Migrate from Outlook Express or Windows (Live) Mail to Outlook

15 Jan
Posted on Author admin

http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/migratefromoewlm.htm

Migrating from Outlook Express, Windows Mail or Windows Live Mail to Microsoft Office Outlook is a relatively easy process but there are a few thing you should be aware of. It also makes a difference if Outlook is installed on the same machine or not. In addition to mail this guide will also discuss how you can migrate your contacts and calendar.

In this guide;
OE is used to refer to Outlook Express,
WM is used to refer to Windows Mail,
WLM is used to refer to Windows Live Mail,
Outlook is used to refer to Microsoft Office Outlook.

Note: If you are using a Windows Live Hotmail account, then most of these steps are not needed since these accounts store their data on the Windows Live Hotmail servers. To configure Outlook directly with your Windows Live Hotmail account, use the Outlook Connector.

Outlook is located on the same computer

In this scenario OE, WM or WLM contains all your messages and is located on the same machine as Outlook. It is assumed that Outlook has already been installed and configured with your mail account. Contact your mail administrator or ISP if you do not know the mail account settings. If you’ve already tried to configure Outlook before but were not successful, you’ll have to start with a clean mail profile.

Migrate Mail

Don’t use the Import function from within Outlook to migrate your mail. In many cases this will reset the “Received” time and date on a message. Instead, use the export function from with OE, WM or WLM.

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. Open up OE, WM or WLM and use File-> Export-> Messages… to export the messages to Outlook.
    Confirm the dialog and select which folder you would like to export to Outlook.
  3. Now all you have to do is wait. This could take quite a while depending on how big your message store in OE, WM or WLM is.

Migrate Contacts

To migrate your contacts, you first have to export it to a csv-file which you can then import into Outlook.
The way to export it defers slightly depending on whether you are using OE, WM or WLM.

Export Contacts Outlook Express

  1. File-> Export-> Address Book…
  2. Select; Text File (Comma Separated Values).
  3. Press the Export button.
  4. Select a location to store the export in and name you export file.
    This can be on your Desktop folder for easy access. You can remove the file once everything has been imported into Outlook.
  5. Press the Next button.
  6. Select all the fields (make sure you scroll down to see all fields)
  7. Press Finish. You’ll get notified when the export is done.
  8. Close the remaining open dialogs and continue to the Import Contacts section.

Export Contacts Windows Mail

  1. File-> Export-> Windows Contacts…
  2. Select; CSV (Comma Separated Values).
  3. Press the Export button.
  4. Select a location to store the export in and name you export file.
    This can be on your Desktop folder for easy access. You can remove the file once everything has been imported into Outlook.
  5. Press the Next button.
  6. Select all the fields (make sure you scroll down to see all fields).
  7. Press Finish. You’ll get notified when the export is done.
  8. Close the remaining open dialogs and continue to the Import Contacts section.

Export Contacts Windows Live Mail

  1. Select the Contacts button in the left bottom section or press CTRL+SHIFT+C to bring up the Windows Live Contacts window.
  2. File-> Export-> Comma Separated Values (.CSV)
  3. Select a location to store the export in and name you export file.
    This can be on your Desktop folder for easy access. You can remove the file once everything has been imported into Outlook.
  4. Press the Next button.
  5. Select all the fields (make sure you scroll down to see all fields).
  6. Press Finish. You’ll get notified when the export is done.
  7. Close the remaining open dialogs and continue to the Import Contacts section.

Import Contacts Outlook

  1. File-> Import and Export…
  2. Select; Import from another program or file.
  3. Press the Next button.
  4. Select; Comma Separated Values (Windows).
  5. Press the Next button.
  6. Browse to the location of the previously exported csv-file.
  7. Press the Next button.
  8. Select your Contacts folder as the destination folder.
  9. Press the Next button.
  10. Press Finish.

Migrate Calendar

Both Windows Mail and Windows Live Mail have a calendar function of which the contents can be migrated to Outlook.

Export Calendar Windows Mail

  1. Press the Windows Calendar button in Windows Mail or start Windows Calendar from the Start Menu.
  2. Select the calendar you wish to export.
  3. Choose; File-> Export…
  4. Select a location to store the export in and name you export file.
    This can be on your Desktop folder for easy access. You can remove the file once everything has been imported into Outlook.
  5. Press the Save button.
  6. Repeat the above steps for additional calendar you wish to migrate if needed and then continue to the Import Calendar section.

