Outlook crashed again yesterday. First, all images disqappeared, replaced by the ?. Normally this is cured by re-starting the computer, but immediately Outlook automatically began rebuilding the Main Identity and the database. The identity it chose was December 2013, so all emails from that date until today were lost. Then I found Outlook had somehow done this twice. Connecting to my ISP, Outlook downloaded 1534 e-mails which proved to be 767 twice.Connecting to my ISP, Outlook downloaded 1534 e-mails, which proved to be 767 twice.

Today I tried to rebuild the identity by going back in Time Machine to half a day before the crash. But the problem was which Identity to chose to Restore. There are 36 identities in Documents>MS user data>Office 2011 Identities. I chose the latest dated backup, but when I hit Restore in Time Machine, I did not get the option to save to Desktop (where I should re-name it and drag it into the Identities folder)

I then tried to rebuild the database by selecting the latest backup in the Identities folder, but again, this took me back to 2013, not the date of the backup (July 2015). I've now got a gap of a year in my Inbox, and no Sent items since October 2013. In the left side panel, under Net, there is an ever-increasing list of Inbox 1, Inbox 1.1, Inbox 1.1.1, Inbox 1.1.1.1 etc till it starts Inbox 2, 2.1 etc...

What I need to do is restore and rebuild the database where it was at the last time all emails were correctly in place. But which Identity to choose? What to do - try to restore from Time Machine or rebuild from the folder?  This is the third time this has happened, and each time I lose a chunk of emails.