Restoring saved .dbx folders to Outlook Express

My computer crashed today and I had to a hard drive reformat and install Windows from scratch. I’m in the process of reinstallng my programs and devices. One of the progams for my Clie requires a Registration Code. I thought I printed it out but of course can’t find it.

The Registarion Code is in an email I had saved in Outlook Express. I had backed up all the .dbx folders on a CD.

I tried following these directions to put the folder I need back into Outloox Express so I can read it:

but it isn’t working. I can see the folder in the correct folder on the hard drive but it doesn’t show up in Outlook Express.

Has anyone had any success with this or any ideas of anyother way to read the email in that folder? I use Windows ME and Outlook Express 5.5.

Thank you.:slight_smile:

Try copying all the backed-up files to a folder on your hard drive. Then go to Tools|Options|Maintenance and click Store Folder. Note the current location, then change it to point to the folder you created. Close OE and then go back in.

Thank you for the reply but that doesn’t seem to work. Drat Micosoft! They tell you in Help how to backup .dbx files but not how to restore them or read them. Sheesh, who would ever want to to that. :smack:

OE keeps track of your dbx files in a file called folders.dbx. Delete that file and OE will recreate it next time you start OE showing all the DBX files you have in that folder.

In OE create a folder with the same name as one of your backup .dbx files.

Now Close OE.

Replace the newly created .dbx file with the backup .dbx file of the same name.

Re-start OE and you should have access to your e-mails.

Long winded but works for me.

Providing that you are using the same version of OE.

(If you still have problems look for a program called Express Archiver this can open .dbx files and save all e-mails as .eml)

Thank you everyone for your help and sugestions. Very much appreciated.

Those Microsoft gremlins have struck again so the only thing that worked for me was Express Archiver. That one is a keeper.

I’ve printed out the email with the registration code I need and will definitely keep it in a safe place from now on.

Thank you all again.