It’s time to migrate away from Outlook Express

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Outlook Express is obsolete, so you need to migrate if you’re still using it. This post is a quick guide to saving your local data so that you can jump ship.

If you are keen on desktop-based email, then there are only two real contenders for a replacement mail client:

  • Mozilla Thunderbird (suggested).
  • Windows Mail.

So where is all my data?

The script below is a Windows bat script for backing up an Outlook Express setup. Just fill in the Identity variable and run it from anywhere to produce a folder containing the Outlook saved emails and contacts.

You can find your identity string as a folder name in your profile path, under Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\. The profile path for a user called bob would usually be in a folder like C:\Documents and Settings\bob or C:\Users\bob.

These files can be read by both of the suggested replacements, so a good transition might be:

  1. Make a backup.
  2. Install an alternative & set it up.
  3. Try to import as much as you can.
  4. Once you’re happy, uninstall Outlook Express, or at least delete the shortcuts to it.
@echo off
ECHO -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SET BACKUPDIR="%username% - Outlook Backup"
SET IDENTITY={AAAAAAAA-AAAA-AAAA-AAAA-AAAAAAAAAAAA}
ECHO Backing up outlook files to: %backupdir%
ECHO --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ECHO - Clearing backup location... (1 of 3) 
DEL /F /S /Q %backupdir% > NUL 2>&1
MKDIR %backupdir% 2> NUL
ECHO - - Done

ECHO - Copying emails... (2 of 3) 
MKDIR %backupdir%\Emails 2> NUL
XCOPY /E /H /C /R /Y "%userprofile%\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\%IDENTITY%\Microsoft\Outlook Express" %backupdir%\Emails > NUL
ECHO - - Done

ECHO - Copying address book... (3 of 3)
MKDIR %backupdir%\AddressBook 2> NUL
XCOPY /E /H /C /R /Y "%appdata%\Microsoft\Address Book" %backupdir%\AddressBook > NUL
ECHO - - Done

ECHO - Completed 3 of 3 tasks.
ECHO -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ECHO The backup is complete.
ECHO Please copy %BACKUPDIR% to external storage.
ECHO --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PAUSE