'

• Select that 'Sent' folder.
• Click on an email in that sent folder to get focus on the list
• Use 'Ctrl+A' to select all emails in that folder
• Right click on higlighted emails and select 'Move to' > choose Sent folder on account.

I have now unexpectedly come across another problem. The send and Send and Attach buttons on any email that I seek to write have disappeared. How can I fix this? Baby steps please leading to a solution