I'm buying a new computer next week. I use Outlook Express 6.0 as my primary email and I was wondering if there was a way to transfer my Local Folders to the new machine. I segregate all my retained mail to specific folders and hope I don't end up having to print hard copy of messages I want to save because I can't port the folders to the new machine.
Thanks for any input.

1. First copy the Outlook Express folder from the source computer by this method using a floppy or USB drive:
   
   • On that computer click START > SEARCH and in the file-name box enter OUTLOOK EXPRESS
   • In the SEARCH window, go to VIEW > DETAILS to properly see the results
   • Find the OUTLOOK EXPRESS folder that is buried in a directory with a long name like this: "c:\documents & settings\username\local settings\application data\identities\(long_string_of_characters)\micros oft"
   • Right Click on that folder and select SEND TO and then select your moveable media, floppy, USB Drive, etc.
2. You can either merge this to your other computer by jumping to 4. below or you can create a separate mail box folder such as TransferIN and TransferSENT to keep these files isolated from your current Inbox and Sent folders. To create the isolated folders:
   
   • Open Outlook Express in the destination computer and right click on LOCAL FOLDERS in the directory list on the left (If not in view, goto VIEW > LAYOUT > FOLDER LIST). In the right click menu, select NEW FOLDER and enter a folder name such as TransferIN. Create another folder named TransferSENT.
   • CRITICAL point: In Outlook Express you must now double click on these two new mail folders to activate them. Click on TransferIN until it opens and shows "no items.." and then TransferSENT until it opens. THIS IS A MUST.
   • Goto START > MY COMPUTER. Click on the floppy or USB drive containing your copied folder. Right click on INBOX.dbx and select RENAME. Change the name of that file to TransferIN.dbx (must have the extension and exact spelling previously used). Do the same with SENT ITEMS.dbx and rename to TransferSENT.dbx.
3. Transfer by going to FILE > IMPORT > MESSAGES. Select your version of OE (you can go back to your source computer and open OE there, go to HELP > ABOUT to identify the version).
   
   • Select "IMPORT MAIL FROM AN OE6 STORE DIRECTORY" click OK
   • Click BROWSE and find your floppy/USB drive and click the + sign to its left; then select OUTLOOK EXPRESS > OK
   • Click NEXT > SELECTED FOLDERS
   • Highlight TransferIN and then hold down the CTRL Key and highlight TransferSENT. Release and both these files MUST BE highlighted!
   • With both highlighted, click NEXT and those two folders will transfer the emails to your destination computer and into those mailboxes by that name.
4. NOTE: If you just want to merge the transferred emails into your existing INBOX and SENT ITEMS folders, skip step 2 above and follow the instructions in Step 3 above except in 3(d) select the files INBOX.db and SENT ITEMS.dbx since you haven't changed them.

Best of luck