Saving Windows Mail folders on Vists home.

[Autom8r]

Hi gang. I'm a newbie here and somewhat computer literate, but far from a whiz and not familiar with alphabetical and numeric jargon, so a lot of stuff needs to be spelled out to me.

How do I save my Windows Mail folders to a thumb drive or CD (I do understand that.) On Outlook Express, I believe they were called ".dbx" files.

I also have a Maxtor external back-up hard drive and am wondering if these files will automatically back up to the external drive.

Thanks for any help.

Dave

 

[Lexluethar]

You can go to file, then export, then messages. Select microsoft windows mail, then browse for the thumb drive you want to export them to.

 

[Autom8r]

WOW! That was quick...... but it didn't work....

I attempted to save it to my 8GB "Traveldrive" and got the message;

"The export directory must be an empty directory. Please select an empty directory then try again."
[ OK ]

I tried to save it to a blank CD and got the same message.

Dave

 

[DoubleHelix]

I wouldn't expect it to work with a CD, but the fact that it doesn't work with a flash drive indicates either a problem with removable drives or a problem with that specific flash drive. Are you able to create files and folders on it otherwise? How many messages are we talking about? It could be an issue with file size and the FAT32 limitation of 2GB file sizes.

 

[KSoD]

Did you first try to save it to a spot on your hard drive and then transfer it to your Flash Drive or CD?

It is most likely that it can not be exported to external media to prevent unauthorized backups. It could very well be that it needs to be stored on a place on your hard drive first before you can export it to a media that can transport it to another PC.

 

[Autom8r]

There are hundreds of messages there, but I doubt they sum up to over 2GB.

Of course it's on my hard drive in "Windows Mail".... but let me have an example of where else to save it and how to save it there.... new ground for me...

Dave

 

[Lexluethar]

Create a folder on your desktop called email backup, then go through the process i outlined earlier and when you click browse, look for this new email backup folder and select it.

Once backed up to that folder copy that folder and paste it to your thumb drive.

 

[Autom8r]

Lex,

That got 'er done, except all the messages now have unrecognizable names like "0AD44B18-0000003".

Is this referring to a location on this particular hard drive or will the application run on another computer???

Dave

 

[Lexluethar]

The location i'm talking about would be one on your computer. Then copy those files (or the needed ones) to a flash drive, then put them on the other computer you want (or just hold onto them if this is just for backup). If you want them on another computer you'll have to save the folder to that new computer and import them following the same directions outlined in the other posts.

Let us know if that is what you're looking for.

Edit: I created a test account to see if there were easier options. You could just click and drag what messages you want from the Windows Mail interface into a folder you want. THat would keep the file names in tact and would make it to where you could 'pick and choose' what files to backup. The other option is more for a backup or migration of accounts (where the mail client does the 'footwork' of naming the files for you and backs up everything).

 

[Autom8r]

OK..... I created a new folder on my desktop called "E-mail .dbx2" and attempted to drag the folders from "Windows Mail" to the folder, which didn't work... I got a O with a / through it when I tried to drag to the desktop...

I forewarned you I'm not all that sharp!!

Dave