How to Import Internet Mail Messages into Outlook Express

• Microsoft Outlook Express version 4.0 for Windows 95
• Microsoft Outlook Express version 4.0 for Windows NT 4.0

SUMMARY

This article describes how to import Microsoft Internet Mail and News messages into Outlook Express.

MORE INFORMATION

Outlook Express is an upgrade to Internet Mail and News. By default, Outlook Express imports the Internet Mail and News message store during installation. Outlook Express can import messages from Eudora Pro or Eudora Light (through version 3.0), Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Windows Messaging, Netscape Communicator, and Netscape Mail (version 2 or 3). However, there is no command in Outlook Express to import Internet Mail and News messages after installation.

To import Internet Mail and News messages into Outlook Express, copy the Internet Mail and News mailbox (.mbx) files to the Outlook Express\Mail folder, and then rebuild the Folders.nch file. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Quit Outlook Express.

2. Click Start, point to Find, and then click Files Or Folders.

3. In the Named box, type "*.mbx" (without quotation marks), and then click Find Now.

4. Rename the .mbx files that you want to import to Outlook Express. For example, rename the Inbox.mbx file to Inbox2.mbx.

   For information about how to rename a file, click Start, click Help, click the Index tab, type "renaming" (without quotation marks), and then double-click the "Renaming files" topic.

   NOTE: You must rename these files because Outlook Express has a file and folder structure similar to Internet Mail and News. If you do not rename these files, you may overwrite the existing mailbox files in the Outlook Express folder.

5. Copy the .mbx files to the Outlook Express\Mail folder. The Outlook Express\Mail folder is located in the following folder by default

         <path>\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook Express\Mail
   

   where <path> is the path to the Application Data folder.

6. Rename the Folders.nch file located in the Outlook Express\Mail folder. For example, rename the Folders.nch file to Folders.hcn.

   NOTE: When you rename the Folders.nch file, your current non-default folders are named Folder1, Folder2, Folder3, and so on. The Folders.nch file contains a list of the folder names. When you rename it, Outlook Express cannot find the list so it must re-create the folder names using default names.

7. Start Outlook Express.

For more information about this issue, see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID : Q163845
   TITLE      : Unable to Integrate Old Message Stores

   ARTICLE-ID : Q175589
   TITLE      : E-mail Programs Create Message Store in Different
                Locations

   ARTICLE-ID : Q170607
   TITLE      : One Folder Is Created Importing Two Folders with Same Name