How To Save Emails

 Save Emails 

If you use outlook express then it is probably wise to back up your e-mails. Unlike external email accounts that save information on web-servers, Outlook Express saves your email to the hard drive of your computer. This can be both a benefit and disadvantage. One benefit is that you can access your emails when you are offline, in other words they are accessible without an internet connection. A disadvantage of this is that your emails can be wiped from the computer's memory if the system is infected with a virus, malware or a Trojan. Backing up your emails to another drive or an external device is not very difficult. It may be a bit challenging to locate all your files however once you do so you can then create copies to be stored on another storage device.
Required Materials and Tools

    * Working Computer
    * Outlook Express
    * DVD/CD/Jump Drive
    * DVD/CD burner

Instructions

The main email files are stored as .dbx files. Thus you will need to sort through folders with this in mind. The task may also be compounded if you use many folders to store your emails in Outlook Express. Depending on the system you use you may have to search different directories. For Windows 98 look in the Windows directory. For Windows 2000 and XP browse the application or user data folder.

   1. First you need to find the location of your emails. Open Outlook Express.
   2. Navigate to the Tools menu and click on Options to open the dialog box.
   3. Within the Option dialog box select Maintenance and then select the Store Folder option. You should clearly see the path to your emails.
   4. Copy this information. You may do this by highlighting the path with your mouse cursor and then clicking the right button to bring up the dialog that allows you to select copy. Alternatively you may press ctrl + c to copy the highlighted area.
   5. Open Windows File Manager. In the address field paste the path information. You should see a folder that contains the emails from Outlook Express. This folder will contain a large number of .dbx files, especially if you have been sending and storing many emails. There may be some other files in the folder as well, however, your main concern are the .dbx files.
   6. After you have located the files you would like to copy highlight the emails you would like to save or press ctrl + A to highlight all the files. Press Ctrl +C to copy the data.
   7. Open the device you plan to use. If it is a CD or DVD then you will need to use another software to copy the information to either device or the burn to CD option that windows file manager offers in later versions. If you are using a burn software open it and insert an empty DVD or CD in the burner. Select the files you would like to burn and drop them in the appropriate field. Click burn and wait for the files to be burnt to a data DVD/CD. This may take a few minutes and will largely depend on the burner and your computer's processing power. Remove the DVD/CD from the drive once done and ensure that the information has been successfully burnt by checking on another computer. If you are using a jump-drive, open the drive folder. Check to see that it has adequate space to meet your needs. You may need to delete a few files to make space. Click paste inside the jump-drive's folder and wait until all the files are pasted into the folder. This will take between a few seconds to a minute or two. Once you are done, safely remove your jump drive and check it in another computer to ensure that the information was successfully copied.

Tips and Warning

    * Back up your emails periodically to protect vital information.