Copying Message Files to Outlook Express

The standard way of moving message folders from Outlook Express on one computer to another computer is to copy the files on the old computer to removable media and use the File|Import facility on the new one.  There are times, however, when this method does not work, such as when an error message is displayed when attempting to export the message folder or when the folders have been copied to removable media rather than exported and the disk on which they originally resided has been formatted.  This viewlet demonstrates a method which can be used to move these folders into the new Outlook Express installation.

The first part of the viewlet merely shows how to copy a folder to a floppy disk and then remove the folder from Outlook Express.  The purpose of this is merely to establish a scenario such as a user might encounter if the message folder exists only as a copy and not within Outlook Express.

Message folders, which have the extension .dbx, in Windows 9X reside on the hard disk in C:\Windows\Application Data\Identities\{---alphanumerics--}\Microsoft\Outlook Express.   In Windows XP they are at C:\Documents and Settings\Your account name\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{--alphanumeric--}\Microsoft\Outlook Express.   In order to move a copied folder into this folder and have Outlook Express recognize it simply copying it into the folder will not work.  Rather, it must be copied into a folder of the same name established in Outlook Express.

The first step in the process is to open Outlook Express.  Go to File|New|Folder.  When the Create Folder dialog opens, enter the name of the folder.  The name must be the name of the saved file without the extension.  The saved folder in the example is called 1Example.dbx so in the Create Folder dialog, 1Example is entered as the name of the folder.  In the folder tree below, click on the location within the hierarchy where the new folder is to be located.  Click OK and the new folder will appear in the listing.  Click the new folder to activate it then close Outlook Express.

Open Windows Explorer.  Scroll to the drive where the removable media is located.  Click the name of the saved file (1Example.dbx) to select it, then click File|Copy (or Ctrl-C) to copy the file to the Clipboard.  Now scroll down to the folder where the *.dbx files are stored.  Click to select the folder.  Then click File|Paste (or Ctrl-V) to paste the stored file into the folder.  Windows will display a warning that a file by that name already exists in the folder and ask if you wish to overwrite it.  Click "Yes" and the file will be copied. 

Now when you open Outlook Express and click on the copied folder, it will open and display the contents which were saved.  Note that this procedure will have to be done with each folder which has been saved to removable media.  It is not as effortless as the standard Export/Import but will prove invaluable if using the standard procedure is impossible for some reason.

To see these procedures illustrated in  a viewlet, go here.