Windows 7: How Do I Move Email Messages from Old PC (OE) to New PC (WLM)

My old PC is running Outlook Express under XP. My new PC is running Windows Live Mail under Windows 7. I want to move my OE email messages/folders to my new PC.

I used Windows Easy Transfer to move most of my data over (documents, pictures, favorites, etc.), but I never saw the option for moving email messages.

So now I'm wondering if I can simply import the messages. WLM has an Import Messages function, where you have three choices for the format you want to import from - OE, WLM or WM. If I want to import in the OE format but yet my OE email messages reside on another PC, how do I direct WLM where to find these messages? Can I move the messages to a flash drive and direct WLM to look there? Or is there a better way? Thanks in advance.

Open OE and then in Tools, Options, on the Maintenance tab, there's a button labeled Store Folder. Click that and it will tell you the folder containing your email folder. Copy and pasting the path into run will open the store folder.

Copy your dbx store folder onto a flash drive and then use the import function in WLM they then will appear in your storage folders in WLM.

This works for me with no problem apart from a little bit of sorting things the way I like them.

Thanks for the quick response. What you say makes sense, as I know Windows Easy Transfer didn't move the Messages.

Both PCs belong to a friend who I am trying to help, so I will try your suggestion once I go back over to her house.

they are hidden files. go here Import messages into Windows Mail from Outlook Express

Those are good instructions for manually importing the messages......thanks.

But the first thing it says is "you need to transfer the messages manually or use Windows Easy Transfer". I tried twice to use WET to transfer the messages, and I could never get it to work. I never had the opportunity to select "messages" for transfer. I could select documents, pictures, favorites, etc. - but never messages. I wish someone could tell me how to do that - what did I miss?

did you find the hidden files?

Durango
What I suggested does indeed work. I have done it that way many times.

I'm sure it does, and I plan on trying it when I return to my friend's house. But I still wonder why Windows Easy Transfer can't be used to transfer email messages, as advertised.

Thanks for your help.........

Thanks to all - your suggestions worked and I got my friend's email messages imported to her new computer. The process yielded one thing that I didn't expect. It imported all of her email folders/messges into a folder named Imported Folder under a Heading called Storage Folders. Also under Storage Folders were folders entitled Drafts, Sent Items and Deleted Items. I thought that was a little strange. I couldn't delete these other folders, but she said she could live with that configuration.

So if my friend is happy, I'm happy.

glad please mark the thread as solved