I searched this forum and looked at OE Help, and I'm still lost. So you can backup a folder in O.E. 6 like this: To compact and back up e-mail folders Select an e-mail folder. On the File menu, point to Folder, and then click Compact. To back up the folder, find the folder file, and then copy it to a backup folder, floppy disk, or network drive. Outlook Express e-mail folders have a .dbx extension (for example, "Sent Items.dbx"). "...find the folder file..." ? It kinda doesn't tell you where to find it or even HOW to find it, does it? But you select properties and it tells you where the folder resides. Then you copy it to somewhere else. Now it's a .dbx file. Then you click it to open, but Windows says it can't open it 'cause it needs to know what program created it. Did it already forget? Is M$ just trying to f### with me, or what? So what does one do with this .dbx file now? (I can think of something M$ can do with it!) That's my question. Now I'll shut up!

To locate the Outlook Express email folder: Open OE and go to Tools > Options > Mainenace tab and click on the 'Store Folder' button. You can copy the folder wherever you want. It contains all the email files.If you ever want to access it in the new location, just change the above 'Store Folder' address.

I guess I'm not following you. I don't want to copy ALL the email messages, just one folder. If I copy that folder from where OE stores it to, say my desktop, or a floppy, how will I be able to retrieve the messages in that folder later? I tried copying the folder back into the place where OE originally stored it, but I don't see it in the folder list when I open OE. How do I get to it now?

Lets try and make sure we are talking the same language. In OE the emails are stored in folders, those folder equate to DBX 'files'. In other words, all the emails in your inbox folder are actually in the inbox.dbx 'file'. So, did you copy a DBX file to another location and then move it back? That might not work if you used OE in between the moves. OE keeps track of all the dbx files with an index, and if you change things, OE might not pick up the changes. I don't think I can to help you restore whatever you moved. I'm not sure what you are trying to accomplish. To backup individual emails, you probably need to use the 'Export' and 'Import' options. They are in the 'File' drop down menu. Actually, I 'think' you can probably also export/import individual folders.

You can export to other M$ applications, as I read the Help topic. What I'm trying to do is save the messages in a certain folder forever, somewhere else, like a CD, in case I ever want to read them again. Backup. Archive? See M $'s instructions above They just don't tell you how to "restore" them, if you will, back into OE when you want to read those messages later. It's a business thing. I rallied over two hundred messages between a client and myself and want to save them with all the other docs (files) related to that client's job (invoices, etc.) You can right click an individual email message and "save as" to anywhere you want, but I just don't feel like doing that to over 200 messages individually. M$ seems to indicate that you can "back up" a whole folder, but how do you "open" it again later? That's the part they're missing...

I have to leave. But you can export them and then when you want to access them, just import them back into OE. Good Luck!

you can only export to M$ Outlook or M$ Exchange. What's the point? I want to "export" to external media, like CD for archiving and be able to open those messages again later. I don't see an option to do that. Likewise, if you select "import" from the file menu, you can't import from CD, or floppy, etc.