Importing messages from Outlook Express

  • Thread starter Thread starter James
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J

James

How Do I Import All My Messages From Outlook Express?
The Import Tool In Outlook Doesn't Promp Me For The Folder That My Outlook
Express Files Are In?
Is There A Trick To This?
Jim
 
If importing to a new computer use steps 1 and 2. If not, skip to 3

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.
 
Hi, Jim.
The Import Tool In Outlook Doesn't Promp Me...
Click to expand...

Outlook is a part of Microsoft Office and runs in both Windows XP and in
Vista. But it is quite different from Outlook Express, which is a part of
WinXP, and Windows Mail, which is the re-written-for-Vista version of
Outlook Express. Which program are you asking about? Outlook 2007 (or
Outlook 2003 or Outlook XP or another version of Outlook), or Outlook
Express? Or Windows Mail? Since this newsgroup is only for help with Vista
Mail, I'll assume that is what you are asking about.

In Windows Mail, click File | Import | Messages | Microsoft Outlook Express
6 | Next | Import mail from an OE6 store directory | OK. And then Browse to
the folder where your OE6 message store resides. (If you don't know which
folder that is, then reboot into Windows XP and run OE6. In OE6, click
Tools | Options | Advanced | Maintenance | Store Folder; this will tell you
the complete path to your OE6 store folder. Copy this pathname - onto paper
or into a file, such as a Notepad file, that will be available to Vista
after you reboot). After rebooting into Vista, be sure that you have
permission to view the files in that folder. Then start Mail and the Import
process again. Browse to that store folder and you should be able to see
your OE6 mail files. You should be able to import email messages, but not
Newsgroup posts.

The only "trick" to this job is making sure that you have permission to read
the OE6 store folder. Many users first copy all the .dbx files (including
the very important Folders.dbx file) from there into a folder that they can
access from Vista, then Importing from there into Windows Mail.

The Windows Mail database is organized quite differently from the OE
database. Instead of one large .dbx file (per folder) with perhaps
thousands of messages, WM uses thousands of individual .eml files holding a
single message each. Because of the per-file housekeeping overhead, the
Import process might take several minutes - or even hours if you import a
lot of messages - but this job should need to be done only once.
Afterwards, you will be in much less danger of losing all the messages if a
glitch damages just one of them.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Mail in Vista Ultimate x64)
 
WOW! It worked perfectly! I've been pulling my hair out for days trying to
get my old Outlook imported to Windows Mail. This was absolutely painless!
Thank you so much!
Kind regards,
Marleen
:-)
 
Thank you so much James. This is the first good help that I found.
I'm so glad I finally could import my messages in WM.
Its very sad tho that Microsoft made such a mess of WM. That it has to be so
difficult to do something so easy so wrong.

Thanks again
 
Actually my question was import my windows 98 (office 2000) messages to
windows XP. I now have Office 2003. I don't know if this slutio will work
for me. I tried the impot and I got the prompt as where to take the files
from but when the import is completed there are some very old that are not
currenly in my mail boxes and noe of the current mail comes over.

Win
 
Outlook questions are better handled in the Outlook newsgroup:

news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.outlook.general
 
Outstanding!!! I followed your instructions and it worked perfectly. Thank
you, Thank you!!!
 
Very good help!
I now have the following problem.
Not all information is taken over.
For example: the account column info is not taken over in the mails.
Also messages on which i sent a reply or forwarded on my old computer are
not marked anymore with the special icons to show this.

I exported my accounts with the Extra tools in OE6 and imported them in Mail
also via Extra,..

Lukecal
 
Elinee said:
Thank you so much James. This is the first good help that I found.
I'm so glad I finally could import my messages in WM.
Its very sad tho that Microsoft made such a mess of WM. That it has to be so
difficult to do something so easy so wrong.

Thanks again
Click to expand...
 
Help - I dont have the folders.dbx file - can I create a new one?? I really
need to get to these messages, but no chance of getting this file back now.

Kate English
 
Kate English said:
Help - I dont have the folders.dbx file - can I create a new one?? I
really
need to get to these messages, but no chance of getting this file back
now.
Click to expand...


You can use one of these programs to extract all the messages from a DBX
file and then drag them into a folder in WinMail.

DBXtract ($7): http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtract/Default.aspx
There is also a free alternative to DBXtract, though not for DBXpress:
http://www.insideoe.com/resources/tools.htm#macallan but I can't vouch for
it.
DBXpress: ($25) http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
 
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