weelittledrummer -

The NORMAL WAY:

You should be able to find the address book(s) using Windows explorer, Search, filenames containing ".wab" (without quotes), search subfolders and hidden and system files.

A simpler way:

In OE, Click Tools|Address Book

In the Address Book click Help|About Address Book

In the Window that opens it should show you the full path and filename of the address book you're using in that instance of Outlook Express. It will be different (probably) for each user on the computer.

Write down the whole path and filename. It will probably be something like:

C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book\Username.wab

Go to that location and copy the .wab file to someplace easily accessible, either on the hard drive or on the memory stick.

In the new OE, File|Import|Address Book

This should open a Windows Explorer window where you can browse to where you put the .wab file. Click on the file, then click Open. This should return you to the import wizard where you can complete the import.

Desparation method: On the new computer, you can also open OE, Tools|Address Book, Help|About Address Book to see if a location is set up. Copy (write down) that location, then go to it and copy the old addy book .wab file and paste it into new location - replacing any .wab file that's there. An import should add names to an existing addy book. Pasting the old one on top of the new one replaces one entire addy book with another one. (Don't use this method unless both machines have the same version of OE.)

Doing it the hard-but-usually-certain-way:

From the old OE, File|Export|Export Address Book

Choose "Text File (Comma Separated Values) and click Export

You should get a box to give the exported file a name, and a Browse button. Name it something like "weeaddy" and click the Browse button to choose where to put it. Put it somewhere that will be EASY to find.

When you have picked the place and a name for the file, the "Next" button will give you a list of "things to include." I'd suggest just putting a check in all of the boxes.

When the file has been exported, you should be able to copy it to a memory stick or anything else. I would suggest that you Copy it to the hard drive on the new machine for the actual import to the new OE.

In OE on the new machine, File|Import|Other Address Book, and select Text File (Comma Separated Values). When you hit Import, it should let you browse to wherever you put the .csv file (on the new machine), click on it to select the right file, and import it into your new OE.

My .wab (the normal OE address book file) is only about 235 KB, and it's got lots of "business contacts" in it. The .csv version is about 23 KB. Either one should be easy enough to move over.

Email messages work similarly, for messages in local folders on your old computer. If you have a separate "hotmail" or "gmail" etc folder, you should move everything into "Local Folders" before "exporting." You should also run File|Folders|Compact All Folders before moving stuff.

Find the .dbx folders that go with your mail. They should be in a place like:

C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{biglongstringofrandomnumbers}\Microsoft\Outlook Express.

The "Outlook Express" folder should contain nothing but a bunch of .dbx "files." Recommended: Copy the ENTIRE "OUTLOOK EXPRESS" FOLDER. Do NOT try to copy individual .dbx files since they're not actually files/folders in the conventional sense. They're just places within a database.

Past the whole folder "Outlook Express" (you can rename it by adding a date or other ident info) somewhere EASY to find. This could be on your memory stick.

On the new machine, in OE, File|Import|Email Messages will ask you what kind of messages. You should be using Outlook Express 6, but check the one appropriate for your OLD OE. You will see next "Import Messages from an Outlook Express 6 Store Folder." The import wizard will let you browse to where the Outlook Express folder that you moved over is located, and as soon as you click on it, it should ask you what messages you want to import. You can choose to import only certain "folders" although for this transfer you'll likely want to "select all." You cannot import individual messages.

The email folder will be a lot larger than the addy book, and depending on how meticulous you are about sorting messages into local folders you could have lots of folders. As long as they're within the Outlook Express folder you can have as many as you want, but on some sticks trying to copy all the .dbx files into the root of the stick might not get them all (see message above).

One of Lin's recent exports to backup had 296 folders and ran 855 MB, but normal people don't do that.

John