I've just had a bit of a computer update alongside my iMac. Basically my old XP Pro machine was grinding to a halt so I have replaced it with a Lenovo G560 laptop. Before the old machine went to the dump I removed the hard drive and it is now sat in a casing and is an external drive.
However I've been looking at lifting my email contacts from Outlook but have spotted that they should be exported into a csv file. Now thats easier send than done for me as the original computer is now languishing in a skip.
Can I get Outlook to boot from the external drive so that i can export the address book? Or can I find the addresses somewhere. Just had a thought that there is an old XP laptop kicking about somewhere would that make things easier??
Last edited by: Fullchat on Mon 7 May 12 at 22:57
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I think they are in the .pst file, probably in your My Documents (or under some convoluted Microsoft inspired path). Do a search for *.pst on your external disk and it should find it.
If so, you can copy the file to your new drive and attach it as another mail store. I guess you can then cut and paste them across, unless you wanted to make this your default mail store (with all your old mail).
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What version of Outlook did you use? Important because they handle addresses in various ways. (also was it outlook or outlook express).
Once you know what version it is, you know where the address book was located and what type it was on the old drive, and how to copy/convert it.
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You'll need your old xp user password to access the path that holds the address book.
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Sorry it was Outlook Express. Does OE Migration 5 mean anything?? Old XP machine was not password protected.
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from MS help:
".wab" file:
Windows Address Book file (Outlook Express contacts). This format (.wab file) is used by most earlier versions of Windows, including Windows XP.
To import from ".wab" file:
In your mail program, Click Import, locate the contacts file you want to import, and then click Open. The new contacts should appear in your Contacts folder.
How to locate the contacts file you want to import in your old hard drive:
*.wab file may have been, by default, marked as hidden. To view .wab files in Windows (file) Explorer:
open My Computer, up at the top click on Tools>Folder Options>Advanced tab. Make sure "Show hidden files" is checked, and "Hide extensions for known file types" and "Hide protected operating system files" are NOT checked.
Then run a search for "*.wab" (without the quotes, but with the asterisk and dot).
Last edited by: John H on Tue 8 May 12 at 00:26
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Look for a program called express assist, its free to use for 15 days, and will export old OE mail and contacts to Windows live mail.
John H has given you details on how to find the .wab file, it will be in the /user directory chain somewhere.
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>> it will be in the /user directory chain somewhere.
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From MS knowledgebase:
the .wab file is located in the following folder:
[your "XP" external drive]:Documents and Settings, {user}, Application Data, Microsoft, Address Book, {user.wab}
Note - In this step, {user} is your Microsoft Windows user name. [user name that you had chosen in your XP hard drive].
Last edited by: John H on Tue 8 May 12 at 09:08
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Just an update.
What I've done is created a virtual machine using VMware Player and Paragon Go Virtual. Took a little bit of sorting but now I can run my old XP computer within my new Windows 7 laptop. So I can now access all my old documents, emails addresses, bookmarks etc and transfer at leisure.
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Outlook Address Transfer - Help - smokie
