transferring emails and addresses?

[journeyman Mick]

Okay all you IT gurus, need a bit of help. I've got a new 'puter up and running and have transferred all my files (backed them all up on the 2nd HDD and then installed same in new 'puter). Just wondering how to save/transfer all my emails and addresses from one to the other. The old box has got Win 98SE with outlook express whilst the new one is running XP and Outlook 2002.
The old 'puter still has a CD burner in it so I can burn all the files to that, just need to know how to find the appropriate files and how to load them in the new 'puter.

Mick IT ignoramus:confused:

[ozwinner]

In outlook express goto File> Export> Address Book.

---- Same ---- >messages.

Easy.

Al

[journeyman Mick]

Ta, Al, will give it a go, almost sounds too simple. I vaguely remember that when I went from 'puter #1 to #2 it wasn't very easy/possible but that was Win 95.

Mick

[Ashore]

Don't forget to copy your favorites list from internet explorer

Rgds

[Driver]

Mick

Once you've transferred all the data from your old address book and mail files onto the new computer, make a habit of doing a backup every week.

I recently had a hard drive crash (on a relatively new computer, incidentally). I had back-up copies on CD for nearly all my document files up until about three weeks before the hard drive failed. However, I hadn't backed up any of my email or address book files in Outlook.

As you might imagine, this was a serious inconvenience (I hope you're suitably impressed by the restrained language!).

I bought a stand-alone hard drive after I had the main hard drive replaced and I now have a weekly routine to back up all document files and also all Outlook files.

For what it's worth, the routine with the Outlook files is to use the file/folder tree in Folder List view (to the left of the screen), select the root folder (in my case it's Outlook Today), go to File/Import & Export.

In the dialog box, select 'Export to a file' then 'Personal Folder File (.pst)'; select the root folder and check the 'Include subfolders' box and then choose a file path in: 'Save exported file as'. My file path for this purpose is on the stand-alone hard drive, of course.

This saves a full copy of all your current Outlook folders: mail, address book, Tasks etc.

My routine is to keep two back-up sets on the stand-alone hard drive: one from last week and one from this week. As I export this week's file, I delete the one that's now 2 weeks old.

Hope this helps.

Col

(Who has just received an automatic prompt to do this week's back-up)

[journeyman Mick]

Mick

Once you've transferred all the data from your old address book and mail files onto the new computer, make a habit of doing a backup every week.

I recently had a hard drive crash (on a relatively new computer, incidentally). I had back-up copies on CD for nearly all my document files up until about three weeks before the hard drive failed. However, I hadn't backed up any of my email or address book files in Outlook.

As you might imagine, this was a serious inconvenience (I hope you're suitably impressed by the restrained language!).

I bought a stand-alone hard drive after I had the main hard drive replaced and I now have a weekly routine to back up all document files and also all Outlook files.

For what it's worth, the routine with the Outlook files is to use the file/folder tree in Folder List view (to the left of the screen), select the root folder (in my case it's Outlook Today), go to File/Import & Export.

In the dialog box, select 'Export to a file' then 'Personal Folder File (.pst)'; select the root folder and check the 'Include subfolders' box and then choose a file path in: 'Save exported file as'. My file path for this purpose is on the stand-alone hard drive, of course.

This saves a full copy of all your current Outlook folders: mail, address book, Tasks etc.

My routine is to keep two back-up sets on the stand-alone hard drive: one from last week and one from this week. As I export this week's file, I delete the one that's now 2 weeks old.

Hope this helps.

Col

(Who has just received an automatic prompt to do this week's back-up)

Col,
I'm trying to save Outlook Express files if that makes any difference. I went to file and export then had to choose between exporting the messages and the address book. Managed to export the messages okay. Went to export the address book and had to choose between "Microsoft Exchange Personal Address Book" and "Text File (Comma Seperated Values)". The latter didn't sound too useful so I chose the former. Got the message:
"The windows Address Book is currently unable to perform this export. Make sure you have a personal address book set up in Outlook and that it is set as your current personal address book"

Obviously I need to set up an address book, but I've got no idea how. There's an address book there full of names and addresses but I don't think I ever set it up.





Help Please!

