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Saturday, July 31, 2010

I'll show you how to move from Outlook Express to Windows Live Mail on Windows 7 (the easiest moving option), step by annoying step.

I get variations of this question a lot since Microsoft made the decision to
remove Outlook Express - or any email program for that matter - from Windows
7.

Unfortunately, Outlook Express is not available for Windows 7.


That means it's time to migrate to a different email program.

In this (lengthy) article, I'll show you how to move from Outlook Express to
Windows Live Mail (the easiest moving option), step by annoying step. With lots
of pictures.




I'm going to assume that you're also switching machines. It's OK if you're
not; you'll get to skip a few steps, but for the most part this process applies
equally whether you're moving from one machine to another, or just upgrading an
existing machine to Windows 7.

In Windows XP

Don't worry if you've already upgraded to Windows 7 and XP's no longer
around. I'll address that in a moment. Particularly when you're moving
machines, though, there are a couple of things you can do before the upgrade to
make life just a tad simpler.


In Outlook Express, locate the "message store" folder. Click on the
Tools menu, Options... menu item,
Maintenance tab, Store Folder... button:

Outlook Express Store Folder

You can actually click-and-drag to select the store folder name therein -
just make sure to drag to the far right to get it all, then right click on it
and you can select copy:


Outlook Express Store Folder selected for copy

It'll probably give you something very similar to this:

C:\Documents and Settings\LeoN\Local
Settings\

  Application Data\Identities\

  {99ABF0C2-AAC3-40FD-939D-73857B3D056C}\

  Microsoft\Outlook Express

(Though all on one line, and of course some of the specific text will be
different.)

Open up Windows Explorer (Windows Key + E is easiest), and
paste that into the address bar and press Enter:


Windows Explorer open on the Outlook Express Store folder

This entire folder, including all the files and subfolders within it must be
copied to your Windows 7 machine. It really doesn't matter how you do it; you
can burn a CD or DVD, copy to a flash drive or removable hard disk, or even
copy directly over the network. What matters is that the entire folder is
somehow copied to the Windows 7 machine.

Next, your address book.

In Outlook Express, click on the Addresses toolbar button,
then in the resulting Address Book Window, click on the File
menu, Export menu item, and Address Book
(WAB)...
sub-menu item:


Exporting the Windows Outlook Express address book

Enter a file name and save the address book export in some location. (You
may need to repeat this once for each identity you use if you use more than one
- be sure to select a unique name for each.)

All of these exported address books must now also be copied to your Windows
7 machine.

Finally, you'll need to note, save or record your email account
configuration, as there is no automated process to transfer it to your new
installation.

In Outlook Express click on the Tools menu,
Accounts... menu item, Mail tab. For each
account listed there click on the account and then the

Properties button.

In the General tab:

Outlook Express Account Properties: General

Take note of your Name and E-mail address
configured.


In the Servers tab:

Outlook Express Account Properties: Servers

Take note of all your settings here. If "My server requires authentication"
is checked, then click on the Settings... button and note all your settings in
the resulting dialog.

On the Advanced tab:

Outlook Express Account Properties: Advanced

Take note of all your settings in this dialog as well.

If You've Already Left Windows XP


If you no longer have access to Windows XP - presumably because you've
upgraded to Windows 7 in place, then you'll need to:


  • Locate your Outlook Express store on your machine. You may be able to infer
    its location from the examples above. Another alternative is to search your
    machine for the file "Folders.dbx" - the folder containing that file is likely
    the folder you'll need to use below. No need to copy it, simply note its
    location for use later.


  • Locate your old Windows Address Book. In Windows XP its in a folder similar
    to:

    C:\Documents and Settings\LeoN\Local
    Settings\

    \LeoN\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book\LeoN.wab

    All on one line, and with your login name instead of mine. If you had
    multiple identities in Outlook Express there may be more than one. I find it
    easiest to once again search, this time for "*.wab" to locate all the Windows
    Address Books. And once again, no need to copy, simply make note of where you
    found them.


