Import from Outlook Express

[Jack VS]

If Vista is so easy why is it so hard to transfer all your emails from one
computer to another without such a hassle. I've been on Vista for one day
and frankly everything seems hard to do. The easy transfer program moves
system settings but even that doesnt work good. Why can't microsoft with
40,000 programmers come up with an easy program to transfer OUTLOOK Express
from an old computer to Windows Mail on a new computer?

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

You say Easy Transfer didn't work good. In which way did it
not meet your expectations?

Gary VanderMolen

 

[Steve Cochran]

See if this helps: www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx

steve

 

[DGuess]

Windows Mail has a newer (to them) form of database. Each email is stored
separately.

Do the following:

1) Open Control Panel then select Folder Options.
a) click on the Views tab
b) Select "Show hidden files and folders"
c) Uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types"
d) click APPLY then OK.
e) Close Control Panel

2) From Windows Mail
a) Click on the Tools menu
b) click on Options
c) click on the Advanced tab
d) click the Maintenance button
e) click the Store Folders button.
f) make a note of the location of the message stores. It will be
something like:
C:\Users\<account name>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail
g) close Windows Mail

3) Open Windows Explorer

When it opens, you will see a small black triangle next to the user account
name. Click it to collapse it.

For the following, the triangle will not appear till you put the mouse over
the element in question.

Move the mouse to the "Computer" line. A triangle will appear, click on it
to expand it.

You should see something like "Local Disk (C"

Click on the triangle to expand it.

Locate "Users" and click on the triangle next to it to expand it.

Locate <username> and click on the triangle next to it to expand it.

Locate "AppData" and click on the triangle next to it to expand it.

Locate "Local" and click on the triangle next to it to expand it.
Locate "Microsoft" and click on the triangle next to it to expand it.

Now, in the right window pane, locate Windows Mail.
Click on it.

In the left window pane, scroll upward till you see "Local Disk (C"

Now, in the right window pane, hold them left mouse button down on the
Windows Mail folder.
Drag it to the "Local Disk (C" and release the mouse button.
Select MOVE Here.......

Now, this may take a bit to get done, depending upon how much mail is there.
Give it time.

Now, when it's done, create a new folder name Windows Mail to replace the
moved one in the
C:\Users\<account name>\AppData\Local\Microsoft folder.

Now start Windows Mail.
It will be empty but that's no biggie.

Create a couple of folders in Windows Mail and name them Old Mail, Old
Sent.
Click on the Old Mail folder to open it.


Resize Windows Mail so you can see both Windows Explorer and Windows Mail.

In the Windows Mail folder you will see a Local Folders folder, click the
triangle to expand it.

Locate the Inbox folder.
In this folder you will see a lot of .eml files. These are the old emails.
Drag and drop ONLY the .eml files to the Old Mail folder in Windows Mail.

Do similar for Sent Items to the Old Sent folder.

Now, see if Windows Mail works for you.

 

[DGuess]

Pasted in wrong one, use this one instead.


1) Create a folder in Explorer and name it C:\Old Mail

2) Copy ALL the dbx fles from OE6 to the C:\Old Mail folder on the Vista
machine. Be sure to include the Folders.dbx file, it is
required...................

3) File | Import | Messsages
4) Select MIcrosoft Outlook Express 6
5) Press NEXT
6) IMport mail from an OE6 store directory should be selected.
7) Press OK
8) Press BROWSE

Now, when you press the Browse button, Explorer will open.
There are three window panes. The two on the left are the ones we are
interested in and then only the one named FOLDERS is one we want to look
thrru, it's the one with the scrollbar.

At the top next to the forward and back buttons (two round buttons with
arrows) you should see an icon then your username and next to each of those
is a smal triangle.

On the triangle to the right of the icon, click on it and select Computer
Now, you should see the hard drive and the CD drives. double click on the C
drive icon. Probably named Local Disk (C

****
Now, in the right windows pane, you should see the Old Mail folder you
created and put the dbx files.
Double click on it to open it.

Ok, in the left windows pane, there should be some light highlighting for
the Old Mail folder to show it as selected.

At the bottom there is a line named Folder and probably shows Old Mail
listed there.

Delete the text Old Mail from the Folder line and then press the Select
Folder button on the botton right. Yes it should be empty.

When you select the Select Folder button, you are taken back to the browse
location and it should read C:\Old Mail

If it reads C:\Old Mail\Old Mail, go back and repeat the steps on the folder
select (just below the **** above.

If it does read C:\Old Mail then you are ready to finish the import.
Press NEXT and finish the import.

 

[annodomini]

DGuess,
You are the first person I've seen anywhere on the web on this subject
who has taken the time to show how to eliminate the annoying
duplication in the path, though there may have been others.
Consequently, yours is the first good bit of information to completely
show the process. Thank you for that. Your instructions work like a
charm. On some other discussion sites some people have just given a
blanket reference to the oehelp site, which merely says to "fix" the
duplication without saying how, and when it has been pointed out that
is not enough, some people have gotten a little snippy. Once again,
thanks for your good info.

 

[Guest]

Many, many thanks for these instructions. I've just copied my Outlook Express
emails from my old PC to my new laptop using just a memory stick, and then
into Windows Mail using your instructions.
Regards