Mick

IT klutz type

[Coldamus]

Mick,

Microsoft Exchange address book format is something else. Forget that option. You can try exporting the address book as "Text File (Comma Seperated Values)". Although that may not seem useful, you should be able to import the data from the resulting text file into your new address book. (I assume you'll still be using Outlook Express on your XP machine).

Alternatively, you can copy the actual address book file.

Windows address books have a file extension of .wab and on Windows 98 the default location is the folder
\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book\

Use windows explorer to look in that location and you should see a file like "Fred Nurk.wab", except with your name instead of Fred Nurk's. Just copy that file. (Ignore any files with an extension of .wa~ They are backup copies from when the address book was last edited).

If you can't find the file in that location, do a "Find Files" search for *.wab

I don't use XP, so I do not know its default location for the address books. However it does not matter. Just copy the ".wab" file to somewhere logical. Then, in Outlook Express, select from the menu "File,.. Import,..Address Book". Locate the .wab file that you copied and open it. All the names and addresses should now be available.

regards
Coldamus

[Driver]

Mick

Sorry to take so long to reply. I got caught up in an urgent update for the Code of Practice. See:

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...648#post341648

Anyway, Coldamus' advice is spot on. If you can do the import thing using the .wab file, do it. Otherwise, the .csv file idea will work fine but you may have a bit of re-aligning to do, using MS Excel. It's messy but reliable.

Good luck!

Col

[Driver]

Incidentally, Mick, on re-reading your original post, I see that you will be using XP and Outlook 2002 on your new machine. That being the case, you can use the back-up routine in my earlier post. Once you've transferred all your mail and address book data to the new machine, of course.

Col

[journeyman Mick]

Coladamus,
thanks, I'm just about to head out the door, so will give it a go this afternoon when I get back. I'll be using Outlook (not express) in the new machine, hopefully it won't complicate matters. (They're way too complex for my poor head now )

Mick

[Cliff Rogers]

Mick, sorry, I have been too busy to stick my head in here.

If you are going to use Outlook on the new machine, my experience has been that it all goes best if you first set up Outlook Express on the new PC so it has everything you used to have, IE, messages, contacts (addresss boock) etc & then install Outlook & let it upgrade you from Outlook Express.

Others may differ with this opinion & I don't mind BUT, in my experience, it works the best.

To get Outlook Express going properley, you need to copy over the .wab files & the folder with all your mail in it on the old PC to a 'spare' folder on the new PC & then use 'Import' in Outlook express on the new PC & point it at the 'spare' folder.

Others may have said something similar to this, I didn't read all the replies.

[Coldamus]

I also missed the fact that you will be using Outlook 2002. However, Cliff is right. If you import the address book into Outlook Express and then install Outlook 2002, it should automatically detect and load the address book from Outlook Express.

regards
Coldamus

[journeyman Mick]

Cliff, Coldamus,
aaaaargh! too late the 'puter came pre-loaded with Outlook. I just plugged it in and turned it on and everything was alreadt installed. No doubt this will make things harder, no? Anyway, that's good enough reason to put off doing it tonight . I hate these bloody things!

Mick

[Coldamus]

You should still be able to do it.

I don't have Outlook 2002 but I have both Outlook 2000 and Outlook Express installed concurrently and used for different purposes.

In Outlook 2000, under "File", "Import and Export" there is an option "Import from another program or file" which
allows import from files in various formats including comma separated value and personal address book (.pab) but unfortunately not .wab

There's another option under "File", "Import and Export" to "Import Internet Mail and Addresses". Among other things, this allows import of addresses and mail from Outlook Express but only if they pre-exist in Outlook Express. i.e. it doesn't give the option of selecting a particular .wab file.

However the windows Address Book should be installed separately somewhere on your menu system (probably under accessories). Is so, you can open it and import the .wab into there. Then go back to Outlook and use the option mentioned above to import mail and addresses from Outlook Express.

Don't take any of the above as gospel. As I said originally, I don't use XP and it may be slightly different.

regards
Coldamus

[Wood Butcher]

One of the good features of winXP is the "Files and Setting Transfer Wizard" (Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools). It will backup all of your documents, emails, address book, Internet Favourite (IE only) and general computer settings to one file which you can put onto CD (or in my case DVD, too much stuff). You can then easily use this to set up a new computer.
I do this once a week as my backup. Everything is done at once!

(and yes I know it's not much help for Micks case)