# Microsoft Email Products

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-email-products/638511>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 22, 2012, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-email-products/638511 "2012-10-22T12:35:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-email-products/638511/1 "2012-10-22T12:35:49Z")

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I recently purchased a new PC. The email software is Microsoft Live Mail. Is this a replacement for Outloook Express or Outlook or just a more basic/less versatile program.

Second question: Can I import my Outlook contact info into Live Mail and what about the data in Outlook for which there are no field in Live Mail?  
Thanks.

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**Author:** ![AHarris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@AHarris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHarris)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-email-products/638511/2 "2012-10-23T00:16:48Z")

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Live mail is a replacement for outlook express. It’s less versatile than the full version of outlook.

Yes, you can import your outlook contacts into live mail. First, you will need to export the contact to a .csv file (the procedure will vary depending on your version of outlook) and then you can import them into windows live mail. When you import the contacts, it will ask you to 1) select the data you want to import and then 2) to map that data into the windows live mail format. Any data that isn’t imported won’t be available to live mail.

Here is a link to the instructions on how to do the import: [Import contacts in Windows Live Mail](http://www.freeemailtutorials.com/windowsLiveMail/addressBooksAndContacts/importContacts.htm)

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**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-email-products/638511/3 "2012-10-24T21:10:19Z")

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Unfortunately, I exported my Outlook Contacts in a PST format (before deleting it). Can I change the file to a CSV file or is what I’ve done irreversible?

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-email-products/638511/4 "2012-10-24T22:31:17Z")

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There appear to be free utilities out there that can extract stuff like contacts from a PST file.

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**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/microsoft-email-products/638511/5 "2012-10-25T00:47:56Z")

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My personal rule: don’t delete stuff until about six months after I’m sure I’ll never need it again. Especially text, which takes up very little room. Even then, I’ll have a copy on my backup drive. And I back up every day. All of this learned from hard, bitter experience. Carry on.