Web Hosting Talk : Other Forums : Web Hosting Lounge : Outlook Express 5.5

[Nam]

Very simple question, does anyone know how to export the emails from one Outlook to another? (different computer or hard drive). I had problem using export function, it says:

The export could not be performed
An error occurred while initializing MAPI.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

[Chicken]

I've never figured out how to export messages. Yeah, to and fro outlook and outlook express on the same computer, but other than that errrrrr..... network the two computers???

Speaking of which, I've been unable to do this with my desktop and my old laptop. Bought the crossover connector, errr.. now what?

[JustinK]

You can export entire folders... so maybe make a mail folder called export then search for export.dbx on yer comp and send it/save it to wherever. It said something about compacting it in the help file too. If it's just one message then see if you can save the .eml file or unicode txt file (don't know exactly what that is) and open it with whatever other program you're going to use. Probably already tried all that, but sometimes people overlook things so it's best to go over them.

[BC]

The way I do it is to export the file as a 'Personal Folders file' (.pst extension) and then transfer using cables/network/zip drive... Not sure if this is useful.

[Nam]

I think there is may be something wrong with my comp, yes chicken, I wanted to transfer the email msgs (a lot) to my new hard drive (I don't use norton ghost alike programs cuz I just want to keep emails only), which I've always had problem in the past, and still. The help file I pasted below had 4 steps, but I got the error msg which I've post above in the first step already. I think what BC meant was step 4, but I could't go that far. I couldn't find the file JustinK suggested either. Does anyone know any forum like this but discussing about Windows stuff?

To export messages to Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Exchange
1. On the File menu, point to Export, and then click Messages.
2. In the Choose Profile dialog box, choose the profile name that best matches the Microsoft program to which you are exporting.
3. To export all the messages, click All Folders.
4. To export messages in one or more folders, click Selected Folders. Then, select the folders you want to export.

My old hard drive has so much trash, I did install winME on my new fresh HD last nite (then format and make the old one slave for secondary storage). All I need is to have the mail msgs from old Outlook to the new one, any other data has already backed up. I just couldn't do it .

[JustinK]

To compact and back up mail folders
Select a mail folder, click the File menu, point to Folder, and then click Compact.

To back up the folder, find the folder file, and then copy it to a backup folder, floppy disk, or network drive. Outlook Express mail folders have a .dbx extension (for example, "Sent Items.dbx").
Notes
Some message files might be too large to back up onto a floppy disk.

If you are using a program other than Outlook Express to send e-mail messages to newsgroups, check your e-mail program's documentation for information about compacting and deleting mail folders.

[jtan15]

Nam,

A while ago I transferred all of my outlook mail simply by copying the directory all of the mail was kept in. Worked like a charm. Just look for the outlook directories and you should see a directory with some insanely large files in it (hoping you have tons of e-mail! ). Hope this helps you out.

[Nam]

Thank you JustinK, I did what you said but couldn't find any file .dbx in the program dir, may be it wasn't right one: C:\Program Files\Outlook Express. am I dump or what? . So I decide stay with my old HD as I have so many important emails to keep.

Thanks Vincent too, I've tried the way you told me long time ago but it didn't work for me, don't know why . If my path to my directory above is correct, I didn't see big file is there. Btw, I did choose show all files option. But thanks.

[JustinK]

Have you tried using the 'find' feature of windows? Just look up *.dbx and it should find it. Make sure you start off in C: or it won't come up with anything.

[Bogdan]

C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Outlook Express

Should be there.

[etLux]

Sometimes this hides under Identities... geez... go figure.

C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Identities\{some ridiculous number}\Microsoft\Outlook Express

If you can't find the data elsewhere, go hunting there -- I've found it thus on several machines.

[Nam]

Thanks Bogdan and etLux, I couldn't see anything the folders you guys have suggested, wasn't it strange? But I've found on the Outlook - Options - Maintainence they let me change the store folder, I did change and booom, I got everything .dbx on my specific folder .