Importing .dbx in oe 6

Hello,

i had to a wipe and reinstall on my desktop so backed up my husband's outlook express information (both personal folders and the .wab).

Despite attempts to import, they are not showing up anywhere. I followed the microsoft instructions and when I finish i get no error just a 'congratulations your data was succesfuly imported'. Is there any way to find out if my .dbx files are useable? Can I try importing them to eudora instead?

Thanks,
pinchie

 

pinchie--

Well, are the messages back in OE?
If not, I understand you have found the saved .dbx files and are using OE's File|Import, but are not having any success, correct?
I also understand it is too late to access the original OE files.
But if you still can, this is the recommended way to backup and restore them
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/270/6/70.ASP
or an alternative
http://email.about.com/cs/oetipstricks/qt/et102502.htm

If all you have are the .dbx files and Username.wab file, you are going to have to try a more complicated procedure.
1) .dbx Do you have just a bunch of loose .dbx files? Do their names correspond to the usual OE file names, like Inbox, SentItems, etc? Most importantly do you have the Folders.dbx file? Now click OE Tools|Options|Maintenance tab|Store Folder. Copy the address of the Store Folder and navigate to there in Windows. If you have Inbox.dbx, SentItems.dbx, Folder.dbx, etc, in that window, replace the ones in the Store Folder with the ones you have saved from your husband's PC, including Folders.dbx. With luck that will restore the messages to OE.
2) UserName.wab (Address Book) You have not told us the version of Windows you use. The default location for the UserName.wab file in WindowsXP is C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book. (The location is different for other versions of Windows, so post back.) Navigate to that folder and replace any existing UserName.wab file (not .wa~ file) with the saved UserName.wab file. Again with luck you now should have a functioning Address Book.

 

Thank you so much. At first try this worked well since the main folders came in (inbox, sent, deleted). Once I brought the personal folders dbx over it seemed to wipe everything else out though and it was all empty again. I'm going to try this again without the personal folders dbx. And see what's up. Very helpful, thanks Welshjim.....

 

pinchie--Yes, please tell us. Did you keep the new folders.dbx file which came with the new installation of OE? It would seem your husband's other .dbx folders prefer to work with it.
I assume you are running WinXP.

 

Hi Again

Yes, using xp.

i did not save the original folders.dbx and nothing seems to work with the new one i brought over. I did manage to get the main ones working on my laptop but since i don't have the original folders.dbx for oe I'm not sure how to bring them over now?

Off to try the wab.

Thanks,

 

For the personal folders try this. First open OE and then create a new folder with the same name as the personal folder you're trying to recover. Do this for each of them. When done, close OE and in windows explorer browse to OE's store folder and delete the new dbx files that were created when you made the new folders in OE. Then copy the ones you're trying to recover to OE's store folder. Then open OE and see if you have what you want.

 

Here's a little update.

Since I replaced the folders.dbx with my 'old' one, nothing has imported/dragged/replaced at all. I tried downloading Eudora and Thunderbird and importing into those programs but nothing.

I downloaded dbxextract and extracted the needed folders into word documents which is great for now since he can access those if he needs to find something.

Zander I will try the renaming right now...thanks for the tip.

Ummm... why did I put my computer experience as intermediate when the rest of you know way more and have 'little'? yeesh, I feel like an idiot!

Thanks for all the help. Will keep you posted.

 

pinchie--Concerning the mail folders. I understand you now have the .dbx folders (with unreadable messages) from your husband's PC in the Store Folder, including folders.dbx. Delete the folders.dbx. Reboot. OE should create a new folders.dbx that synchronizes with the message .dbx folders.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/IE/community/columns/filecorruption.mspx
P.S.--From your second post

I am not sure I understand whether you were actually able to read the message .dbx folders at some point or what "empty" refers to when you wrote that, but if my suggestion in the first paragraph above works, it is not necessary to explore that any further.

 

I usually do this a little differently because I'm lazy. When trying to move .dbx files over to a new machine, its necessary to first set up a mail account in Outlook Express. Once thats been done, Windows will establish a file store within the user profile under Documents and Settings > User Name > Local Settings > Application Data > Identities > some long alpha numeric string > Microsoft > Outlook Express

Just copy all of your old .dbx files and paste them to Outlook Express as described above. If you are prompted about replacing files, the answer is yes - you want to get all your old email back so you have to replace the new folders which are empty anyway. Thats it. Reboot and mission accomplished.

Now, if you already have a bunch of email on the new machine and want to add your old stuff, this isn't going to work because you are replacing all of your .dbx files and folders. Then you'll have to import using a more traditional approach.

The way I count it, its about 10-11 mouse clicks, most of which are just navigational. Should take all of a minute to complete in Windows Explorer.