Syncing Outlook Express to Windows Live Mail

[Skyzoomer]

My first laptop and now I'm trying to learn how to sync emails on my WinXP desktop "Outlook Express" (OE) to my Vista laptop "Windows Live Mail" (WLM). I think the basic problem I have is in OE.

SYMPTOMS:
I have three email accounts setup on OE and WLM.
- 1. My email account on my ISP call it "sky@myisp.com"
- 2. My wife's account on my ISP call it "wife@myisp.com"
- 3. My hotmail account call it "zoomer@hotmail.com"

The hotmail account syncs automatically when my laptop and desktops are both powered on. When I installed WLM on my new Vista laptop and setup the email accounts, magically every subfolder in my desktop's zoomer@hotmail.com folder was automatically transferred into WLM. IOW, my hotmail account looks identical in both computers. I can delete any email in one computer and when I press F5 (refresh) on the other computer, that email disappears from the other computer. Syncronization is automatic and perfect.

PROBLEM:
The problem is with my two ISP accounts. When I look in WLM on my laptop, I see those two accounts as separate accounts just like my hotmail account. However they have not inherited anything from the OE accounts on my desktop.

REASON:
I think the reason both of my ISP accounts are not syncing is that there is no specific account for either one in OE. All I see in OE is "Local Folders" which handles email for both ISP email accounts. --- ADDITIONAL INFO: when I click on my hotmail folder in OE's left pane, the right pane shows two buttons labeled "Synchronize Account" and "Settings". The Settings button allows syncronization or not. When I click on the "Local Folders" in OE's left pane, the right pane only shows one button labeled "Send and Receive All".

QUESTION:
Is there a way to create separate email account folders in OE for my wife and me?

 

[IlllI]

this seems more like a software issue

 

[corkyg]

In OE6, the accounts are integrated for display and syncing if you have Accounts/Properties and the bottom box checked. I suppose unchecking it separates them.

Windows LiveMail (Win 7) separates the account displays by default. I prefer them the OE6 way and have not yet figured out how to integrate them. I may just have to retrain myself. Fortunately, Win 7 accepts Eudora Pro 7.5 nicely - and I can deal with it that way. Also, Thunderbird can be used, and it is very much like OE6.

Off hand, I have a dislike for WLM.

 

[Skyzoomer]

Originally posted by: corkyg
In OE6, the accounts are integrated for display and syncing if you have Accounts/Properties and the bottom box checked. I suppose unchecking it separates them.

Windows LiveMail (Win 7) separates the account displays by default. I prefer them the OE6 way and have not yet figured out how to integrate them. I may just have to retrain myself. Fortunately, Win 7 accepts Eudora Pro 7.5 nicely - and I can deal with it that way. Also, Thunderbird can be used, and it is very much like OE6.

Off hand, I have a dislike for WLM.

Hi Corky,

I went to OE Tools > Accounts > Properties > General-Tab and the bottom box says "Include this account when receiving mail or synchronizing". It was already checked so I unchecked it in both ISP accounts. But the "Local Folders" did not separate. I didn't see any appropriate bottom box in any of the other Tabs.

Any other ideas?
Thanks!

 

[armstrda]

The problem most likely is that your isp emails are using POP through OE and most likely not leaving a copy on the server (default POP settings). In other words, once you download the email in OE, that email is gone from the server and then lies solely in your OE folder. Now when you set up WLM, it's trying to get email from an empty folder, thus making it look like it's not syncing. Basically you have a couple of options. The first would be see if your isp email supports IMAP - this will leave a copy of the email on the server, so you can sync those folders on any computer (hotmail uses an HTTP protocol that acts similar to IMAP and that's why you see that on both computers). The other option (and you will probably have to do this either way) is to do a export from OE for your personal folders and import that into WLM. Now this will probably be a pain as your email and your wife's are in the same folder, but you want them to go into 2 different folders.

 

[corkyg]

And that is why I took one look at WLM and said, "No!!"

I installed good old reliable Eudora Pro 7.5+. I have three email addresses, and I want them all sharing the same subjective folders. WLM makes that difficult, but it is a piece of cake in Eudora. The user is in absolute control all the time .

 

[Skyzoomer]

Originally posted by: armstrda
The problem most likely is that your isp emails are using POP through OE and most likely not leaving a copy on the server (default POP settings). In other words, once you download the email in OE, that email is gone from the server and then lies solely in your OE folder. Now when you set up WLM, it's trying to get email from an empty folder, thus making it look like it's not syncing. Basically you have a couple of options. The first would be see if your isp email supports IMAP - this will leave a copy of the email on the server, so you can sync those folders on any computer (hotmail uses an HTTP protocol that acts similar to IMAP and that's why you see that on both computers). The other option (and you will probably have to do this either way) is to do a export from OE for your personal folders and import that into WLM. Now this will probably be a pain as your email and your wife's are in the same folder, but you want them to go into 2 different folders.

Hi armstrda,

Thanks for your info regarding POP not retaining copies of emails being the cause of my problem. I found there is a way to leave copies of messages on the server using POP so I tried that but it is a bit kludgy at best. So I'm switching to IMAP.

I discovered that WLM can be installed on WinXP so I did that on my desktop PC. The install automatically loads the data from OE so that is a plus. Both laptop and desktop are running WLM now. MS hotmail will not work in OE starting 9/1/09 and I use hotmail so that was a big incentive for me to switch to WLM.

With IMAP, received email show up automatically on both PCs and "read" status on one is mirrored on the other automatically. Good stuff!

But the SENT folders are not in sync. Email can be in the sent folder on one PC but never show up on the other PC. I saw something about changing rules for ISPs to have sent folders but I have to find it again by googling. Not sure if it will solve the SENT folder sync problem though.

Also need to find out if storage folders in Windows Live Mail can be synced using IMAP.
Much to learn about IMAP.

Thanks,
Skyzoomer