Tip #3703 - Outlook Express and Windows Mail Too
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Q:
Alright, you've told us how to do the Outlook Express part of transferring
our e-mails to Windows Mail, but how do we do the Vista part of it? Please
explain!
A:
You're absolutely right! At the end of yesterday's Q&A tip, I promised
to give you the rest of the story (as Mr. Paul Harvey would say) in reference
to the Outlook Express/Windows Mail migration. And if you've learned anything
about me through the writing that I do, you know I keep my promises. So,
here's the information you've been waiting for!
Now, before I continue
on, I want to make sure everyone is on the same page. If you missed out
on yesterday's Outlook Express tip, be sure to check out the Q&A section
of yesterday's newsletter (the date on that is April 24, 2007). It can
be found in our archives here.
Once you read through that tip, you can most definitely move on with this
one, but you must do the OE part of it first. Okay, here we go!
When you're all done
exporting in Outlook Express, make sure you reboot your computer and then
start up your new Windows Vista operating system. So, now that the exporting
process is done, we need to start importing. Here are the steps you need
to follow.
Importing
the Address Book
1.) Open Windows Mail
(you can get there by going to Start, Windows
Mail or if you have a shortcut on your desktop, just double click
that). Now, it's recommended that you run the import process under your
administrator account. So, if you're signed in under a different account,
you'll want to restart your computer and choose the administrator option.
If you don't do this, the import process may fail.
2.) When you're ready,
go to File, Import, Windows
Contacts.
3.) The Import
to Windows Contacts window will open. From there, choose the
first option of "CSV (Comma Separated Values)"
and then click the Import button.
4.) Next, hit the
Browse button and navigate to wherever you exported your
Outlook Express address book. Find the file and then click Open.
When you're all set with that, click Next.
5.) The next window
you'll see is the CSV Import box. From there, select
all the fields you want to import over. If you're having a hard time deciding
which ones to choose, you can just checkmark them all (that's the safest
way to do it) and then click the Finish button. The address
book will then be all imported over to Windows Mail. Yes!
Importing
E-mail Account Settings
1.) For this one,
go to Tools, Accounts and in the Internet
Accounts window, click the Import button.
2.) Next, click the
Browse button and find the file where you saved your
account settings from Outlook Express. Select the right file and then
click Open. You'll have to repeat this process for all
the accounts you exported over. It doesn't matter how many you have, but
if you want them to be present in Windows Mail, you must import them all.
3.) When you're finished
with that, you'll be able to see all of your saved account settings in
the Internet Accounts window. That's it for this one!
Importing
E-mail Messages
1.) To begin, go to
File, Import and then choose Messages.
2.) The Windows
Mail Import window will open and you need to choose the third
option of "Microsoft Outlook Express 6" and
then click the Next button.
3.) Next, select the
"Import mail from an OE6 store directory" option
and then hit OK.
4.) Hit the Browse
button and navigate to the spot where you exported your e-mail messages
from Outlook Express. Select the file and then hit the Next
button.
5.) Select all of
the message folders you'd like to import into Windows Mail and then hit
Next again. The import process may take a little while,
so just be patient.
6.) When the import
is done, you will see an "Import Complete"
message, which is nice, because you don't have to just sit there and wonder
if it's done yet or not. Press the Finish button to complete
everything.
7.) Once you've made
it to this point, you'll be happy to know that all of your e-mail messages
from OE are now in your brand new Windows Mail e-mail program. By default,
all of your imported messages will show up under the Imported
Folder. You can, of course, move them to another location if
you'd like though. Just use the drag and drop procedure.
Now, I want to make
sure everyone's clear on one more thing. The instructions I gave you for
both Outlook Express and Windows Mail are meant for only one computer
that has both Windows XP and Windows Vista installed on it. You can either
have a dual boot (both operating systems on one) or if you're getting
ready to upgrade to Vista, make sure you do the Outlook Express part of
this tip before you do so. If you have two computers (one with XP and
one with Vista), you'll need to do a file transfer before you begin any
of this, because all the e-mail files need to be on one computer. (You
can read here
or here for
some help on that).
That's it! You're
done! Aren't you just so excited?! It's sort of a lengthy process, but
once you're done, you'll be able to enjoy all of your e-mails, settings
and contacts in Vista's Windows Mail. Oh yeah!
~ Erin
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