|
Return to
Reference Links Table of Contents Page
|
|
Outlook Back-up and Transfer:
New Computer—Old Email, or How to Back up
and Transfer Your Email
By Ron Barrett
If you have a brand new computer, or are
thinking about buying one in the near future, one of the things that you
will need to consider is how to transfer your emails from the old system to
the new system.
At least once a week in my job as a help desk analyst, I am helping a
customer set up Outlook Express or Outlook (there are other email clients
that are used, but these two are the most popular) on their new computer.
Once we are finished with the setup and they open it up to the Inbox the
question is asked "where are my old emails?" The simple answer; "on your old
computer". Then of course the follow up question is; "how do I get them to
the new computer?"
Easy or Hard
The easiest way to do this is to back them up to an external hard drive or a
compact disc before you make the switch to the new computer and then copy
them over to the new computer in the exact same directory. The harder way is
in the case of a crashed computer or the inability to access the files
normally. I cover a bit of that in another article called 'Got Backups?'
which you can find at my website.
Outlook Express
With Outlook Express your emails/email folders are stored on your hard drive
in a directory that is buried way down deep in the Operating System. Instead
of me giving you the full path to get there, it's easiest if you have
Outlook Express open, click on Tools then Options.
Copy/Paste
Once you are here, click on the Maintenance tab and then click on the Store
Folder button. This will pop another window with the location of your
emails. Using your mouse, highlight the path and then right click and copy
it.
You will then click on the Start button, then click Run, and then right
click in the Open box and Paste the path. Click Ok.
This will open another window with your email files. Unless you have added
other folders to your Outlook Express, the default folders will be here with
a .dbx extension (Folders, Inbox, Sent Items, Deleted Items, and Drafts).
Backup
If you are going to write these files to a CD, you can burn them at this
time by using your favorite burning software (providing that you have a CD
burner installed in your computer).
To copy them to an external hard drive, you must now connect that device to
your computer, create a folder on that drive (I usually call it Email
Backups), copy the files from the old computer then paste the files into the
Email Backups folder.
Import
Once you have the files copied to the CD or external drive, then you will go
to the new installation of Outlook Express and import the messages. It would
be nice if you could just copy them to the new OE and be done, but Microsoft
doesn't like you to do it that way.
Open up OE and then click on File, Import, Messages. This will open a new
window called Outlook Express Import. Choose Microsoft Outlook Express 6
then click Next. Click in the circle that says 'Import mail from an OE6
store directory'. Click OK. Then click 'Browse' and navigate to and select
the directory you have saved them to. Click OK. The next window will give
you a list of all of the email folders you have previously saved. Keep 'All
folders' selected and click Next.
This will begin the process of importing all of your 'old' emails into your
'new' Outlook Express. Once it has finished you will have all of your old
emails back! Cool, huh?
Outlook
The procedure to save and then import your emails in Outlook is similar, but
different.
To start with, Outlook uses a file extension called pst, or Personal Folder
File. Don't ask me why it's called that. Call Bill Gates and ask him.
Export
You will start on the old computer and with Outlook open, click on File,
then 'Import and Export'. This opens the Import and Export Wizard. Choose
'Export to a file' then click Next. Choose 'Personal Folder File' here and
then click Next. In the Export Personal Folders dialogue box you have your
choice of what you want to do. The easiest is to keep the default choice of
just the inbox, but if you want your sent items and all the other folders,
choose the top item (Personal Folders) and then choose the 'Include
subfolders' option and then click Next.
The next window will have a default location listed
(usually C:Documents and Settings'your computer name'Local
SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftOutlookbackup.pst). I would suggest
following the same procedure as for OE (see above). Then click 'Finish' and
let it do it's thing.
Once you have your pst files backed up, move to the new computer and the
import process will again be similar to OE.
Connect your external hard drive to your computer or insert the CD into the
drive.
Import
Open Outlook, click on File, then Import and Export. In the Import and
Export Wizard, this time choose 'Import from another program or file' then
click Next. In the 'Import a File' window, scroll down and select Personal
Folder File (.pst) and then click Next.
In the 'Import Personal Folders' window, click the Browse button and
navigate out to the location of your backed up pst file, choose it and then
click Next. Click 'Finish' and it will import all of your messages..
--------------------
Ron Barrett is the owner of
Ron's Computer
Service, your online helpdesk for computer related problems. You can
subscribe to his weekly newsletter 'Bits and Bytes: Decoding the Digital
World' by sending an email to
him. He is Certified Help Desk Analyst, CompTIA A+ Certified and has earned
a Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology. He has worked in several
companies in the role of help desk analyst, desk top support and
network/email administrator. In his free time he enjoys spending time with
his wife and three boys, working around the house and trying to perfect his
golf swing.
|
