Outlook Express Inbox

[Fabio]

Can someone please tell me the name of the file OE uses to save the messages in your inbox? I am gonna reinstall windows but I dont wanna lose all of my messages.



Thanks,


Fabio

 

[hominid skull]

right click and choose properties on it in outlook.... Tells you where it is..

 

[Lord Evermore]

Wrong forum, but...

it's usually in \windows\application data\identities\<random string of numbers and letters>\Microsoft\Outlook Express

Each folder in Outlook Express is saved as an individual file in that directory. If you just back up the entire directory, you'll save all your mail and newsgroups. In Outlook Express you can also export your account information, so that you can then import it when you reinstall, saving the hassle of rebuilding the account info.

So, here's the process:

In OE, export your account data for every mail and news server you have set up (does anybody ever actually use those other accounts that OE comes with?). Back up the exported files.
Exit OE, then locate the folder with all your mail files. Back up that entire folder (and only that last folder, not the entire Application Data folder or the one with random letters and numbers).
Wipe the system and reinstall.
Once it's up and running, when you're installing IE and OE (if you do), don't create any accounts, just open OE. Then exit, and COPY the folder containing your mail files back to the original location. Overwrite any files that it asks about. Then open OE and you should see all of your mail. Then import the account information from the backups. You should be all set.


If you import your account data first, then OE will probably try to retrieve your email before you've copied back the old mail. So if it happens, you'll end up overwriting any new mail that comes in.

For some reason OE doesn't come with a simply way to just export all mail and account data to a format that it can then import quickly. It only exports to other Microsoft brand mail programs.

 

[jfall]

The files are inbox.mbx and inbox.dbx I believe

 

[Lord Evermore]

Those are the files, but those are ONLY the inbox. If you want to keep any of the mail you've sent or stored in another folder, then you have to copy those files as well.