PLAN A (if you can spend $11 - I recommend this plan)
http://www.oehelp.com/dbxtract/default.aspx
"DBXtract extracts all mail and news messages from individual dbx files. After extracting the messages one can drag them from the Windows Explorer folder into an Outlook Express mail folder."
This utility application is only $11.00 and says it will extract existing .dbx files into a Windows Explorer folder, so that you can just select the emails and drag them into the desired folder in Outlook Express.
Although the screenshot appears as though the app will accomodate custom OE "folders" and can be set to automatically save the extracted messages into a WE folder of the same name, I can't tell from the website whether it creates these folder names automatically in OE, as well as in WE. I kind of think it would NOT, since you have to drag the files from WE into OE, which means you would have to create the custom folder yourself in OE and then drag the emails into it from WE.
I have not used this myself because I use Express Assist to back up my OE email, signatures, address book, OE settings, etc.. If you are interested in that, see below Plan B.
PLAN B
I distinguish below between EMAILS (individual items that someone has sent you), EMAIL FOLDERS, which appear to you as folders and emails in OE, and DBX FILES which are a set of proprietary containers for all of the information necessary to present your email folders and files as you see them in OE.
You may be able to just replace the entire dbx files SET that currently exists with the set you want to use, IF - if they are a complete set - because there are a couple of normally unseen, but necessary files in there that contain the index for the folders, etc. One of these files is Pop3uidl.dbx and one is Folders.dbx I THINK these are the the only two extra ones. You could try it and see. I also THINK that the Pop3uidl.dbx contains your email accounts information, but I don't know for sure.
When you look at the dbx files set in Windows Explorer you can see (if you use nested custom folders) that they are not structured hierarchically, but just straight alphabetically. The folder structure is in Folders.dbx - you must have the Folders.dbx file that is sync-ed with the dbx files you want to use if you have added any folders of your own, beyond the standard default folders (many people just have an inbox and don't add folders - in which case you may be able to get by with keeping the existing Folders.dbx).
Of course, you also need the standard dbx files, such as Inbox.dbx, Outbox.dbx, Drafts.dbx, Sent Items.dbx, and Deleted Items.dbx. If you have everything, you could try the complete replacement. (or, if you use ONLY these standard folders (have added no custom folders), you could TRY replacing just the Inbox.dbx if you don't have all the others). Please know, though, that you should have a backup if you want to try this. This is just an IDEA of something that might work for you. It is logic off the top of my head, from my understanding of these files - I have never tried it.
You can't really just replace the Inbox.dbx folder alone - unless of course you have NO additional folders that you created within/under the Inbox folder - because the existing Folder.dbx file would not know about your folder structure. Even if you have no additional folders created under the inbox, replacing just the Inbox.dbx may or may not work - I don't know enough detail about that to advise you. The entire dbx set replacement method has the best chance of working, IMO.
The location (path) of the folder containing the dbx files (in XP) is...
C:\Documents and Settings\...(your name folder)...\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\...(a 32 character hexadecimal number)...\Microsoft\Outlook Express.
The 32-char hex number is the identity for your O.E.
Before trying this, copy or drag all of the existing dbx files currently in this folder over to a new Windows Explorer folder, perhaps called "Original dbx files", to save them, so that you can put them back if the above trick doesn't work for you.
If you have some emails in the existing dbx setup that you want to keep (to add back in after you replace the dbx files). you can just open OE and drag out any emails you want to save into a Windows Explorer folder(s), perhaps called "Emails I want to Keep", and then drag them back into an OE folder when you are done (this adds them back to whatever is now in that folder).
-------------------
An Application I Like a LOT and depend on:
ExpressAssist is a great program that will backup your email so that you can use it to read or restore individual emails to OE. It also backs up your OE rules, signatures, address book, account settings & ISP settings - everything. If you migrate to a new PC or reinstall your OS this great little app will set all of this up for you with just a couple of clicks - it will actually setup your internet connection settings and email settings with the same ISP, with just a couple of clicks. Excellent email support to help you with setting anything up. Although it works in tandem with OE and can be set to not show you messages that are also in the same folder in OE, I don't think it requires OE to read/view the emails in the backups - it seems to have its own reader, so that you could read the emails in your backups in the future, even if you switch to a different email client. Although I backup my current files regularly, I keep most emails for a year in OE and then make a backup for the year and delete that year from OE (I keep receipts, business correspondance, and things like that).
http://ajsystems.com/expressassist/ea.html
Express Assist will also handle backing up lot of other things, such as Internet Explorer (and/or Firefox) Settings, Windows Address Book, Favorites, QuickLaunch bar, Desktop, even My Documents (or My Pictures, etc.) and/or anything you want to cherry pick from any disk drive, if you want to configure it to do this. You can also set up "jobs" so that it will back up these things to separate files, rather than all in one backup. I use SecondCopy for these however, because I maintain my backups a little differently - SecondCopy is a terrific, very flexible back up application with "profiles" that can be configured to run in sequence with one click. Also has excellent email support to help you with setting anything up. You can also include your dbx files in a SecondCopy backup (but this is not as nice as what ExpressAssist offers - just an extra safety copy).
http://secondcopy.com/
Good Luck,
AnnaSummers
----- Original Message -----
From: alan smith
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Saturday, July 04, 2009 11:18 PM
Subject: [PCSOFT] open a file??
I have to build a computer for a friend and she uses Outlook Express for her e-mail. I'm looking for the inbox files with Microsoft Explorer and I found folders, but they are dbx files!
Has anyone found how to open them to retreive their mail?? Like most people she has kept a lot of mail !! Thank you for the help, Al Smith
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