Outlook 2000: exporting/importing mail account settings

[Martin Underwood]

Does Outlook 2000 have the ability to export its mail account settings
(especially the POP username and password) so they can be imported back into
Outlook 2000 after a reinstallation of Windows on the PC?

A customer of mine needs this facility: she doesn't know the password that
has been configured for accessing her POP account (Outlook is configured to
access POP/SMTP rather than Exchange server). The PC needs to be totally
reinstalled and I want a way of exporting the mail account settings (to an
IAF file, perhaps) and then importing it after the rebuild. If there is a
way of doing it, it saves the hassle of contacting her ISP to get them to
notify her of the password - especially as the PC currently cannot read her
mailbox...

I can't check in the help for my own copy of Outlook because that's Outlook
2002 rather than Outlook 2000.

Searching for phrases such as "save mail account", "export mail account" in
the MS KB doesn't return any *obvious* matches.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Does Outlook 2000 have the ability to export its mail account settings
(especially the POP username and password) so they can be imported
back into Outlook 2000 after a reinstallation of Windows on the PC?

No. The account settings are in the registry. For current Windows, the key
is
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows
Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\yourprofilename. It's conceivable you could
export that registry key and import it after th eupgrade, but I don't think
it retains the passwords at any rate.

If you can display the account settings with the password showing as
asterisks, you may be able to learn what it is with a tool like Asterisk Key
from http://www.lostpassword.com/asterisk.htm

 

[Martin Underwood]

No. The account settings are in the registry. For current Windows, the
key is
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows
Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\yourprofilename. It's conceivable you could
export that registry key and import it after th eupgrade, but I don't
think it retains the passwords at any rate.

If you can display the account settings with the password showing as
asterisks, you may be able to learn what it is with a tool like Asterisk
Key from http://www.lostpassword.com/asterisk.htm

Your reply is very interesting, because when I had chance to play with the
customer's Outlook 2000 (my own Outlook is 2002), I found Import and Export
buttons on Tools | Accounts. I was able to select each email account in
turn, Export it to an .iaf file and then (after the rebuild) Import it back
into Outlook. Passwords were preserved.

Strangely, Microsoft seem to have removed this very useful feature from
Outlook 2002... That's "progress" for you!

 

[Brian Tillman]

Your reply is very interesting, because when I had chance to play
with the customer's Outlook 2000 (my own Outlook is 2002), I found
Import and Export buttons on Tools | Accounts.

That's because the customer's Outlook 2000 is installed in Internet Mail
Only mode, which tries to mimic Outlook Express in many ways. Had Outlook
2000 been installed in Corporate and Workgroup mode, that option would not
have been there because there would no longer have been any "Accounts" item
on the Tools menu. It would have been replaced with "Services".

Strangely, Microsoft seem to have removed this very useful feature
from Outlook 2002... That's "progress" for you!

Outlook 2002 doesn't have different modes and doesn't try to imitate Outlook
Express.

 

[Martin Underwood]

Outlook 2002 doesn't have different modes and doesn't try to imitate
Outlook Express.

Which is a shame when you want to use it as means of accessing internet
(POP3) mail - in that case it's useful to be able to preserve the accounts
settings across an intervening rebuild, without having to re-enter
everything manually. Most details such as POP logon ID and server names can
easily be copied down, but not so with the password. And customers very
rarely seem to have any record of their dial-up or POP passwords in case you
need to re-install ;-)

Maybe Microsoft want to position Outlook Express as the POP3 mail client and
Outlook as the Exchange mail client. (I know that Outlook is a lot more that
simply a mail client - such as calendar, task monitor - but many home users
have never explored beyond its mail capabilities.)

I had a worrying phone call today from the customer I was dealing with the
other day that prompted my original question. She reported that since I'd
reinstalled the PC and reinstated the saved mail etc (by importing the saved
..pst file) she couldn't find her address book. Had it failed to import when
I imported the mail, I wondered. Fortunately all she meant was that there
was no "address book" (open book) icon on the toolbar, which someone must
have added for her before. Easily fixed! Then there was the other "gotcha" -
when Outlook (and maybe Outlook Express, I forgotten) is installed in
Internet Only mode, the default is for it to drop the dial-up connection
every time it's finished up- and downloading email :-( I can understand why
this feature might *occasionally* be useful, but to make it the default is
just plain stupid if you want to remain connected to browse the web.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Which is a shame when you want to use it as means of accessing
internet (POP3) mail - in that case it's useful to be able to
preserve the accounts settings across an intervening rebuild, without
having to re-enter everything manually. Most details such as POP
logon ID and server names can easily be copied down, but not so with
the password. And customers very rarely seem to have any record of
their dial-up or POP passwords in case you need to re-install ;-)

That's where a tool like Asterisk Key
(http://www.lostpassword.com/asterisk.htm) can help.

Maybe Microsoft want to position Outlook Express as the POP3 mail
client and Outlook as the Exchange mail client. (I know that Outlook
is a lot more that simply a mail client - such as calendar, task
monitor - but many home users have never explored beyond its mail
capabilities.)

You'd be surprised. I find its calendaring and contacts handling quite
valuable in a home environment, not to mention the tasks. The "Honey-Do"
list can't get lost that way. (Darn!)