# Outlook Express Question...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express-question/162334>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 18, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express-question/162334 "2003-03-18T18:31:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![NoGoodNamesLeft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@NoGoodNamesLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoGoodNamesLeft)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express-question/162334/1 "2003-03-18T18:31:05Z")

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I need to re-install Outlook Express on a Windows 98 machine. Can I do this without losing all the saved messages, and contacts book (email addresses) stored on that computer now, or will re-installing wipe all that out?

Any help would be much appreciated 🙂

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**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express-question/162334/2 "2003-03-18T18:36:47Z")

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It should preserve all your emails intact, but if you want to be sure, copy all the files with an .mbx extesion to another folder for safekeeping.

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**Author:** ![sc913](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@sc913](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sc913)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2003, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outlook-express-question/162334/3 "2003-03-18T20:42:09Z")

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I’ve done this with outlook express 6 (should work about the same way for older versions, afaik):

To save messages: Go to Tools \> Options \> Maintainance and click on ‘Store Folder’. Copy and paste the rather complicated folder name into the address bar in My Computer. Copy all these files to a different folder.

Reinstall, then repeat the first part above. Paste all the files back into the folder.

To save contacts: Tools \> Adress book. File \> Export \>\> Adress book (WAB). Save this as backup.wab (or whatever), remember which folder you’ve saved it in. Later, Import this back.