How To Restore Outlook Express Backup Folder

A friend of mine backed up his Outlook Express folder to a flash drive. He then consulted me how to recover the messages inside it.

What appears as a folder in Outlook Express isn't really a folder. As far as Windows is concerned, it's a single file with a .dbx extension. The email program has to know it's there to look for it and open it.

Outlook Express keeps all of its "folders" in a single location. To find that location, go to Outlook Express, select Tools, then Options. Click the Maintenance tab, then the Store Folder button.

Here's how you read the contents of a backed-up .dbx file that's no longer in the proper location:

1) In Outlook Express, create a new folder, named, say, 'Restored'. You can do this by selecting File, New, then Folder.

2) In Windows Explorer, open your Outlook Express store folder as described above.

3) Exit Outlook Express.

4) In Windows Explorer, delete the newly-created restored.dbx file.

5) Plug in your flash drive, open another Windows Explorer window there, and Copy the folder you want to restore to the Outlook Express store folder.

6) Rename the copied file on your hard drive as 'Restored' (or restored.dbx if Windows is set up so you can see your extensions).

7) Restart Outlook Express. The Restored folder should contain your old e-mails.