New install: Linking Outlook Express, to old e-mail folders?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JohnWillsteed
  • Start date Start date
J

JohnWillsteed

I had a boot-up failure issue, that resulted in me having to do a re-install
of XP Home (SP3). Fortunately my data was saved.

As part of the re-install, what the engineer has done is create a new
account name for me. So for example whereas my documents and settings were in
subdirectory C:\Doc and Settings\JohnWillsteed\... they are now defaulting to
a new subdirectory C:\Doc and Settings\John\... the latter ('John') being the
new account name.

All of my historic e-mail archives are in a sub-directory off the
\JohnWillsteed\ folder, and so obviously Outlook Express (OE) cannot
currently access them.

Can anyone suggest how to reconnect the folders into OE?

Do I go to OE recreate a custom folder name, say 'Weddingplans', and then
flip the existing WeddingPlans.dbx file from the sub-d in \JohnWillsteed\ to
the appropriate sub-d under the \John\ root (i.e. where OE is now creating
new .dbx files). Would that do it, or are there settings I need to change for
OE to 'see' the .dbx files?

Many thanks!
 
JohnWillsteed said:
I had a boot-up failure issue, that resulted in me having to do a
re-install
of XP Home (SP3). Fortunately my data was saved.

As part of the re-install, what the engineer has done is create a new
account name for me. So for example whereas my documents and settings were
in
subdirectory C:\Doc and Settings\JohnWillsteed\... they are now defaulting
to
a new subdirectory C:\Doc and Settings\John\... the latter ('John') being
the
new account name.

All of my historic e-mail archives are in a sub-directory off the
\JohnWillsteed\ folder, and so obviously Outlook Express (OE) cannot
currently access them.

Can anyone suggest how to reconnect the folders into OE?

Do I go to OE recreate a custom folder name, say 'Weddingplans', and then
flip the existing WeddingPlans.dbx file from the sub-d in \JohnWillsteed\
to
the appropriate sub-d under the \John\ root (i.e. where OE is now creating
new .dbx files). Would that do it, or are there settings I need to change
for
OE to 'see' the .dbx files?

Many thanks!
Click to expand...
From OE Help:

Using the Outlook Express Import Wizard, you can easily import e-mail
messages from a variety of popular Internet e-mail programs such as Netscape
Communicator and Eudora, as well as from Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft
Outlook.

1.. On the File menu, point to Import, and then click Messages.
2.. Select the e-mail program you want to import messages from, and then
click Next.
3.. Verify the location of your messages, and then click Next.
4.. Choose All folders to import all the messages, and then click Next.
You can also choose Selected Folders to import messages from one or more
folders.
5.. Click Finish
Pick OE6 as your "import from", select OE6 Store Directory, then browse to
your WeddingPlans.dbx.

SC Tom
 
JohnWillsteed said:
I had a boot-up failure issue, that resulted in me having to do a
re-install of XP Home (SP3). Fortunately my data was saved.

As part of the re-install, what the engineer has done is create a new
account name for me. So for example whereas my documents and settings
were in subdirectory C:\Doc and Settings\JohnWillsteed\... they are
now defaulting to a new subdirectory C:\Doc and Settings\John\... the
latter ('John') being the new account name.

All of my historic e-mail archives are in a sub-directory off the
\JohnWillsteed\ folder, and so obviously Outlook Express (OE) cannot
currently access them.

Can anyone suggest how to reconnect the folders into OE?

Do I go to OE recreate a custom folder name, say 'Weddingplans', and
then flip the existing WeddingPlans.dbx file from the sub-d in
\JohnWillsteed\ to the appropriate sub-d under the \John\ root (i.e.
where OE is now creating new .dbx files). Would that do it, or are
there settings I need to change for OE to 'see' the .dbx files?

Many thanks!
Click to expand...