  • You'll need to remember your account configuration, or get it again from
    your ISP or email service provider.

Windows 7

Windows 7 does not come with an email program, so you'll need to download
and install one.

We'll go get Windows Live Mail, which is similar to Outlook Express, and a
free download from Microsoft.

Visit Windows
Live's download page
:

Windows Live Download page

Download and run the Windows Live installer. (You may have to confirm with
Windows 7 UAC.) It'll present you with a list of optional components you can
install:


Windows Live Installer

Uncheck everything except Mail. (That is, unless
you know you want some of the other components. You can also add them
later.)

Click Install. Upon completion of the install (it can take
a while), uncheck all the additional options you're offered -
we just want mail. (Unless, of course, the options are actually things you
want. If you're not sure, uncheck them - you can add them later once you
decide.)

It's also up to you if you want to create a Windows Live ID. Given that
we're moving your existing email accounts, it's not required that you set up a
new one.

Off the Start menu, under All Programs you'll find

Windows Live, and within that Windows Live
Mail
. Click that to launch Windows Live Mail (WLM).

The first time you start WLM it'll launch the "Add an E-mail Account"
process. Complete the process with the information that you saved from your
Outlook Express account configuration above. Upon successful completion it may
immediately download new mail - that's ok. It will also create an Inbox and
other folders for your newly configured account.

Coming from Outlook Express, you'll probably be much more comfortable with a
traditional menu bar in place. On the right side of the WLM window is an icon,
shown below. Click that and then click on Show menu bar:

Windows Live Mail Show menu bar option

Now, click on the File menu, Import menu
item, Messages... sub menu item. In the resulting dialog
box:


Windows Live Mail import format selection

Choose Microsoft Outlook Express 6 and click Next.

In the next dialog - "Location of Messages" - click the
Browse... button and navigate to the folder that has your
Outlook Express messages that we saved or located above. This can once again be
on external media, or directly on your machine. Simply locate the folder
containing the infamous ".dbx" files. Click Next, make sure
"All folders" is selected in the resulting dialog, and click
Next again. WLM imports your email, after which you can click
Finish.


Your messages have been imported - but where did they go?

It's not obvious, what WLM does is set up a new "Imported Folder" folder
within the "Storage Folders" in the program:

Windows Live Mail showing Imported Email in the Imported Folder folder

All your messages are here. You can now manage them as you see fit, perhaps
leaving them there, perhaps dragging and dropping them into other folders -
whatever you like.

Last but not least: the Address Book.

In Windows Live Mail, click on Contacts in the lower left:

Windows Live Mail contacts

That brings up the Windows Live Contacts application, into which we'll
import the old Windows Address Book.

Click on the File menu, Import menu item,

Windows address book (.WAB) sub menu item. It'll then prompt
you for the location of your ".wab" file. Navigate to the location containing
the .wab file you copied or located earlier and press OK.

Windows Live Contacts import complete

That's really all there is to it. Your contacts are imported. You may need
to repeat for multiple .wab files if you have them.

Caveats

As complicated as all that may seem, conceptually it's fairly simple: move
mail, move address book, copy account settings.

There are a couple of lingering issues.


  • Windows Live Mail is not Outlook Express. It's similar, but there
    are differences, and the differences will take a little getting used to. About
    all I can suggest is that you be patient and embrace
    change
    .



  • In particular, advanced usage of Outlook Express - such as using Identities
    - may not be preserved. Windows 7 pushes the concept of completely separate
    Windows user accounts over Identities within Outlook Express.

The good news is that after having set up Windows Live Mail on your Windows
7 machine, it makes migrating to other email programs such as Thunderbird or
Outlook that much easier should you decide to switch again later.

Outlook Express sending multiple copies of email messages


Questions : 
Every now and then I find a prickly problem. I like to share the problem and the solution with all of you, just in case you come upon the same situation in the future.

