I have been told that the folder extension is .dbx in OE and .pst in Outlook. There should be a corresponding folder on your HD in the Outlook folders, e.g., joe.pst for the folder named "Joe."

The extension for individual messages is, however, .eml.

I too am faced with this dilemma becasue I'm upgrading operating systems.

I am able to find the .dbx files, but there is no application to open these files. Right now I am in the process of saving each e-mail file, one by one. Oh it is as fun as it sounds. If you figure out anything easier let me know.

 

 

I was told that when you install Outlook or OE on your new machine [or if on the same machine, in a new OS], that you simply insert the old .dbx or .pst files into the new install. The message folders are supposed to magically reappear.

I remain skeptical about this path.

Will advise if I hear of a better way than the one-by-one, which is what I'm dreading I'll have to do.

No need to save the emails one by one. All the data is in the .dbx files for OE (or the outlook.pst file for Office Outlook).

If you are using OE, copy the whole folder of .dbx files from your old  PC (including the folder itself). Put it somewhere convenient on your new PC (e.g in temp folder). You need to use the import wizard in OE on the new PC, point it to the folder and import. (File, import). Click on help in the wizard for detailed instructions. Just putting the .dbx files in the place that OE uses will not do. When you have completed the import, and checked that it has been successful, you can delete the folder you copied from your old PC.

Similarly if you are using Office Outlook, copy the outlook.pst file from your old PC into some folder on your new PC (say temp or my documents), and then use the import function in Office Outlook to import the data.

Message Edited by JRosenfeld on 01-13-2004 08:27 PM

Message Edited by JRosenfeld on 01-13-2004 08:30 PM

Thanks for saving me [and others] a heap of time.

One point I'm unclear on: does a corresponding .dbx file already exist somewhere for each of my OE folders? Or are these created by "compacting" the folders?

If the exist already, where would they typically be found?

Message Edited by dg27 on 01-13-2004 03:46 PM

Check this link out too:

http://www.x1000forums.com/viewtopic.php?p=30429#30429

 

Thank you for everyone's help

giper,

That link just gets me to a log on screen?

I registered and got to the link, which was in some ways was useful, but actually [as these forums can sometimes get], also had what I felt was kind of conflicting info.

I found these other links very useful:

http://www.djdenham.com/Import_OE_WAB_text.htm

http://www.djdenham.com/vb3viewlet/OE_Transfer_viewlet_swf.html

[These both deal with inporting and exporting message folders and address books.]

However, if you copy the entire folder and after importing find that something is missing you can bring individual .dbx files into Outlook Express:

http://www.djdenham.com/vb3viewlet/OE_import_viewlet_swf.html 

(text version at http://www.djdenham.com/Copying_OE_files.htm).

Both come from:

http://www.djdenham.com/Basic_Windows.htm

I found these very easy to understand [even for a relative novice such as myself].

 

Message Edited by dg27 on 01-13-2004 07:31 PM