Everything you need to know about the location of OE folders and
necessary registry key values may be found here:

http://www.insideoe.com/backup/clone.htm

Note that step 2 has you create a new location for your Address Book,
Message Store, and Registry keys (that is, it is different from XP's
default locations, but it's really a good idea!).
 
Hi SC Tom,
Unfortunately I have previously had problems with the import function long
long ago (Outlook to OE), so it is not something that came to mind as a
solution in this instance.

Anyway, it seemed a sensible solution and so I gave it a go. As the .dbx
files were created in a version of OE pre-installed on a new PC bought in
2005, I am making a guess that that was OE v4 rather than v6. When I create a
new folder in OE6 of 'wedding plans' and browse for the appropriate .dbx file
to import, and click next, I get an error message...

Import Message
'No message can be found in this folder or another application is running
that has the required files open. Please select anther folder or try closing
other applications that may have files open. <ok>'

Strangely enough, the issue I had with the Outlook to OE import was not
disimilar as far as I can recall. Looking into it, the general word was you
needed Outlook installed on your PC, to be able to import Outlook .pst files,
into OE. I see also in this instance that there is a MS page saying you need
OE4 on your PC to import OE4 files into OE6. Otherwise you have to go down
the route that Daave suggests and make registry edits.

Hmm... well, I'll look into that tomorrow as it is well past bedtime here!

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate it!
JW
 
JohnWillsteed said:
Hi SC Tom,
Unfortunately I have previously had problems with the import function long
long ago (Outlook to OE), so it is not something that came to mind as a
solution in this instance.

Anyway, it seemed a sensible solution and so I gave it a go. As the .dbx
files were created in a version of OE pre-installed on a new PC bought in
2005, I am making a guess that that was OE v4 rather than v6. When I
create a
new folder in OE6 of 'wedding plans' and browse for the appropriate .dbx
file
to import, and click next, I get an error message...

Import Message
'No message can be found in this folder or another application is running
that has the required files open. Please select anther folder or try
closing
other applications that may have files open. <ok>'

Strangely enough, the issue I had with the Outlook to OE import was not
disimilar as far as I can recall. Looking into it, the general word was
you
needed Outlook installed on your PC, to be able to import Outlook .pst
files,
into OE. I see also in this instance that there is a MS page saying you
need
OE4 on your PC to import OE4 files into OE6. Otherwise you have to go down
the route that Daave suggests and make registry edits.

Hmm... well, I'll look into that tomorrow as it is well past bedtime here!

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate it!
JW
Click to expand...
Aren't the OE database files set as hidden, system files? If so, then you
must disable these two features before you can import the database from one
folder to another.
Jim
 
John

Go to Start, Control Panel, Folder Options, View, Advanced Settings
and verify that the box before "Show hidden files and folders" is
checked and "Hide protected operating system files " is unchecked. You
may need to scroll down to see the second item. You should also make
certain that the box before "Hide extensions for known file types" is
not checked. Next in Windows Explorer make sure View, Details is
selected and then select View, Choose Details and check before Name,
Type, Total Size, and Free Space.

The mail accounts are unlikely to be OE4. The file extension for OE5 and
OE6 it is dbx. For OE4 it is mbx. You are importing messages from OE6.


--


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Thank you to everybody for your kind help, I have succeeded in importing the
first of my historic archives!

I hadn't considered that the hidden/system files issue might be the issue,
as I had assumed that those files are by default hidden from the user, and
not the system (if you see what I mean. Secondly, I had thought that as
hidden and system files tend to be hidden in the factory default settings,
that the MS help info on importing archives would have included a note on
potentially having to unhide these files. Hmmm!

In folder options hidden files were unticked, but system files were hidden
(i.e. checked). So I unchecked the latter.

I had not realised that .dbx unequically meant I was importing from IE6 to
IE6. So setting up the import for those versions was also clearly part of the
solution.

Thanks to all. I will be back with some other quirky little set-up issues I
am having on my re-install. I will post them under relevant topic headings,
that that might be of maximum use to others, if and when we get to
solution/s. :)

JW
 
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