preparing for the worst

[shankle]

On my old machine (windows98 2nd ed, outlook express 5.0) my wife is big time into E-mail
with 4 identities and about 100 folders. I am having NIGHTMARES about the machine going belly
up and the backups are useless when the next machine will have Windows XP or what ever
and Outlook Express 6.0 or what ever.
I tried exporting from the old machine but it doesn't seem to work. Copying the *.dbx files won't do any good either because where do you put them in Windows XP?

The only solution I can think of is a bad one. E-mail thousands of messages to the new machine.

perplexed,
JPS

[rags]

Wow, keeping thousands of emails on a machine!
Well have you given thought about maybe converting those emails to txt or other similar format, and saving them to a cd,
to be perused at a later date?

[MichaelW]

You should be able to import the messages, working from the new system, directly if the systems are connected, or from a message store if they are not.

[carlos]

On my old machine (windows98 2nd ed, outlook express 5.0) my wife is big time into E-mail
with 4 identities and about 100 folders. I am having NIGHTMARES about the machine going belly
up and the backups are useless when the next machine will have Windows XP or what ever
and Outlook Express 6.0 or what ever.
I tried exporting from the old machine but it doesn't seem to work. Copying the *.dbx files won't do any good either because where do you put them in Windows XP?

The only solution I can think of is a bad one. E-mail thousands of messages to the new machine.

perplexed,
JPS

Hello shankle

care to hear an horror story?, back in 2000, I was working for a know soft drink bottler (CC), a coworker needed to transfer all her files to a new machine, including her messages stored in outlook, ( I didn't remember the version, maybe 4 or 5), easy I said, just copy the outlook files to the new machine, I did, but was useless, outlook never acknowledged the old messages, (keep showing its folders empty), worse, while Iwas strugling with the new machine, my boss formated the old machine, to give it clean to a new user, the mails never showed up in the new machine and where important Bussines mails, in the end my boss and I get a severe reprimand for "being careless with bussines propriety", and I vowed never to use outlook again.

for a time I use Eudora, Pegassus, and finaly I settled in Thunderbird, in it, its easy to carry the message folders from a machinne to another, or between versions, and even backup the folders, since every folder it's two files, with the same name as the folder.

my advise is install Thundrtbird in your wife's machine, (and in yours too), try to export your wife's messages, mail them if you can't and once in the hands of open software, forget about incompatibilities nigthmares.

happy mailing!!!

Carlos

[P1]

The best way is Setup a clean WXP with OE6.  Copy over the old dbx's to a CD or the new hard drive.

Then locate the old user's mail folders in 'Documents and Settings' Look for the dbx's.

Then just import the dbx's from the old one's.

You may need to experiment a bit to get the importing to the right folders working.

Regards,  P1  :8)

[Bieb]

Install Thunderbird on the old machine, it'll automatically import all the messages.  Then install Thunderbird on the new machine, and just copy all the mail files over.  Thunderbird makes it a breeze to transfer messages in bulk across machines.

[shankle]

Thanks for all the help guys....

I downloaded Thunderbird and it copied the files. About 10% of what my wife has on the machine.
She has maybe 30 different folders in the Outlook expresses inbox. They weren't built by Thunderbird or I am doing something wrong.

In answer to P1's message a search on *.dbx doesn't point to outlook expesses *.dbx files.
So they are hidden somewhere....

It look like I'll have to do it the HARD way...
:(
JPS

[manhattan]

Did you try to drag and drop the mails from Outlook to a folder on your disk ? This is what I do when I reinstall my system partition. Then when Outlook is reinstalled I drop the mails again.

[MichaelW]

AFAIK Outlook Express will not accept a DBX file that is dropped on it, and a DBX file copied to the folder where OE stores the messages will not be recognized. IIRC you must copy all of the DBX files including folders.dbx before OE will recognize them. I think I have done this going from OE5 to OE6, but it's been too long for me to be sure. The import feature should work OK, but you will need to import the entire directory and all of the DBX files in it, and specify that you are importing from OE6.

[P1]

Here is where the files are (WXP):  ( I am going to guess that you do not have show all files turned on. )
C:\Documents and Settings\LogonName\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{GUID}\Microsoft\Outlook Express  ( OE6 )

In W98, it's a simular path.   Let me know, if you need a more precise answer.  I will have to dig up a old machine and fire it up.

I have done this for my clients.  It will be a little messy with four identities.  Again,

Then just import the dbx's from the old one's.

You can NOT just copy them in.  OE does have some simply security in place.

Please come back here and ask for more directions, if needed.

Regards,  P1  :8)

[shankle]

I think I can see how it can be done but I want to pass it by you guys before diving
off the bridge.

If I copy my wifes four identities to a CD from the old machine-Windows98-Outlook Express 5.0
These are the entire directories:
       0e047142-07 etc.
       5a99a520-f etc.
       a19e0320-d etc.
       cd46d844-0 etc.
TO
the new machine- WindowsXP-Outlook Express 6.0 to the following folder:
     Documents&Settings\logon name\local settings\application data\identities...

Will this cause any problems with my existing E-Mail and will I be able to reference
her mail on the new machine???

Thanks for all the help.
JPS   

[manhattan]

AFAIK Outlook Express will not accept a DBX file that is dropped on it, and a DBX file copied to the folder where OE stores the messages will not be recognized. IIRC you must copy all of the DBX files including folders.dbx before OE will recognize them. I think I have done this going from OE5 to OE6, but it's been too long for me to be sure. The import feature should work OK, but you will need to import the entire directory and all of the DBX files in it, and specify that you are importing from OE6.

I meant the email themselves.
1) start Outlook Express
2) go to the Inbox folder
3) select the e-mail you want to save
4) drag them on the folder where you want to save

Each mail will be exported to a .eml file.

[P1]

the new machine- WindowsXP-Outlook Express 6.0 to the following folder:
     Documents&Settings\logon name\local settings\application data\identities...

Please DON'T !!!!
When you start importing OE will not let you create a folder/ delete the old folder, when you do that.

It's easier to just import them off the CD.  Then you will have the same folder names show in the new directories, but populated with the imported messages.

Regards,  P1  :8)

[shankle]

I have one of my wifes directories on a CD. 0e0471142-1etc.
Here is the process that I go through to import it to the new machine-Windowsxp-outlook express 6.0.

get in Outlook express
  file
   import
    messages
     This brings up the O.E. wizard
       highlight Microsoft Outlook Express 4
        next
          I then expand the directory on the cd down to outlook express
            ok
            this points to the subfolder that contains the .dbx files
            next
              ERROR MESSAGE
              import message window
                No messages can be found in the folder

I also tried it with just 0e047142-1 and that doesn't work either.
JPS

[MichaelW]

AFAIK OE5 and OE6 use the same file format, so to import from OE5 I think you need to specify that you are importing from OE6.