You may receive the message “An error occurred while loading a file. AOL will attempt to restore the file” while trying to access your Personal Filing Cabinet (PFC) using the AOL® software for any one of several reasons. Given below are some solutions to resolve the issue. After trying the first solution, check whether you can access your PFC. If you are still not able to access your PFC, continue using the solutions until you are able to do so.
You may wish to print or save a copy of these instructions as this page may not remain visible as you go through the suggested steps.
Information you need
You will need to know what version of the Microsoft® Windows® operating system is installed on your computer. If you do not know how to find this information, follow the instructions given in the online help article How do I determine the version of Windows I have.
Solutions
Compact and then restore the PFC file
The e-mail messages in the PFC might not have been stored properly, which makes it difficult for the AOL software to read them. Compacting and then restoring the PFC regroups the e-mail messages and makes your PFC readable. The instructions to compact and then restore PFC are given in the help article How do I compact/restore the Filing Cabinet?
Restore the PFC file from a backup copy
The AOL software creates a backup copy of the PFC file every four weeks. You can restore your PFC file from this backup copy.
To restore the PFC file using AOL 9.0 or higher versions
1. Start the AOL software, but do not sign on.
2. Click the Mail menu, and then click Mail Settings.
3. Click the Manage Saved Mail drop-down menu, and then click Restore.
4. Click Yes.
5. Click Save. The PFC file has been restored now.
To restore the PFC file using AOL 8.0 or lower versions
1. Start the AOL software, but do not sign on.
2. Click the File menu, and then click Filing Cabinet.
3. Click the Manage drop-down menu, and then click Restore.
4. Click Yes.
5. Click X on the upper right to close open windows.
Back to Top
Manually restore the PFC file from a backup copy
The AOL software creates a backup copy of the PFC file every four weeks. You can restore your PFC file from this backup copy.
Note: You must sign off from the AOL® service to restore your PFC file.
To restore the PFC file from a backup copy using AOL 9.0 or higher versions
1. Click Start, click All Programs or Programs, click AOL, and then click AOL System Information.
Note: If you are unable to access AOL System Information, go to the help article Open Data Folder for instructions on how to manually open the Data Folder. Once done, click the Back button in the help article to return to this article, and then continue from step 8.
2. Click the Utilities tab.
3. In the AOL Utilities section, next to Close All AOL Programs, click Close AOL.
4. Click Continue.
5. Click OK.
6. Click the AOL Software tab.
7. Click Open Data Folder.
8. Double-click the backup folder.
9. Right-click the appropriate screen name file with no extension, and then click Copy.
10. Click Back.
11. Double-click the Organize folder.
12. Right-click, and then click Paste.
13. Click Yes, if prompted, to confirm file replacement.
14. Click X on the upper right to close open windows.
To restore the PFC file from a backup copy using AOL 8.0 or lower
1. Click Start, click All Programs or Programs, click AOL, and then click AOL System Information.
Note: If you are unable to access AOL System Information, go to the help article Open Data Folder for instructions on how to manually open the Data Folder. Once done, click the Back button in the help article to return to this article, and then continue from step 3.
2. Click Folder.
3. Double-click the backup folder.
4. Right-click the appropriate screen name file with no extension, and then click Copy.
5. Click Back.
6. Double-click the Organize folder.
7. Right-click, and then click Paste.
8. Click Yes, if prompted, to confirm file replacement.
9. Click X on the upper right to close open windows.
Back to Top
Search and manually restore the PFC file
If you do not have a backup copy of the PFC file or if the backup copy is corrupted, you can manually restore the PFC file from another copy. However, this can sometimes result in loss of data.
To manually restore Personal Filing Cabinet using of AOL 9.5 on Windows® 7
1. Click Start, and then click Computer.
2. On the upper right, in the Search Computer box, enter your screen name.
4. From the search results, select the screen name file with no extension. If there are multiple screen name files, select the most recently used screen name file or the one with the largest file size.
Note: If the search doesn't display any results, then you don't have a backup copy of your PFC and your PFC cannot be recovered.
5. Click the Organize drop-down menu, and then click Copy.
6. Click Start, click All Programs or Programs, click AOL, and then click AOL System Information.
Note: If you are unable to access AOL System Information, go to the help article Open Data Folder for instructions on how to manually open the Data Folder. Once done, click the Back button in the help article to return to this article, and then continue from step 8.