Export Calendar Windows Live Mail

  1. Make sure you login with your Windows Live ID to Windows Live Mail.
    You’ll either see your logged in ID in the left top corner or a button called Sign In.
  2. Once logged in, your calendar will sync to the online Windows Live Calendar.
  3. Login to Windows Live Calendar via http://calendar.live.com
  4. Select; Share-> calendar name you wish to export
  5. Select; Share this calendar
  6. Select; Send friends a view-only link to your calendar
  7. If you don’t see any links yet press: “Get your calendar links”
    Press OK to confirm the sharing confirmation popup.
  8. Press the ICS link called; “Import into another calendar application”
    You’ll now get a dialog with a link starting with “webcal://”
  9. Copy this link without the webcal:// part and paste it into the address bar of Internet Explorer (or any other web browser you might be using to do this).
    Press Enter to execute the link.
  10. You’ll now get prompted to save the ics-file.
    Select a location to store the export in and name you export file.
    This can be on your Desktop folder for easy access. You can remove the file once everything has been imported into Outlook.
  11. Repeat the above steps for any additional calendar you wish to migrate if needed and then continue to the Import Calendar section.

Import Calendar Outlook

  1. File-> Import and Export…
  2. Select; Import an iCalendar (.ics) or vCalendar file (.vcs)
  3. Press the Next button.
  4. Browse to the location of the previously exported ics-file.
  5. Press OK.
  6. Repeat the above steps for any additional calendars that you might have exported.

Outlook is located on another computer

In this scenario OE, WM or WLM contains all your messages and is not located on the same machine as Outlook. This makes things a bit more tricky as somewhere a conversion must take place.

There are 2 options available;

  1. Install Outlook on the old machine as well and use the above instructions to get everything into Outlook.
    After this, backup Outlook on the old machine and restore it to the new machine as described in this guide.
  2. Move the entire message store from OE, WM or WLM and reconfigure it with OE, WM or WLM on the new machine.
    After this, use the instructions above to get everything into Outlook.

If you choose the first option, note that there is no need to activate Office/Outlook on the old machine. It will install in a fully functional trial mode then which allows you to go through this process. If your new computer came pre-installed with Outlook and/or you don’t have an Office installation CD, then you can also download a trial of Office Standard here.

If you choose the second option, then you’ll have to locate and backup your Store Folder of OE, WM or WLM. To do this choose;

  1. OE: Tools-> Options…-> tab Maintenance-> button Store Folder…
    WM and WLM: Tools-> Options…-> tab Advanced-> button Maintenance…-> button Store Folder…
  2. Copy the path in the dialog you see now (select the text with your mouse and choose CTRL+C).
  3. Open Windows Explorer to browse your computer and paste the location in the address bar at the top (CTRL+V).
    Press Enter to open the folder.
  4. Select all the files and folders from that location and store them to a backup location such as a CD/DVD, external hard disk or USB Flash Drive.
  5. Continue to the “You only have the message store files” section.

You only have the message store files from OE, WM or WLM

In this scenario, you have the entire message store from OE, WM or WLM on your hard disk or a backup medium. In order to get that data into Outlook, you must first configure that data with OE, WM or WLM again before you can import it into Outlook.

Note:
If your message store is from OE, then you can use OE, WM or WLM on your Outlook machine to restore it.
If your message store is from WM, then you can use WM or WLM on your Outlook machine to restore it.
If your message store is from WLM, then you can use only WLM on your Outlook machine to restore it.

  1. Copy the contents of your backup to a folder on your new computer.
    This can be a folder location on your Desktop for easy access. You can remove the file once everything has been imported into Outlook.
  2. Right click the folder and choose Properties. Here make sure the “Read Only” attribute is not selected.
  3. Open OE, WM or WLM on the new machine.
  4. Cancel any account creation dialogs so that you’ll be taken to your Inbox folder.
  5. Choose File-> Import-> Messages…
  6. Select from which application your message store is from.
  7. Click Next.
  8. When prompted, select that you want to import from a store directory and click OK.
    Otherwise, directly select the location of where you have restored your backup.
  9. Make a selection of which folders you would like to import or choose All folders and press Next.
  10. Press Finish when you’re notified that the export is done.
  11. Now that your original data from your old computer is configured in OE, WM or WLM on your new computer, you can use the first section of this guide to get your messages into Outlook on your new computer.

Additional Notes

After you have configured Outlook, you might want to remove the account configuration from within OE, WM or WLM via the Tools-> Accounts… menu.

If you are using Windows 7, then you’ll need to download and install Windows Live Mail first if you want to transfer OE, WM or WLM data to Outlook.

If you are running into any issues with OE, WM or WLM, you can use the following newsgroups;