Outlook Express (transferring Address Book)

[Dean]

I am attempting to transfer my address book from my desk top to my laptop.
Both are running Window XP. I am working off of directions 'How to back up
and to restore Outlook Express data', that I found on a forum. I have done
the 'export to a backup folder' on the desktop. How do I now get that
information to the laptop so that I can 'import' that backup folder.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I am attempting to transfer my address book from my desk top to my laptop.
Both are running Window XP. I am working off of directions 'How to back
up
and to restore Outlook Express data', that I found on a forum. I have
done
the 'export to a backup folder' on the desktop. How do I now get that
information to the laptop so that I can 'import' that backup folder.

I would post this question in an Outlook Express newsgroup. It's a very busy
group with lots of expert respondents.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I am attempting to transfer my address book from my desk top to my laptop.
Both are running Window XP. I am working off of directions 'How to back
up
and to restore Outlook Express data', that I found on a forum. I have
done
the 'export to a backup folder' on the desktop. How do I now get that
information to the laptop so that I can 'import' that backup folder.

Outlook Express uses the Windows Address Book (WAB) for addresses and stores
them in "*.wab" files. This is a completely different application, and
you can locate it by opening WAB, (start, run, WAB) and then going to Help,
About. The file location is listed there.

Go to that location, copy the file to some sort of movable media, take that
to another system, import it. You're done.

Note, however, that OE and WAB do a very bad job of maintining folders -
folders are thrown away on export and import. Groups are maintained, but
if you've arranged names in folders, you will be left with one large group
and no folders at all.

HTH
-pk

 

[Bruce Hagen]

I am attempting to transfer my address book from my desk top to my laptop.
Both are running Window XP. I am working off of directions 'How to back
up
and to restore Outlook Express data', that I found on a forum. I have
done
the 'export to a backup folder' on the desktop. How do I now get that
information to the laptop so that I can 'import' that backup folder.

Open the Address Book | File | Export | Address Book (wab) either to a CD,
or another location on your HDD and burn from there. Copy the CD to a folder
on the new machine. Right click on it | Properties and remove the Read Only
attribute. Open the Address Book | File | Import | Address Book (wab) and
point to where you saved it.

 

[Ramesh Srinivasan, MS-MVP]

Hi Dean,

If you export Contacts to a .csv file, note that the contact groups are not
transferred. Import the .wab file instead. See:

Contact Groups not Transferred when you Export the Address Book to a CSV
file - The Winhelponline Blog:
http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/c...en-you-export-the-address-book-to-a-csv-file/

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Hi Dean,

If you export Contacts to a .csv file, note that the contact groups are
not transferred. Import the .wab file instead. See:

There's more to this problem. In exporting and/or importing as you
describe, not to csv, even just opening the WAB file on another system,
folders - not groups - will be lost. The folder information seems to be
stored somewhere else and is not transferred. Groups *are* maintained.

I use OE for a specific mailing list task, there are around 1200 names in
the entire file, and I quickly learned to use groups instead of folders.

-pk

Contact Groups not Transferred when you Export the Address Book to a CSV
file - The Winhelponline Blog:
http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/c...en-you-export-the-address-book-to-a-csv-file/

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Folders will neither export nor import, Patrick.
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002
AumHa VSOP & Admin http://aumha.net
DTS-L http://dts-l.net/

Hi Dean,

If you export Contacts to a .csv file, note that the contact groups are
not transferred. Import the .wab file instead. See:

There's more to this problem. In exporting and/or importing as you
describe, not to csv, even just opening the WAB file on another system,
folders - not groups - will be lost. The folder information seems to be
stored somewhere else and is not transferred. Groups *are* maintained.

I use OE for a specific mailing list task, there are around 1200 names in
the entire file, and I quickly learned to use groups instead of folders.

-pk

Contact Groups not Transferred when you Export the Address Book to a CSV
file - The Winhelponline Blog:
http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/c...en-you-export-the-address-book-to-a-csv-file/


--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
The Winhelponline Blog http://www.winhelponline.com/blog

I am attempting to transfer my address book from my desk top to my
laptop.
Both are running Window XP. I am working off of directions 'How to back
up
and to restore Outlook Express data', that I found on a forum. I have
done
the 'export to a backup folder' on the desktop. How do I now get that
information to the laptop so that I can 'import' that backup folder.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Folders will neither export nor import, Patrick.

Yes, I know, which leads me to wonder why they were used.

-pk

--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002
AumHa VSOP & Admin http://aumha.net
DTS-L http://dts-l.net/

Hi Dean,

If you export Contacts to a .csv file, note that the contact groups are
not transferred. Import the .wab file instead. See:

There's more to this problem. In exporting and/or importing as you
describe, not to csv, even just opening the WAB file on another system,
folders - not groups - will be lost. The folder information seems to be
stored somewhere else and is not transferred. Groups *are* maintained.

I use OE for a specific mailing list task, there are around 1200 names in
the entire file, and I quickly learned to use groups instead of folders.

-pk

Contact Groups not Transferred when you Export the Address Book to a CSV
file - The Winhelponline Blog:
http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/c...en-you-export-the-address-book-to-a-csv-file/


--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
The Winhelponline Blog http://www.winhelponline.com/blog


I am attempting to transfer my address book from my desk top to my
laptop.
Both are running Window XP. I am working off of directions 'How to
back
up
and to restore Outlook Express data', that I found on a forum. I have
done
the 'export to a backup folder' on the desktop. How do I now get that
information to the laptop so that I can 'import' that backup folder.