7. Click the AOL Software tab, and then click Open Data Folder.
8. Double-click the folder that corresponds to the version of the AOL software that you are using.
9. Right-click the Organize folder, and then click Paste.
10. Click Yes, if prompted, to confirm file replacement.
11. Click X on the upper right to close all open windows.
To manually restore Personal Filing Cabinet using any version of AOL 9.0 software on Windows Vista®
1. Click Start, and then click Search.
2. On the upper right, click the arrow next to Advanced Search.
3. Click the Location drop-down menu, and then click Computer. In the Name box, type your screen name, and then click Search.
4. Select the screen name file with no extension. If there are multiple screen name files, select the most recently used screen name file or the one with the largest file size.
Note: If the search doesn't display any results, then you don't have a backup copy of your PFC and your PFC cannot be recovered.
5. Click the Organize drop-down menu, and then click Copy.
6. Click Start, click All Programs or Programs, click AOL, and then click AOL System Information.
Note: If you are unable to access AOL System Information, go to the help article Open Data Folder for instructions on how to manually open the Data Folder. Once done, click the Back button in the help article to return to this article, and then continue from step 8.
7. Click the AOL Software tab, and then click Open Data Folder.
8. Double-click the folder that corresponds to the version of the AOL software that you are using.
9. Right-click the Organize folder, and then click Paste.
10. Click Yes, if prompted, to confirm file replacement.
11. Click X on the upper right to close all open windows.
To manually restore the Personal Filing Cabinet using any version of the AOL 9.0 or AOL 8.0 on Windows XP/2000/Me/98
1. Open the Search window:
- If you are using Windows XP, click Start, and then click Search or Start Search.
- If you are using Windows 2000/Me, click Start, select Search, and then click For Files or Folders.
- If you are using Windows 98, click Start, select Find, and then click Files or Folders.
2. Search for your screen name:
- If you are using Windows XP, on the Search Results window, click All files and folders. Type your screen name in the All or part of the file name box, and then click Search.
- If you are using Windows 2000/Me, type your screen name in the Search for files or folders named box, and then click Search Now.
- If you are using Windows 98, type your screen name in the Named box, and then click Find Now.
3. Select the screen name file with no extension. If there are multiple screen name files, select the most recently used screen name file or the one with the largest file size.
Note: If the search doesn't display any results, then you don't have a backup copy of your Filing Cabinet.
5. Click the Edit menu, and then click Copy.
6. Click Start, select ALL Programs or Programs, select America Online, and then click AOL System Information.
7. Click Data Folder.
Notes:
- If you are using AOL Optimized 9.0 SE/LE, click the WAOL tab, and then click Data folder.
- If you are using AOL 8.0, click Folder.
8. Double-click the folder that corresponds to the version of the AOL software that you are using.
9. Right-click the Organize folder, and then click Paste.
10. Click Yes, if prompted, to confirm file replacement.
Back to Top
Remove the PFC file for the affected screen name
The PFC file may be permanently corrupted and has to be removed from its default location for your mailbox to display correctly.
To move the PFC file to the desktop
1. Close the AOL software.
2. Click Start, click All Programs or Programs, click AOL, and then click AOL System Information.
Note: If you are unable to access AOL System Information, go to the help article Open Data Folder for instructions on how to manually open the Data Folder. Once done, click the Back button in the help article to return to this article, and then continue from step 4.
3. Open the Data folder:
- If you are using AOL 9.0VR or higher versions, click the AOL Software tab, and then click Open Data Folder.
- If you are using AOL 9.0 Optimized, click Data Folder.
- If you are using AOL 8.0 plus or lower versions, click Folder.
4. Right-click the screen name file that has no extension, and then click Cut.
5. On the upper right, click X to close the Organize window.
6. Click Close or X to close the AOL System Information window.
7. Start the AOL software as you normally would.
Note: Ensure that you do not sign on to the AOL software.
8. Click the File menu, and then click Open.
9. Locate the "[screenname].pfc" file located on your Desktop, and then click Open to access your old PFC file.
Note: You will have to repeat steps 7 to 9 every time you want to access your old PFC file.
Uninstall and then reinstall the AOL software
Uninstalling the AOL software removes all damaged and non-repairable files. Once the uninstallation is complete, reinstall a fresh copy of the AOL software.
Refer to our online help article Uninstall AOL software to uninstall and then reinstall the AOL software.
Back to Top
