OE6 from Win 98 to XP

Upgraded from Win98 to XP. Wiped my drive, but before I did this I saved what I thought were all the OE6 messages by copying the identites from the Windows\Application Data\Identities folders. I had 4 different identities set up and by looking at the these folders I could see from the subfolder names that these appear to contain the data that I need.

However, I have tried copying thse identities back to the new drive and I can't seem to get Outlook Express to see them. Going to the Tools, Options, Miantenance I can see where OE6 is looking for it's data and therefore can confirm the directory where Outlook is looking for its data. I have the files physically in the correct directory, but Outlook only shows the original inbox, folders.

Therefore I cannot understand why after copying the backed up folders into this identity folder ( a {FAAxxxxx}) that I cannot see them.

I also tried to use the import function within Outlook Express, but this doesn't import anyhting.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks,

Rob

 

In the folders you backed up are there .dbx files...inbox.dbx, sent items.dbx, etc.? Those are the files which contain OE's email messages. If the .dbx files are not within the folders you backed up, then I'm afraid you're out of luck as far as getting the old OE data back.

Check the properties of the files within the folders you copied to the drive. If they're marked Read Only, uncheck that box and click OK. (You can do them all at once by changing the attributes on the folder they're in which will give you a dialog box asking if you want to make the same change to the files within it. (Don't be surprised when the folder itself remains marked as Read Only. For reasons known only to Microsoft programmers, the attribute setting on all folders says they're Read Only but it's a meaningless setting.)

If OE still doesn't recognize the files, make sure you have OE updated to the same point (or beyond) that it was on the Win98 installation. The critical updates for XP will be somewhat different than they were for Win98 but the will contain essentially the same updates for OE.

 

Thanks for your suggestions. Still does not appear to work. The folders are all "dbx" and marked only as archive. The properties all appear to be the same as the existing new folders.

For instance I have one folder which I know only had 3 messages in and by opening the folder using WordPad I can see the contents are there. Copying this folder into the outlook express folder, so it appears under explorer exactly as any other folder (inbox, sent, etc,) it is still not shown as a folder when Outlook express is opened.

I wonder if there is any other way to look at properties to see if there is some identifying part that states that the folder is seen as part of an Outlook express subfolder. Maybe there is something in the registry that registers each folder?

Rob

 

When all else fails, DBxtract
dbx files do not behave well.

Johanna

 

Well all else appears to have failed!

At your suggestion I downloaded DBExtract and figured out how to use it. I have tried opening a few folders and by the two step process of extracting the messages from a folder into a windows explorer folder and then copying the individual messages over to an OE 6 folder, simply drag from windows explorer to an open folder in OE6 running, (which threw me for a bit) they are recovered!

Many thanks - still can't see from OE6 any way to back up messages so that you can import them into another instance of OE6.

Rob

 

robfrais--The official MS way
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;270670&
And another article with more or less the same info, but expressed a little more helpfully.
http://insideoe.tomsterdam.com//backup/simple.htm

 

Hidden within the "more helpful" article was the gem I needed.

By deleting the "Folders.dbx" file, when Outlook Express starts it apparently rebuilds the folders based on what is in its root directory. I therefore copied in one of the folders that I had saved, that I knew contained e-mails, deleted the folders.dbx file and then started Outlook Express. Voilà, the folder was now there, with all it's data intact!

Thanks everyone,

Rob

 

robfrais--Pleased to hear that article helped.
However, now you must help me. The article said "You must include Folders.dbx in your backup or you will be unable to import the mail folders! "
But it seems you are deleting folders.dbx and then are able to re-import the .dbx folders. I am confused.

 

If the official way doesn't work, this is how I do it. I copied and pasted this from a post I made before this BBS was hacked. Otherwise I'd have posted a link. It explains why your files didn't show up when you copied them to the folder where your OE files are kept. The "official" way wasn't working for this person and he/she was trying to do the same thing you were. Thus, my response.

If the files you saved are .dbx files there is a way you can get them into OE without losing anything. In the directory where OE stores its messages there is a file called folders.dbx. This file contains the entire folder tree structure in OE so if you just copy the files you backed up into the directory they don't show up because they aren't referenced in the folders.dbx file. To work around this open OE and create a new folder for each one of the files you saved. Name them whatever you want and then close OE. After doing this open the folder where OE stores the messages and delete the new .dbx files that OE made when you created the new folders. Now rename the dbx files that you are trying to get into OE using the same names as the dbx files that you just deleted. Now when you open OE they should show up for you. Once you have them in there you can move them to whatever folders you wish and then delete the folders you created for this purpose if you wish.

 

To: Welshjim,

I haven't re-imported every folder yet, but doing it a few folders at a time, deleting the folders dbx folder in OE6 and then starting OE6 again, appears to work. In reality it should, as I knew that the information was all there - it seems that it is like the operating system/library analogy - if you lose the master system files, although you know the data hasn't changed, you just don't have an index system to find the data.

OE6 must realize when the Files.dbx has disappeared and recreates its own index system from the folders in the identities\microsoft\outlook express directory folder.

I would probably suggest backing up everything , including the folders.dbx file - I did. Who knows, there may be a better way out there!

Good Luck,

Rob

 

robfrais--Most kind of you to respond. Surprised but glad it works.
Zander--That's the method I have used. Believe that leaves the old folders.dbx in place to serve as the tree for the new folders.

 

Yes, it does leave the old folders.dbx in place. I prefer to do it this way. Deleting the folders.dbx works but it also wipes out your entire folder tree structure. Not a big deal if you don't have many folders but for some, having to rebuild it manually in OE can be time consuming and a real pain too.

 

One thing to keep in mind with OE is that it was never designed or meant for storage. Important emails should either be saved to a folder in My Docs in the .eml form, or their text C&P to Notepad. You can keep quite a bit of emails in your Inbox folders, but don't leave them in your Inbox (the page you usually see when you open OE) If OE does zap something, it's usually the Inbox first. In my experience, OE becomes unstable when it is too full. A little housekeeping goes a long way with OE. JMO, of course.

Johanna

 

My opinion is pretty much the same as yours. I keep mine pretty slim but trying to convince others to do the same is a lot like trying to convince people to take security seriously. I saw your post about this so I'm sure you know what I mean.