# Urgent help: moving emails to CD? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 20, 2004, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-help-moving-emails-to-cd/265145 "2004-09-20T16:06:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-help-moving-emails-to-cd/265145/1 "2004-09-20T16:06:27Z")
Because of a suddenly pending litigation, I need to move all of my email files to a CD to prevent them being compromised. I don’t want to have to open each one and do a copy and paste, just a wholesale transfer of all data. Please help. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-help-moving-emails-to-cd/265145/2 "2004-09-20T16:11:04Z")
What I do is use the CD as a seperate drive. I make a file structure on the CD by month and year. Then I sort my emails by date received and move them over to the CD, month by month. The problem is that the emails are then named according to who sent me the email. Probably a way to fix that, but I don’t know how. This is using Microsoft Outlook 2002 BTW. ---
**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-help-moving-emails-to-cd/265145/3 "2004-09-20T16:40:49Z")
What email program do you use and what version? ---
**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-help-moving-emails-to-cd/265145/4 "2004-09-20T16:46:42Z")
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but if you’re using Outlook you should be able to export your inbox and any related folders as a .pst file then save those to the cd File \> Import and Export \> Export to file \> Personal File Folder (.pst) \> then navigate to the folders you want to export ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-help-moving-emails-to-cd/265145/5 "2004-09-20T17:21:39Z")
I’m using Outlook. I understand the ‘what to do’ as you’ve described it, but you haven’t told me the ‘how to do it’, which is what I need. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![rookie523](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@rookie523](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rookie523)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-help-moving-emails-to-cd/265145/6 "2004-09-20T17:46:25Z")
Actually the previous post did show you how. File \> Import and Export \> Export to a file. You should be able to select what folder to export. I suggest selecting the topmost folder and checking off Include Subfolders. Then click next and it should create a pst file. This pst file then can be accessed by importing within OUtlook. File \> Import and Export \> Import from pst file. Sorry but I don’t have Outlook at my work comptuer so I can’t give the exact instructions. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-help-moving-emails-to-cd/265145/7 "2004-09-20T18:33:42Z")
> [@rookie523](#): > > Actually the previous post did show you how. > > File \> Import and Export \> Export to a file. > You should be able to select what folder to export. > I suggest selecting the topmost folder and checking off Include Subfolders. > Then click next and it should create a pst file. > > This pst file then can be accessed by importing within OUtlook. > File \> Import and Export \> Import from pst file. > > Sorry but I don’t have Outlook at my work comptuer so I can’t give the exact instructions. I do it slightly differently: File \> New \> Personal folders (pst) file Create a folder under the new pst by right clicking it in my folder list. Move messages to the new PST by multiselecting them and shift-dragging them to the new folder. close the PST file and burn it onto the CD. Does that make any sense?? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-help-moving-emails-to-cd/265145/8 "2004-09-20T18:41:11Z")
As you’re using Outlook there are a couple of ways of doing it. If your emails are on a server somewhere, then you can enable Offline use, synchronise, and write the resulting OST file to CD. Then disable offline use. If your emails are all stored locally, just copy the local PST files to CD. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-help-moving-emails-to-cd/265145/9 "2004-09-20T19:20:47Z")
Import and export ran me into a deadend. I ended up doing a copy and paste of all unopened emails to Word docs, then burning the word docs to the CD. I hope it works. ---
**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-help-moving-emails-to-cd/265145/10 "2004-09-20T19:38:51Z")
What do you mean ‘ran you into a dead end’? Were you able to successfully creat the .pst file? ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-help-moving-emails-to-cd/265145/11 "2004-09-20T20:39:28Z")
It all depends on your email program and how it stores files. Find the file directory and copy it in toto to the CD. If you have web based email you should not have any files on your PC. ---
**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-help-moving-emails-to-cd/265145/12 "2004-09-20T20:46:10Z")
I’ve never had good experiences with Outlook export/import. My recommendation is to install Mozilla Thunderbird, have it import your Outlook mail, and then save the Thunderbird mail to CD. One advantage is that the Thunderbird mailbox format is unix mbox and is plain text (you can read it with a simple text editor in a pinch). This also has the advantage of not munging any of Outlook’s settings accidentally. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/urgent-help-moving-emails-to-cd/265145/13 "2004-09-20T21:17:00Z")
> [@XJETGIRLX](#): > > What do you mean ‘ran you into a dead end’? > > Were you able to successfully creat the .pst file? Ah, finally got it to work. I couldn’t figure out where it was sending the backup file, since the path it created doesn’t seem to exist (read: I can’t find it). I created a new path that I knew I could find and exported it. Thanks all.