I've accumulated a large number of old emails, sorted into a tree of folders
and subfolders. I'd like to retain their contents outside of OE6,
preferably in a similar nested set of folders containing Word or Notepad
files. Is there any utility which would do this?

--
PT

Utility...I've not seen one
Create identical names subfolders on the hard drive location of your choice.
Open up two windows(one for OE and one using Windows Explorer for the new folders)
Resize both Windows side by side or top to bottom.
Drag the items from the respective folder in OE to the same named folders in the Windows Explorer view.
....winston

"PT" wrote in message ...
: I've accumulated a large number of old emails, sorted into a tree of folders
: and subfolders. I'd like to retain their contents outside of OE6,
: preferably in a similar nested set of folders containing Word or Notepad
: files. Is there any utility which would do this?
:
: --
: PT
:
:

Couldn't you just search for .dbx files and then copy and paste them into
any folder of your choice? You can subsequently import those folders into
OE if anything goes wrong.

There is an excellent web-page (which I can probably point out to but I am
feeling rather lazy and sleepy at the moment!) re this procedure without
using the Search facility to copy and paste. But it is still basically the
same procedure. COPY & PASTE and then IMPORT. It really is a very simple
procedure once you have done it a couple of times.

And if you do not import them, they stay there as a backup of your email
folders.

I can't understand why OE doesn't save individual emails as individual
files. Maybe they were sleepy and tired while they wrote the software --
just like I am right at this moment!

But note this posting by Bruce Hagen, MS-MVP who obviously is an experton
such matters....

It depends how you saved them. If you didn't include Folders.dbx, an import
will fail.

Backup & Resto
http://www.insideoutlookexpress.com/backup/

See this for message recovery techniques:
http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#4
--
Bruce Hagen
MS-MVP Outlook Express
Imperial Beach, CA

--
choro-nik
========
"...winston" wrote in message
...
Utility...I've not seen one
Create identical names subfolders on the hard drive location of your choice.
Open up two windows(one for OE and one using Windows Explorer for the new
folders)
Resize both Windows side by side or top to bottom.
Drag the items from the respective folder in OE to the same named folders in
the Windows Explorer view.
....winston

"PT" wrote in message
...
: I've accumulated a large number of old emails, sorted into a tree of
folders
: and subfolders. I'd like to retain their contents outside of OE6,
: preferably in a similar nested set of folders containing Word or Notepad
: files. Is there any utility which would do this?
:
: --
: PT
:
:

No..the objective was to store outside of OE, not import them back into OE where they currently reside. Nor was the original request as posted to backup the dbx files for later import or use within OE.
...winston

"choro-nik" wrote in message . ..
: Couldn't you just search for .dbx files and then copy and paste them into
: any folder of your choice? You can subsequently import those folders into
: OE if anything goes wrong.
:
: There is an excellent web-page (which I can probably point out to but I am
: feeling rather lazy and sleepy at the moment!) re this procedure without
: using the Search facility to copy and paste. But it is still basically the
: same procedure. COPY & PASTE and then IMPORT. It really is a very simple
: procedure once you have done it a couple of times.
:
: And if you do not import them, they stay there as a backup of your email
: folders.
:
: I can't understand why OE doesn't save individual emails as individual
: files. Maybe they were sleepy and tired while they wrote the software --
: just like I am right at this moment!
:
: But note this posting by Bruce Hagen, MS-MVP who obviously is an experton
: such matters....
:
: It depends how you saved them. If you didn't include Folders.dbx, an import
: will fail.
:
: Backup & Resto
: http://www.insideoutlookexpress.com/backup/
:
: See this for message recovery techniques:
: http://www.oehelp.com/OETips.aspx#4
: --
: Bruce Hagen
: MS-MVP Outlook Express
: Imperial Beach, CA
:
: --
: choro-nik
: ========
: "...winston" wrote in message
: ...
: Utility...I've not seen one
: Create identical names subfolders on the hard drive location of your choice.
: Open up two windows(one for OE and one using Windows Explorer for the new
: folders)
: Resize both Windows side by side or top to bottom.
: Drag the items from the respective folder in OE to the same named folders in
: the Windows Explorer view.
: ....winston
:
: "PT" wrote in message
: ...
:: I've accumulated a large number of old emails, sorted into a tree of
: folders
:: and subfolders. I'd like to retain their contents outside of OE6,
:: preferably in a similar nested set of folders containing Word or Notepad
:: files. Is there any utility which would do this?
::
:: --
:: PT
::
::
:
:
:

You can use Drag-and-Drop to save multiple e-mail messages at a time to
EML files. EML files are text files. You can open them in Notepad,
but any attachments won't be readable and if HTML format, will be messy.
But if you double click an EML file, it will open in an OE message
reading window.

- Open the Windows File Explorer to the folder (directory) that you
want to save the messages to (e.g. C:\EML-TEMP). For minimal confusion,
the folder should be empty or only used for saving mail messages.
- In Outlook Express highlight the desired messages (Ctrl-Click or
Shift-Click)
- While holding down the Left mouse button, drag the messages to the
Explorer window. If the Explorer window is not visible, drag to the
Taskbar button for Explorer, keep holding the left mouse button down
until Explorer moves to the front, then complete the drag to the
Explorer window and then release the Left mouse button.
- Complication: Messages are saved as *.EML files where the first part
of the file name is the message's subject. If you save multiple
messages in one drag-and drop operation, OE will automatically number
the subsequent messages with identical subject to make the name unique.
But if you later save additional messages with the same subject it will
start the numbering process over again and you will get a "Confirm File
Replace" dialog for the duplicate names. When this happens, leave the
confirm dialog and switch to the Windows File Explorer. Rename the
first file (e.g. rename "The Subject.EML" to "The Subject-1.EML"). Then
switch back to the Confirm dialog and click on YES. The new message
will get saved with the original name and the previous message will
still be there with the new name.

Notes:
- A mail message may get saved as a *.NWS file if it came as a reply
from a newsgroup and it contains some headers that make it look like a
news message.
- As an alternative to Drag-and-Drop you can use a program to extract
the contents of an mail folder file to individual *.EML files. These
programs automatically generate unique names for the *.EML files
- DBXtract - http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtract/Default.aspx
- DBXpress - http://www.oehelp.com/DBXpress/Default.aspx
- DBXtend - http://www.oehelp.com/DBXtend/Default.aspx
- OEX Enhancements - Import/Export/Resend/Duplicates/Attachments,
etc.
http://www.oehelp.com/OEX/Default.aspx



--

Mike - http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_santovec/techhelp.htm


"PT" wrote in message
...
I've accumulated a large number of old emails, sorted into a tree of
folders and subfolders. I'd like to retain their contents outside of
OE6, preferably in a similar nested set of folders containing Word or
Notepad files. Is there any utility which would do this?

--
PT