I should have said. With Windows Live Mail, the "Import > Messages" function has been designed to mirror the OE menu options. Windows Live Mail creates its "Store Folder" by default as:
C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail
Outlook Express creates the default Store Folder as:
C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{long-uniq
The OE "Folders" are the named *.dbx files in the above folder, but with Windows Live Mail, the usual Inbox, Sent Items, etc folders are stored as traditional sub-folders under a master folder named after your different mail accounts. Where you have more than one Hotmail account, the master folders will have a numeric identifier after the folder name, eg.
Hotmail (bi 1b3
Hotmail (mi e9b
No, I haven't missed out the closing bracket. They have only an opening bracket in the name.
Within each of these folders, there will be a file named eg:
C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\Googlemail\account{77
These files contain all the connection settings, passwords, etc for that account in XML format as imported from what was in Outlook Express.
Windows Live Mail creates its own "Storage Folders" that I believe may be used by default for all in, out, and deleted mail, at least that seems to be a problem experienced by some users when I read some problems about it. In my case, new messages go directly to the Inbox for that specific account and are stored as *.eml files with alpha-numeric names until you move them or save them out, eg:
C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\Hotmail (mi e9b\Inbox\40955A18-0000000
The file:
C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\Mail.MSMessageStore
Looks like it contains details of all folders used by the configured accounts and the messages in them, and like OE the contents of long-since deleted messages still show when viewed in an editor able to show the contents.
I haven't yet had a chance to fully track how and where Windows Live Mail deposits messsages, but suffice to say that it is NOT the same as OE and does not use the same *.dbx files. When imported, the data is converted into the format needed by Live Mail. The inbuilt functions to import OE accounts and messages from backed-up files works well, so it pays not to look too deeply into the processes involved if you don't need to.
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by: BillDLPosted on 2008-08-10 at 08:32:48ID: 22199913
The first thing you want to do is make sure that the folders (ie. the DBX files that contain the OE folders) have neutral names that won't try and overwrite the existing default folders in the target OE Store Folders of the computers you are migrating them to.
Once imported, you can easily move the messages from those folders into the default Inbox, Sent Items, etc from within the OE interface and delete the folders (and therefore the respective DBX files).
Remember that if you use a CD-R as the intermediate storage medium, zip up the DBX files or they will be Read-nly when copied into the target Store Folder, and will probably crash OE on opening. A DBX file inside a ZIP file on a CD is not read-only, it is only the zip file that would be if you copied it out. So, extracting a DBX file from a ZIP file to the OE Store Folder works well. You are using a Flash Drive, so that's fine, but make sure it doesn't impose any encryption on the files through software that came with the Flash drive, or resides on it.
Remember that you have the alternative method of exporting email messages from one OE and importing them to another OE, but it can be laborious if you have a lot of emails. If you resize OE so you can see folders on your desktop, create new folders there like "Inbox_Folder", "Sent_Items_Folder", etc. Open the respective foler in OE so you can see all your messages, and select them all. Click on top one, Shift Key, Click on Last one (or selective Control and Click). Just Drag all he selected messages out onto the correct folder on your desktop and it will copy them there as *.EML messages. You can use the Left mouse, or use the Right-Mouse > Copy Here option, it doesn't matter.
I tend to move all current messages into newly created OE folders with names like "Archive_Inbox", "Archive_Sent", etc. Even add a Date to the folder names, like "Archive_Inbox_Aug_10" to idendify them, so that the *.dbx files will have those unique file names and be unmistakable. I then close OE and ONLY copy out those NEW *.dbx files to the intermediate storage pending migration. The Store Folder into which you will be migrating the *.dbx files will already have the default OE folders, so you don't want to confuse the issue by overwriting any of them with ones from the other computer.
With Windows Explorer open to the Flash Drive, and OE resized on top so you can see the folders on the flash drive behind it, just open the correct folder and Drag and Drop the emails from there right into the correct OE folder. For example, with the "Inbox" open in OE, select all the individual *.eml messages in your Flash Drive's "Inbox_Folder" folder, and drag them right into OE's "Inbox" space.
Very occasionally you can end up with duplicate file names when dragging and dropping messages out of OE into a Folder, and Windows Explorer won't let you create two files there with the same name. In that case, take note of the affected ones and do a File > Save As from the open message in OE and save it to the Explorer folder by a slightly different name.
The importing of *.dbx files is usually a lot easier, however, but I urge you to make a backup of the existing folders to a suitably named folder that accurately reflects the status of the contents. Either include the first 5 characters of the "Store Folder's" name (ie. the first bit of the {long-unique-number} ) in your backup folder name and take notes, or just make sure you take comprehensive notes. Although an OE folder may not contain any email messages, it still has a significant file size. This can become confusing to the point where you may think tat you are working with the "exported" *.dbx file you are migrating, when in fact you are looking at a folder containing the empty one.
Another thing to remember when copying out *.dbx files from your Store Folder for migration to another computer, or even as a backup to be reinstated after a Windows Reinstall on the same PC, is NOT to include that folder with the {unique-long-name}. Only copy out the *.dbx files.
You may have some *.log files and other files like "Pop3uidl.dbx" in your Store Folder. The *.log files are of no use, so don't copy them out. In fact, in the OE Tools > Options > Maintenance settings, uncheck the 4 boxes along the bottom that tell it to create log files. After applying the settings and closing OE, you can delete the *.log files from the Store Folder, and then they won't confuse the issue. If you run the Maintenance > "Cleanup" > Compact option in OE, don't be surprised to see a couple of *.dbx files in your Recycle Bin. Emails deleted from the OE Deleted Items folder are never completely deleted unless that folder is then compacted, and this dumps files in your Recycle Bin.
Probably THE most important advice I can give is to NEVER have OE open when you are accessing the *.dbx files in Windows Explorer. That is asking for problems.
So, going back to your question, I am assuming that you have correctly identified your OE "Store Folder" on the other machine:
OE > Tools > Options > Maintenance tab > "Store Folder" button.
Does OE on that target computer already have messages in any of the folders?
If so, then I would be inclined to MOVE them into new OE folders appropriately named to reflect the fact that they are the ones lready on that computer, eg. new folders named "Existing_Inbox", etc. That way, even if the *.dbx files from the Flash drive overwrite OE folders on the target PC, you have your emails archived in neural folders.
The suggested, and easiest/safest way to import email messages into OE is using the File > Import > Messages option, and choosing "Microsoft Outlook Express 6 Messages".
That allows you to browse to any folder containing *.dbx files and import them from there. You can choose only selective *.dbx files to create those folders with the message contents, or all of them. If you followed my suggestions earlier, you will be able to pick out your uniquely named *.dbx files and be completely selective. Even if you choose all files (ie. folders), then it should only ADD the ADDITIONAL content to any that is already in the respective folders in OE.
Sadly OE does not have an "Export > Messages" option that exports to a suitable repository that works by the reverse route to Import. It only exports to Outlook or Exchange.
Did you manually copy the *.dbx files from the Flash Drive into the Store Folder of the other computer, having opened it in Windows Explorer?
Are you saying that you now have an "Inbox.dbx" and an "Inbox[1].dbx" file in that same folder?
I'm a bit confused about what you mean here, and I need to clarify this in case you end up screwing up existing messages.
NOTE: DO NOT rename any of the *.dbx files on your Flash drive in the hope that they will import as OE folders of that name. From what I recall, the headers are embedded in these files to reflect their original names, and it messes things up badly.
I hope this helps you to figure out whether to proceed, or go back and start fresh.
Regards
Bill