Outlook Express and Windows Mail Backup

Outlook Express has been replaced by Windows Live Mail, an improved e‑mail program with enhancements such as junk e‑mail filtering and protection against phishing messages and it also has the ability to automatically configure itself to work with many popular e‑mail services.

Moving or Backing up Email Files

There are several approaches, naturally, but in a nutshell we'll locate the folders on the old machine, copy them to the new machine, and then import them. And then we'll do something similar for the address book.  For those of you that have Blocked Senders set up or email rules in place, there is a procedure at the bottom of this article on how to backup and restore these settings as well.

Step 1: Copy message files to a backup folder

• Step A: Locate the Store folder

1. Start Outlook Express.
2. Click Tools, and then click Options.
3. On the Maintenance tab, click Store Folder. In the Store Location dialog box, copy the store location.
4. Click Cancel, and then click Cancel again to close the dialog box.

• Step B: Copy the contents of the Store folder

1. Click Start, click Run, paste into the search bar, and then click OK.
2. On the Edit menu, click Select All.
3. On the Edit menu, click Copy, and then close the window.

• Step C: Create a backup folder

1. Right-click any empty area on your desktop, click New, and then click Folder.
2. Type Mail Backup for the folder name, and then press ENTER.

• Step D: Paste the contents of the Store folder into the backup folder

1. Double-click the Mail Backup folder to open it.
2. Right-click inside the Mail Backup folder window, and then click Paste.

Step 2: Export the Address Book to a .csv file

Important: Make sure that you follow this step if you use multiple identities in Outlook Express.

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.x and Microsoft Outlook Express 6.0 use a Windows Address Book (.wab) file to store Address Book data. The individual data for each identity is stored in a folder by user name within the .wab file that is used.

The only way to separate the Address Book data for different identities is to export the data to a .csv file while you are logged in as a specific identity. If the .wab file becomes dissociated from the user identities, the data can be exported only as one total. In this case, the data cannot be exported folder by folder.

There is another reason to export the .wab file to a .csv file. If the .wab file not exported to a .csv file, but the .wab file is shared with Microsoft Outlook, the addresses are stored in the personal folders (.pst) file in Outlook. When you export the file to a .csv file by using the File menu in Outlook Express, the correct contacts are exported. However, if the Address Book is shared with Outlook, you cannot use the File menu option to export from the Address Book. This option is unavailable.

To export the Address Book to a .csv file, follow these steps:

• On the File menu, click Export, and then click Address Book.
• Click Text File (Comma Separated Values), and then click Export.
• Click Browse.
• Select the Mail Backup folder that you created.
• In the File Name box, type address book backup, and then click Save.
• Click Next.
• Click to select the check boxes for the fields that you want to export, and then click Finish.
• Click OK, and then click Close.

Step 3: Export the mail account to a file

• On the Tools menu, click Accounts.
• On the Mail tab, click the mail account that you want to export, and then click Export.
• In the Save In box, select the Mail Backup folder, and then click Save.
• Repeat these steps for each mail account that you want to export.
• Click Close.

Step 4: Export the newsgroup account to a file

• On the Tools menu, click Accounts.
• On the News tab, click the news account that you want to export, and then click Export.
• In the Save In box, select the Mail Backup folder, and then click Save.
• Repeat these steps for each news account that you want to export.
• Click Close.

Restoring Email Files

Note To restore items when you use multiple identities in Outlook Express, you may have to re-create the identities before you follow these steps. Repeat each step as needed for each identity.

Step 1: Import messages from the backup folder

• On the File menu, point to Import, and then click Messages.
• In the Select an e-mail program to import from box, click Microsoft Outlook Express 5 or Microsoft Outlook Express 6, and then click Next.
• Click Import mail from an OE5 store directory or Import mail from an OE6 store directory, and then click OK.
• Click Browse, and then click the Mail Backup folder.
• Click OK, and then click Next.
• Click All folders, click Next, and then click Finish.

Step 2: Import the Address Book file

• On the File menu, click Import, and then click Other Address Book.
• Click Text File (Comma Separated Values), and then click Import.
• Click Browse.
• Select the Mail Backup folder, click the address book backup.csv file, and then click Open.
• Click Next, and then click Finish.
• Click OK, and then click Close.

 Step 3: Import the mail account file 

• On the Tools menu, click Accounts.
• On the Mail tab, click Import.
• In the Look In box, select the Mail Backup folder.
• Click the mail account that you want to import, and then click Open.
• Repeat these steps for each mail account that you want to import.
• Click Close.

Step 4: Import the newsgroup account file

• On the Tools menu, click Accounts.
• On the News tab, click Import.
• In the Look In box, select the Mail Backup folder.
• Click the news account that you want to import, and then click Open.
• Repeat these steps for each news account that you want to import.
• Click Close.
• Backing Up Blocked Senders List and Other Email Rules
• The Blocked Senders List
• Click Start, and then click Run.
• In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
• Locate and click the following registry subkeys (save each key to a different file):
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{Identity Number}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Block Senders
• On the Registry menu, click Export Registry File.
• In the Save In box, change the location to your desktop.
• In the File Name box, type blocked senders.reg (for the Block Senders key), and then click Save.
• Other Mail Rules
• Click Start, and then click Run.
• In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
• Locate and click the following registry subkeys (save each key to a different file):
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{Identity Number}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Rules\Mail
• On the Registry menu, click Export Registry File.
• In the Save In box, change the location to your desktop.
• In the File Name box, type mail rules.reg (for the mail rules key), and then click Save.
• On the Registry menu, click Exit
• How to Restore the Existing Blocked Senders List and Other Mail Rules to Function on the Newly Installed Operating System
• Open Outlook Express on the new computer, and complete the Internet Connection Wizard to set up your Identity and account information. If you had multiple identities in the previous installation, complete these steps for each Identity. To do this:
• Click Start, and then click Run.
• In the Open box, type notepad.exe.
• Click Open on the File menu, and then locate the Block Senders.reg file that you created.
• In the second line of text, select the text after "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identity\" that includes the braces {}. On the Edit menu, click Copy to copy this text to the Microsoft Windows Clipboard.
• On the Edit menu, click Replace. Click your pointer in the Find what box, and then click Paste on the Edit menu to paste the text into that box. Do not close the Notepad application until you are directed to do so later in this process.
• Start Registry Editor on the new computer (as in step 1 of "The Blocked Senders List" section), and locate the HKEY_Current_User\Identities folder. Double-click the User ID key in the right pane, and then click the Value data.
• Press CTRL+C to copy that value to the Windows Clipboard. Click Cancel to close the Edit String dialog box, and then close Registry Editor.
• In Notepad, click your point in the Replace with box, and press CTRL+V to paste the text. Click Replace All to replace all instances of the text strings.
• Scroll through the entire list to make sure that all registry keys have the new text string, rather than the old string. On the File menu, click Save, and then close Notepad.
• Double-click the Block Senders.reg file, and then click Yes when you are prompted: "Are you sure you want to..." to import the Block Senders list to the registry for the new computer.
• Follow steps 2 through 11 above on the mail rules.reg file to update that file with the new Identity information.

  

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