recovering DBX files???

[bilglas]

From the good ol' days using Outlook Express on my XP, I have archived onto
DVDs some old DBX files.

Is there ANY way, now, using Vista and Windows Mail, to retrieve the e-mails
in those DBX files? Just as an example, if there's no easy way to do it
directly, I might use Outlook 2007 (which I have, but don't use) to import
the archived e-mails from these DBX files, and then I could import them into
WinMail from Outlook? I'll be happy to jump through any kind of hoops, to
make this happen.

Thanks!

bilglas

 

[Steve Vogel]

Set up a folder in your Documents space, then copy the DBX files into
that folder. Make sure you have a valid folders.dbx file and the the
files are write enabled. In Windows Mail, do a File | Import and
import from the folder you created. You cannot import directly off
the DVD.

SV

 

[bilglas]

Thanks, Steve, but that didn't work. That's what I tried three months ago,
with the same results I'm getting now ... I was just hoping that there was
some NEW answer.

When I follow the procedure you've described, I select the folder I've
created that contains all these DBX files, and receive the following
message: "No messages can be found in this folder or another application is
running that has the required files open. Please select another folder or
try closing applications that may have files open." (No, there is NOT any
other application open that's using these files.)

Would be grateful for any other thoughts.........

bilglas

=================================

 

[Britt]

Set up a folder in your Documents space, then copy the DBX files into
that folder. Make sure you have a valid folders.dbx file and the the
files are write enabled. In Windows Mail, do a File | Import and
import from the folder you created. You cannot import directly off
the DVD.

SV

I think I am being really stupid here I found the folders of mail I want to
bring over Vista put them on the desktop. I then have put them in the
Documents folder on the computer . I then tried to import them from Windows
Mail import feature with no success. The file names are PrintQ, can you
walk me through this step by step??

 

[Steve Cochran]

See www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx#oe2wm and follow the steps exactly.

steve

 

[Steve Cochran]

See www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx#oe2wm and follow the steps exactly. Make
sure you include folders.dbx, the files are not read only, and check the
part on that page in red to ensure that you have the path correctly
stipulated.

steve

 

[Steve Vogel]

Steve is correct below - that's how I got mine done. You do have to
monkey with the folder/file addresses to get it right. It took me
about 3 times.

 

[R. C. White, MVP]

Hi, bilglas.

message: "No messages can be found in this folder

Yeah, that happened to me, too. Many times! FINALLY I figured out that it
was because I had not given myself permission to see into that folder.

As a one-man, one-computer kind of guy with no users but me and no net but
the Internet, I never had to learn much about permissions and stuff before
Vista. But when I ran into this Import Mail problem, I had to learn a
LITTLE bit about it.

Next time, when you browse to the folder you know is the right one and you
get the message that there are no such files there, right-click on the
folder, then Properties | Security and be sure that you have permission to
see those files. You might need to take ownership of the folder or the
volume it is on. (My knowledge of the exact steps here is still pretty
hazy; if you have trouble, post back and someone should be able to help you
figure it out.)

When you finally manage to see those files and import them, be prepared for
a long wait, possibly. OE stored thousands of emails in a single large .dbx
file; WM stores them as thousands of small one-message .eml files. It takes
a lot longer to process the overhead for 100,000 1 KB .eml files than for
one big 100 MB .dbx file. If you have a lot of messages to import, it might
take hours. And don't bother to import newsgroup files; you will need to
download those from the news server again, anyhow. The only reason to
import NG files is if your archives include some important ones that are no
longer available on the server. Here again, WM stores them as many small
..nws files and importing thousands of them can take a long time.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail desktop beta in Vista Ultimate x64)