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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
February 22, 2009
Q.
How can I move all my email addresses and
messages from an old computer to a new one?
I use Outlook Express.
A.
This is something that is often desired, but
not made very easy by Microsoft. If you try
to export the messages, the only choices you
are given is to export them to Microsoft
Outlook or Microsoft Exchange. Microsoft is
trying its best to get you to upgrade from
their free Outlook Express to one of their
paid email programs. However there are ways
around this limitation.
Microsoft
has a knowledgebase article (270670) that
tries to explain this process, and they say
it is for beginner to intermediate computer
users. They seem to make it a lot more
complicated that it needs to be, so I'll try
to explain it and make it easier to do for
the average user.
What we
will do is locate the folder where all the
email is stored, copy it to an external
device, and then simply restore it to the new
computer. The address book is even easier to
move.
First, we
have to locate the mail storage folder. It
is buried nine folders deep in the hierarchy
of the file system with some of the folders
having weird names that will not be the same
for all computers.
To get its location, open
Outlook Express click on Tools, then
Options, then the Maintenance tab.
Click on the Store Folder button and
although the location will be displayed, it
will be truncated and impossible to read as
displayed. Click on the location, start
copying it at the beginning, cursor
right and copy its entire length, It will be
something like this:
C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Local
Settings\Application
Data\Identities\{AF2CE56C-5333-425B-BA0B-AC18C3EE8567}\Microsoft\Outlook
Express.
Locate
and open that folder, you will find files
there with the names corresponding to the
folders you have in Outlook Express with
.dbx extension. Copy the entire contents of
that folder to a removable device like an
external USB drive, CD, network drive, thumb
drive, etc.
I would
suggest that you do not use a CD unless
there is no other choice since any file
copied from a CD will automatically have the
read only attribute set. Files will have to
be copied from the CD to the new computer
and then have the read only attribute reset
before they can be imported by Outlook
Express.
Now to
copy the address book, open Outlook Express,
click on the addresses icon, highlight Main
Identity, click File, Export, Address book (WAB),
and choose the external drive you want to
use to save the address book. Give the file
a name and click Save.
NOTE: The
above saving of email messages and contacts
has to be done for each identity if there
has been more than one created.
To import all the messages on the new
computer, open Outlook Express, select File,
Import, messages and choose Microsoft
Express 6 (or whatever version you exported
from if different than 6) and click Next.
Check the little box in front of Import mail
from an OE6 store directory and click Next.
Locate the external device where you
previously stored your messages, click Next
and your messages will be transferred.
Depending on the number of messages this
could go very fast or take some time to
complete.
To import the address book, click File,
Import, Address book, locate where you save
it previously, click Next and the address
book will be imported.
Now, configure the email accounts on the new
computer and you should be all set up with
an exact setting on the new computer that
you had on the old one.
The process is similar in Vista but since
there are no identities with Windows Mail,
the save and restore is done for each user
on the computer. To find the location of the
email store folder, open Windows Mail, click
Tools, Options, Advanced, Maintenance, and
then Store folder. The process is then
similar to with XP with one exception. The
contacts are exported in .csv files (Comma
Separated Values) instead of the wab
(Windows Address Book) .format.
Windows 7 will have no email program
included like previous versions of Windows.
The free email program from Microsoft
designated to be used with it is called Live
mail and is downloadable as part of
Microsoft's Live Essentials. I cover more on
that when Windows 7 is released.
It should also be noted that Windows Mail,
and Live Mail provide for importing from
previous versions to allow upgrading without
losing your email and contacts.
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