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  #1  
Old March 9th, 2007, 12:35 AM
leachim leachim is offline
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Moving OE6 Mail & Addresses to Windows Mail (Vista)

Hi

I have an xp desktop with oe6

Just bought a laptop with Vista and Windows Mail.

Would love to know how to transfer Mail Messages and Addresses from oe6 to Windows Mail. I have a USB drive to help facilitate this

Thanks

Mike
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  #2  
Old March 9th, 2007, 01:44 AM
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Miz Miz is offline
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There is a trick and I'll attempt to explain.

You can import the address book and the messages providing you know where the files are.

First, on the old computer, open My Computer (or any folder) and go to Tools>Folder Options>View tab. Uncheck "Hide protected operating system files" (OK the warning message) and "Hide extensions of known file types"; check "Show hidden files and folders." Click OK.

The old computer's Outlook Express will tell you in Tools>Options>Maintenance tab>Store Folder button where the .dbx files are that contain all the messages.

You'll need to run a Search for "*.wab" (without the quotes, with the asterisk and dot) to find the address book on the old computer. The .wab file is your address book.

Copy the dbx files and the wab file to the USB drive.

With the USB drive plugged into the Vista computer, open Windows Mail, go to File>Import>Messages. Step through the wizard...and here's where the problem may arise (it did for me and others have reported the same thing).

You will find that when you use the Browse button (which you have to use, it won't let you type the path to the folders) to navigate to the location of the .dbx files, then click OK, the path displayed back in the Import wizard will have duplicated the name of the folder you clicked on. For example, instead of F:\Email, it'll decide you really mean F:\Email\Email. Since that folder, F:\Email\Email, doesn't exist, it'll say it can't find anything to import. It will not let you change it, either.

So what you do is use the Browse button and click on the folder where the dbx files are located to select it. The name of that folder will appear in a box at the bottom of that window. Before clicking the "Select Folder" button, delete the name of the folder that appears in the "Folder" box. With the "Folder" box blank, click the Select Folder button.

Amazingly, it will display the correct path to the folder containing the .dbx files.

It will then continue and let you import the messages.

Importing the wab file is straighforward, fortunately. Use the browse button, navigate to the .wab file, click the Import button.
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  #3  
Old March 9th, 2007, 03:59 PM
leachim leachim is offline
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That sounds great - will give it a go.

Does MS allow any synchronisation of email addresses and messages between 2 computers. So that if you use 2 computers, you always have the same uptodate messages etc.

A laptop and a desktop.
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  #4  
Old March 9th, 2007, 04:40 PM
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Miz Miz is offline
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There may be another way but this is one I've used:

On both computers, in Windows Mail, click on Tools>Accounts. Double click the mail account you want to keep synchronized. Go to the Advanced tab.

Check "Leave a copy of message on server." Then both computers can retrieve them.

Since most email accounts have a size limit, you don't want to leave all messages on the server forever. So either specify how many days a message remains on the server, after which it will be deleted, or set it to delete the message from the server when it's deleted from the computer (whichever one deletes it first will also remove it from the mail server).

Set it up the same on both computers.
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  #5  
Old March 18th, 2007, 05:01 PM
dodsonk dodsonk is offline
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Smile [QUOTE=Miz;817281] This works very well indeed.

I have tried this and it works perfectly. The only difference was that I copied all the mail .dbx files from Windows XP (Outlook Express) onto a CD and imported them from the CD into Microsoft Mail using your procedure. Your method was I assume via a transfer cable between the USB ports of each PC. Well done I thought I was going to have a problem.












Quote:
Originally Posted by Miz View Post
There is a trick and I'll attempt to explain.

You can import the address book and the messages providing you know where the files are.

First, on the old computer, open My Computer (or any folder) and go to Tools>Folder Options>View tab. Uncheck "Hide protected operating system files" (OK the warning message) and "Hide extensions of known file types"; check "Show hidden files and folders." Click OK.

The old computer's Outlook Express will tell you in Tools>Options>Maintenance tab>Store Folder button where the .dbx files are that contain all the messages.

You'll need to run a Search for "*.wab" (without the quotes, with the asterisk and dot) to find the address book on the old computer. The .wab file is your address book.

Copy the dbx files and the wab file to the USB drive.

With the USB drive plugged into the Vista computer, open Windows Mail, go to File>Import>Messages. Step through the wizard...and here's where the problem may arise (it did for me and others have reported the same thing).

You will find that when you use the Browse button (which you have to use, it won't let you type the path to the folders) to navigate to the location of the .dbx files, then click OK, the path displayed back in the Import wizard will have duplicated the name of the folder you clicked on. For example, instead of F:\Email, it'll decide you really mean F:\Email\Email. Since that folder, F:\Email\Email, doesn't exist, it'll say it can't find anything to import. It will not let you change it, either.

So what you do is use the Browse button and click on the folder where the dbx files are located to select it. The name of that folder will appear in a box at the bottom of that window. Before clicking the "Select Folder" button, delete the name of the folder that appears in the "Folder" box. With the "Folder" box blank, click the Select Folder button.

Amazingly, it will display the correct path to the folder containing the .dbx files.

It will then continue and let you import the messages.

Importing the wab file is straighforward, fortunately. Use the browse button, navigate to the .wab file, click the Import button.
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  #6  
Old March 18th, 2007, 05:33 PM
Miz's Avatar
Miz Miz is offline
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I had copied the backed up dbx files to the hard drive of the Vista system thinking that there was some sort of problem when trying to import them from the backup DVD. When it kept doing the same thing with the files on the hard drive, out of sheer desperation I tried deleting the name of the folder before clicking the Select Folder button. It only took me an hour to figure it out, too!
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  #7  
Old February 25th, 2009, 08:35 AM
TheFirewitch TheFirewitch is offline
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I have just reinstalled Vista after a reformat, AVG free screwed my PC up.
I have all my old emails on my old XP PC in outlook express 6.
I've followed the steps above and it has not worked. I have copied all the .dbx files from OE6 into a folder on my Vista PC. I have opened windows mail, clicked import.... It goes through the motions, then all my email folders appear under the "Imported folder" section in the left column in windows mail.

BUT it has not worked. I click on the folder and it says empty, nothing appears.
I have downloaded an email viewer program and I can open any of my dbx files and view any email so I know they are there.

Is there any other way of importing these OE6 emails into windows mail because the above process did not work for me???
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