Windows Mail - Backup Message Status Info

  • Thread starter Thread starter TheDuck
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TheDuck

Using the export command messages and contacts can be backed up onto
removable media.
However, when these messages are imported into a clean installation, the
status of messages (shown by icons indicating forwarded, replied etc) is
lost.
Copying the entire Windows Mail subdirectory to the new machine seems to
solve this, but is very cumbersome.
I expect there will be a file(s) containing the message status that will be
the key to restoring the information.

Can anyone advise which files are needed?

Many thanks,
 
TheDuck said:
Using the export command messages and contacts can be backed up onto
removable media.
However, when these messages are imported into a clean installation, the
status of messages (shown by icons indicating forwarded, replied etc) is
lost.
Copying the entire Windows Mail subdirectory to the new machine seems to
solve this, but is very cumbersome.
I expect there will be a file(s) containing the message status that will
be the key to restoring the information.

Can anyone advise which files are needed?

Many thanks,
Click to expand...


Hi Duck--

One simple solution that is easier than exporting, I've found is to simply
copy the mail you want, whether it's from Outlook or Windows Live Mail,
Windows Mail, or OE, by dragging and dropping into a folder. That way it's
easy to be selective whether you have a few messages or hundreds. Make sure
to include from your inbox, sent folder, any folders you might have made
and labeled, and any newsgroup messages you might want to save either with
info you like or info you've given to help on a newsgroup if you want them.

After you have rounded up exactly the messages you want to save, you can
drag and drop them into the inbox of Win Mail if they are Win Mail/OE if
they are OE, Win Live Mail if they are Win Live, and Outlook if they are
Outlook.

If you are using multiple partitions for a dual boot or more boots, you can
simply do this on one computer by accessing the appropriate email messages
at (I'm using C:\ as an example but use the drive letter of the partition
you want the mail to come from--and I'm not importing although I've done
that many times--I'm dragging and dropping here:

C:\Users\Your Computer Name Here\AppData\Local\Microsoft\then select either
or all 3 one at a time at the list in this file path:

Windows Mail
Windows Live Mail
Outlook

Drag from the inbox, sent, etc. from each of the mail folder listings into
one folder and label the OS if you're on a dual boot/tri boot on one box and
drag into a folder labeled whichever mail client it is.

Then select all of the mail messages by clicking the first one>go to the
last one and hold down the shift key and they'll all be highlighted>right
click all the highlighted messages and drag and drop them into the inbox of
the target email client.

I've done this while installing different builds of Win 7 onto boxes with
Vista in dual and triple boots and boxes of Win 7.

If you are dealing with more than one box instead of a multiboot situation,
no problem. Just put the folder of the gathered mail from the source on a
thumb drive and then plug the thumb drive into the target box and then drag
and drop into whichever email client's inbox you want the mail to end up in.

Win Mail>Win Mail
Win Mail Live>Win Mail Live
Outlook>Outlook

It works just fine. It takes me minutes to do this if not seconds.

Good luck,

CH
 
Hi Chad, thanks for the suggestions.
Can you conform though that your method will restore the message status
indication (i.e 'replied', 'forwarded' etc) as this information is not
carried over with the export/import process.
Cheers, C
 
TheDuck said:
Hi Chad, thanks for the suggestions.
Can you conform though that your method will restore the message status
indication (i.e 'replied', 'forwarded' etc) as this information is not
carried over with the export/import process.
Cheers, C
Click to expand...

Chris--

It seems to preserve the status just fine. I have imported easily when I
was using Win Mail in Vista, but I've been putting a lot of Windows 7 builds
on different boxes, and Windows 7 doesn't come with WinMail, and I found
importing and exporting to be cumbersome and time consuming in Windows Live
Mail because sometimes it makes mail folders available with titles that have
nothing in them. Win 7 requires that if you want to use their NNTP
newsreader, you have to do it via Windows Live Mail.

I went and checked messages that I had dropped right into the inbox from the
file location I gave you from another boot so I would have my messages on
any boot I chose to use, and it seems to preserve the status perfectly. Let
me know after you do it if you don't have what you want. I checked messages
I had dropped into my inbox on a new Windows 7 boot from 9/08 and the
forwarded status was intact.

I've also found two nice things going on with mail in Windows 7 that you
couldn't get done in Vista, and I'm not even sure why they're working this
well. I've always wanted to be able to send email in an Outlook or an
OE/Win Mail (back in the day) and now with Win 7 a
Windows Live Mail account in one box on my network and have that email show
up in Outlook and Win Mail or its Win 7 client Windows Live mail on every
box. I haven't been able to get that done before unless say I emailed from
OL or Win Mail in Vista to web based email and then emailed on each and
every box to its OL or Win Mail.

I've noticed now that in Windows 7 if I email to my OL or my Win Live Mail
account on one box, it shows up in that account on every box on the network.
That comes in very handy if say, you decide to format one of the drives for
some reason to put a new build on that drive as they are being added in a
beta OS. Sure you can round up the mail as I told you and save it to a
storage drive on the box and then drop it into the inbox of the new boot's
email client (say Win Live), but it's handy because that mail will always be
available on one boot or another or one box or another.

I'm not being cute by mentioning Windows 7 a lot, but I've gone to it
because one thing that stands out for me to make it attractive is that it
has considerably better CPU use and stability in my hands. By that I mean
that it can run more programs, and have more web pages open without crashing
at much less CPU. All Windows OS's have the potential to memory leak when
you have a lot of programs running on the system or a lot of web pages open,
particularly if you are using memory intensive programs like graphics
programs, but I believe they have addressed memory leaking much better in
Windows 7 and that's why when I discovered that even early builds had good
stability and I could use them as production boxes, it became a no-brainer
to put it on all my boots/boxes.

I know the party line is conservative about using Beta OS's and I respect
and understand that, but if you feel like you're equipped at handling
occasional crashes or bug problems, and even like finding bugs and handling
the problems and the Beta is faster and more CPU stable, it makes sense to
use it for me.

The difficult part for many people I've found is finding where the mail is
located. Once you know the file path, it's very easy to access that mail
and drag and drop it. Also while there was a different file format for OE
mail which was .dbx and Windows Mail included in Vista which is .eml and you
had to convert to be able to open an .eml in OE or vice-versa, I found that
all my old messages from Vista's Windows Mail I rounded up at the file
location I gave you did not need a conversion when dropped into Windows Live
Mail which you have to use as the NNTP newsreader (if you're going to use
MSFT's mail for it and not 3rd party).

There are a few minor features and the gui look I liked in Windows Mail and
OE for that matter, but I'm finding that there are some nice features in
Windows Live Mail. It's search is much faster and I appreciate that. It's
search for newsgroup messages by poster or by topic is ten times faster and
I really appreciate that. What I find cumbersome and ambiguous in Windows
Live mail is its sync feature for newsgroup messages. It seems to work the
same and it doesn't seem to matter whether you set it for new messages or
all messages as to how it downloads newsgroup messages.

I think the fact that I can email on one box to my OL and Win Live Mail
address and it shows up in those clients on all boxes is a pretty valuable
feature.

Let me know if you have any problems saving your mail and dropping it.

CH
 
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