outlook express copying

[procket52]

Sylvander I read your posts where you were trying to help Kenaba copy
Outlook Express from one machine to another. I must admit that you were
incredibly patient and very detailed. I guess what bothers me is how
complicated it is (or at least seems to be) to successfully complete what on
the surface seems like such a basic function. I guess Microsoft wants to
keep it difficult!!! I recently did
a NEW install of Windows XP on machine B. On B now resides Outlook Express
(OE) Ver 6 but it has no messages or folders or anything other than I have
established my wife as the main profile on OE and she in fact is receiving
messages so that part is working fine. Now for the difficult part. She
recently started to have problems with her main machine A and just before it
went down the tubes, we managed to make a copy of the contents of her OE
that is stored in a folder called Outlook Express and includes all the dbx
files including in box, sent, drafts, folders, deleted items etc We learned
about the secret location of the Outlook Express folders via a helpful
article in PC World (December 2002 by Scott Spanbauer). This folder
containing all the dbx files is now residing on my desktop on machine C.
The one item we did not make a copy of was her Address Book which is
evidently a WAB file and we will have to chase that another day. What I
would like to do is somehow get those dbx files that are currently on my
machine C over to the Outlook on machine B that is running XP. Do you think
this can be done and if so, how. I would be eternally grateful for your
advice. Regards. Peter.

[Sylvander]

1. The first problem I have is that I only have Windows 98, so I’ll be basing everything on my experience of that O/S.
You’d need to translate it to Win XP’s arrangement.

2. Next problem is the total size of the files. The e-mail files for my identity alone occupy 20 MB. If yours are anything like that you’ll need more than a floppy to copy them to on PC-C. Then you’ll need to be able to read them on PC-B [and PC-A perhaps]. Do you have a CD-R or RW? What method of transfer do you have available to you?

3. I have my drive partitioned to make the C: drive as small as possible.
[Advantages = smaller clusters therefore less wasted space; quicker defragmentation; smaller file allocation table therefore files are found faster; see http://tinyurl.com/f4bj ]
I only keep the Windows & Program Files [they occupy 95%] in that partition [plus a few odds and ends = 5%].
I used “TweakUI” & OE etc to move various data files off the C: partition.
THESE INCLUDE
a. A fixed size Swap File 2.5 times my RAM.
b. A backup copy of the files for the “Outlook Express Address Book”. [copy & paste]
c. The store location of e-mails for all “Outlook Express Identities”. [Moved using OE]
d. The store location for “Internet Explorer Favourites”. [Moved using “TweakUI”]
e. The store location for “Internet Explorer Temporary Internet Files” [Moved using IE]
f. The store location of “My Documents”. [Moved using “TweakUI”]
g. The Windows installation files. [copy & paste][I install windows from here using a DOS command and leave them here so when a file is needed it is fetched without the Windows CD being asked for.]
h. All the other bits & pieces of data files moved from the C: drive.

These are perhaps a side issue, but they are the software environment within which you may decide to work.
You should decide to do or not to do these things before or after dealing with the e-mails & address book.
They are part of the overall picture.

4. All you have to do is delete the original e-mail files [or to play safe temporarily move them to another location and delete them when the operation has been successfully completed] and paste the old ones into the correct folder for the identity. It’s simple if there is only one identity and more tricky when there are multiple identities.
To identify the location of the store folder for an identity:
Open Outlook Express for a selected identity then:
Go to “Outlook Express>Tools>Options>Mainteneance>Store Folder”
Here you can read the location of the store folder or click the “Change” button and select a new location.
You would previously have perhaps created a higherarchical set of folders to hold these.
Something like:
“My Data\Outlook Express\e-mails\For Identities\[Your Wife’s name]”.
I think OE moves them automatically to the new location. If it doesn’t, you may need to know where both locations are and Cut & Paste them manually from the old to the new.
When I moved mine, a single file remained in the old location and my guess is that the file tells OE the new location.
Hence OE jumps from the old to the new location every time it needs to read or write to the files.

5. On my PC the address book is at:
“C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book”.
There are two files with the extensions “.WAB” & “.WA~”.
You need to copy & paste these [at intervals of your choosing, as a backup] to a location of your making.
e.g. “My Data\Outlook Express\Address Book”.

[Paul Komski]

You can put the old/backup OE folder (the folder that contains the .dbx files) anywhere that you like; putting it an obviously-named folder of your choice will help you find it on your HDD.

Go into whichever identity you want to use these old messages.

Click on the "Store Folder" Button in OE as described by Sylvander and choose Change.

Browse to the location of your copied backup folder.

OE should recognise this as an OE Store Folder and prompt you as to whether you want to copy in your current emails or just use the ones in the new location that you have now pointed it to.

If you choose the new location then all your original backup messages should now appear in that identity's OE on re-opening it.

The store folder that had not been moved (the one that was setup by OE) will not be moved or deleted from it's original position under the cryptically named/numbered identity ascribed to it.

It is only the use of this cryptic folder name that makes it appear that M$ is "hiding" this folder. It is no longer obtuse once you click on the "Store Folder button.

[Sensuelo]

Check this site for info and inside tips on using Outlook Express:

http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com/