Lost Outlook Express E-Mail Folders

[Len]

Converted from Windows 98 to XP. Everything went fine
except I lost our existing mail folders. They have to be
somewhere! Please help! (Thanks)

 

[Robert Findlay [MSFT]]

What you need to do is search your harddrive for "*.dbx". Outlook Express
stores e-mail in database files that have a .dbx extenstion. For every
folder in Outlook Express there will be an associated .dbx file, such as
Inbox.dbx, Outbox.dbx......etc.
1. Go to Start -> Search.
2. Click on "All files and folders" under What do you want to search for?
3. On the Menu bar at the top of the window Click on Tools -> Folder
Options -> View tab.
4. Under Advanced Settings, Select "Show hidden files and folders" and
Uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types".
5. Click Ok to close the Folder Options window.
6. Enter *.dbx in the "All or part of the file name:" box.
7. Make sure the "Look in:" box has the hardrive selected.

Once the search has completed you should see all of the .dbx files on the
computer. Look at the modified date to find the files that were last
modified before you upgraded. Once you find them write down the location
listed in the "In Folder" column. Now you can open Outlook Express and
import the old database files:
1. Open Outlook Express.
2. Go to File -> Import -> Messages.
3. Select Microsoft Outlook Express 6 and Click Next.
4. Select Import mail from an OE6 store directory and Click Ok.
5. Click the Browse button and navigate to the location you wrote down
above and Click Ok.
6. Click Next and complete the Import.

I hope this information is helpful.

Robert Findlay
Partner Technical Lead -- Outlook/Office Setup
Microsoft Technical Support for Platforms and Business Applications


--------------------