Top 2 Easy Ways to Backup Outlook Express Emails

Overview of Outlook Express

Outlook Express, formerly known as Microsoft Internet Mail and News, is a discontinued e-mail and news client included with Internet Explorer versions 3.0 through 6.0. Outlook Express is a different application than Microsoft Outlook.

The similar name has led many to mistakenly believe that Outlook Express is a compact version of Microsoft Outlook. Outlook Express uses and is tightly integrated with Windows Address Book to store contact information. On Windows XP, it also integrates with Windows Messenger.

However, Microsoft no longer makes or supports Outlook Express. In its place was a new version of Outlook Express called Windows Live Mail. Therefore, many users want to backup their Outlook Express emails to protect their valuable data or prepare to import to Outlook.

Backup Emails in Outlook Express Manually

Here you will learn an effective way to backup Outlook Express emails manually. (We take how to backup Outlook Express emails to external hard drive as an example.)

The messages in every Outlook Express folder are stored in two files, a *.idx file and a *.dbx file, on your system. And the Outlook Express user files (.DBX and .WAB) in WinXP, Win2K & Win2K3 are hidden by default. To view these files in Windows Explorer, you must enable Show Hidden Files and Folders option.

1. Open your external hard drive and create a new folder in it, Outlook Express backup, for example.
2. Open Outlook Express. Click on the Tools tab and select Options.
3. Then, in the Options window, click on the Maintenance tab and select Store Folder... It will show you the folder location of your Outlook Express data.

4. Press Ctrl + A to highlight the store location. Right-click it and select Copy. Then, click OK twice to close the Store location and open the dialog window.

5. Click Start and select Run. Right-click in the Run window and select Paste to input the folder location of your Outlook Express data. Then, click OK to open it.

6. Press Ctrl + A to select all the files in this folder. Then, click Edit and Copy.

7. Switch to the folder created on the external hard drive. Right-click within this folder and select Paste.

Auto Way to Backup Outlook Express Emails in Microsoft Outlook

If you want to backup Outlook Express emails, you can also try to import Outlook Express emails to Outlook, it will be saved in your Inbox folder. Then use professional mail backup software to create an automatic backup task to back up this folder. It offers you the “Outlook Backup” feature to backup entire Outlook mailbox including the emails imported from Outlook Express.

Its automatic backup feature allows you to set different time frequencies to run backups, such as "Daily", "Weekly", "Monthly" or "Event Triggers". You can use it to backup Outlook emails to local drives, external disks, network drives, NAS devices or cloud drives, etc.

To get started, please download this powerful backup software. Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, XP and Vista are supported in this version. For server users, try AOMEI Backupper Server. Then follow the steps below to how Outlook Express export to .pst.

1.  Import emails from Outlook Express to Microsoft Outlook. Open Import and Export Wizard.

• In Outlook 2010, on the File tab, click Open > Import.
• In Outlook 2007, on the File menu, click Import and Export.

2. Select Import Internet Mail and Addresses and click Next.

3. Click Outlook Express and check Import mail. Then, click Next and Finish.

Notes: 💫 If you want to save a copy of the import summary in your inbox, remember to click Save in Inbox. 💫 If your Outlook Express and Outlook are installed on a different computer, you need to copy the Outlook Express folder to the computer where Outlook is installed.

4. Add the Outlook account containing emails imported from Outlook Express and close it. Then, open AOMEI Backupper Professional and click Backup and Outlook Backup.

5. Click Add Outlook data and select the Inbox folder of this Outlook account. Then click OK.

6. Then select a destination to save emails in your Outlook inbox folder.  
7. Enable Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Event triggers schedule backup and be sure the option Wake the computer to run scheduled task is checked if you want to run this backup at a specific time.

8. Confirm you select all the emails imported from Outlook Express and click Start Backup to backup Outlook Express emails to external hard drive.

Summary

This article introduces you to 2 effective methods to backup Outlook Express emails. It’s suggested to import emails in Outlook Express to Outlook, since it’s a full-featured email server, especially for business users.

To keep your emails safe and secure, it is essential to get into the habit of making regular backups. This way, if you encounter any unforeseen problems, you can easily retrieve important data from the backup. If you are an Exchange Server user, you can easily backup mailbox in Exchange with the help of AOMEI Backupper.