In this case, Outlook Express, which was perfectly fine previously, started sending multiple copies of each email. Some recipients reported getting the same message as many as 24 times. I found that the messages would get stuck in the Outbox and every time the program checked for new mail, it resent the same message. To make a long story short, the cause was that there were over 5,000 messages in the Sent box and it had reached its capacity. The solution was to copy any important messages in the Sent box to another folder. Then I closed Outlook Express and found and deleted the Sent box. I found it using Windows search function, looking for "Sent Items.dbx". I also deleted the "Outbox.dbx". All I had to do then was to restart OE and it recreated the two boxes. From then on, it was clear sailing.

I hope that any of you who may encounter this problem will have this solution work. If the Sent box is very full, this is probably the cause and solution. I have also found that some antivirus programs that scan email cause OE to act weirdly. Turning off the email scanning in the antivirus program can also sometimes solve this or similar problems.

Answere :

Knowing what operating system you are using would help, but likely using WinXP since OE doesn't work in Vista......

Here is the instruction how to save and backup Outlook Express email messages for importing, exporting from one pc to another, or using the built in burner feature included with WinXP so you can burn a folder on your desktop to a CD.

Click on the TOOLS Menu and select OPTIONS.
Click the MAINTENANCE Tab and then click on Store Folder.
You now see the location of your Email Folder.
Highlite the Folder Location and press CTRL+C to copy the location.
Click Cancel and then Cancel again to close all boxes.
Click the Windows Start button and the click Run. In the open box press CTRL+V to paste the mail location, then click OK.
You now have a window containing your e-mail database *.dbx files.
From the top Menu click EDIT click Select All.
On the top Menu again click COPY. Now close the window.
Open Windows Explorer, click FILE / NEW and then FOLDER.
Type a name for the folder and hit ENTER.
Double click the Folder you just created to open it. From the EDIT Menu select PASTE. Close the window.
You have now completed a backup up of your email messages.

Now is the time to write them to a CD or CDRW for later use. In WinXP, to burn a copy of that folder to a CD, just do a right click of the mouse on the folder and choose the "Send to ... " drop down choice.... select the drive that has your blank CD or CD-RW in it all set to be burned to.... now you have a copy of your emails on the CD as a backup or to import into a new computer running WinXP....
Answer 2 :

I am sure that moving to Outlook will solve your problem, but probably could have been solved by deleting the mailboxes I mentioned in my first post here.

I see that you have a very logical mind questioning why some people received multiple copies of your email and others did not. this had nothing to do, however, with how far away the people were.

The computer uses it's own sort of logic. Here's what happened. You send so many email that the Sent folder got full to its limit. Once that happened, every time you sent an email it was placed in the Outbox, waiting for transfer to the Sent box. But the Sent box was full, so even though the message was sent, it couldn't be moved to the Sent box and it remained in the Outbox. Outlook tries to send whatever is in the Outbox every time it tries to send/receive email. So, if you sent an email and closed the Outlook Express program right after that, the person got only one copy and the Outbox reset itself when you reopened the program. However, if the program remained open and if you sent other people email after you sent the first one or if the program tried to send and receive email as it usually does, every few minutes, the first email was resent over and over again.

Although this may sound a little confusing, it is actually very logical -- according to computer logic. Anyway, I hope this helps.

Answere 3 


Outlook Express Mailbox Limits
Outlook Express apparently has a 2 gigabyte file size limit for its mailboxes.
Normally, that doesn't affect most people, but I've definitely seen reports of it doing exactly what you've described when the Sent Items folder approaches 2 gigabytes. Smaller emails might make it out for a while, but a larger attachment might be enough to exceed that size limit, and thus cause the problem.

My recommendation is to create a new folder - call it what you will; perhaps something like "SentArchive", and move all the messages in your Sent Items folder to the Sent Archive folder. That should a) retain all your sent messages should you need to refer to them, and b) empty the Sent Items folder so that this problem doesn't happen again.

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