Outlook : Java Glossary

Microsoft bundles a pair of email programs Outlook and Outlook Express with their Windows OSes. In Vista, they have renamed it to Windows Mail. Outlook Express is smaller and faster, but has fewer features. The main additional features of Outlook are:

A meeting scheduler that handles scheduling, notifying, confirming and reminding of meetings and appointments. If others have the same program, the process can be quite automatic.
The ability to use MS Word and its macros and autocorrects to compose messages.
Ability to display a 4 line preview of each message.
Notepad to keep track a to do list and journal.

Outlook Express is capable of forwarding messages without wrapping them in clumsy enclosures. Both programs are highly susceptible to viruses and worms that target them and their address lists.

Backup

To backup Outlook Express files, first discover where it is putting them with Tools ⇒ Options ⇒ Maintenance ⇒ Store Folder. Then back up all the files in that folder. They will be *.dbx files named after each mailbox. In XP, they will live in a place like C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\gibberish\Microsoft\Outlook\*.dbx

You can find the Outlook files under XP in C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\outlook.pst. outlook.pst is a giant file with everything in it.

In Vista, look in C:\Users\user\Local Settings\AppData\Microsoft\Outlook\outlook.pst.

In Windows 7, look in C:\Users\user\Local\AppData\Microsoft\outlook\outlook.pst for the main database. Look in C:\Users\user\Local\AppData\Microsoft\outlook\Accounts for the files defining each email account. Look in C:\Users\user\Roaming\AppData\Microsoft\outlook\extend.dat additional datafiles.

mailbox.PAB is the address book. archive.pst will be your archived mail. Outlook.NK2 will be the autocomplete nickname file.

To backup the address book, Export it as a CSV (Comma Separated Value) file.

To backup a mail account, click Tools ⇒ Accounts ⇒ Mail ⇒ Export.

To backup newsgroups, click Tools ⇒ Accounts ⇒ News ⇒ Export.

It is best to have backups in as many different formats as possible in case future software is incompatible with your backups.

Gotchas

Outlook files will become corrupt if the outlook.pst file grows past 2 GB. Make sure you prune them before they get this big or you will lose them.
Outlook will sometimes get confused and think it has no accounts (No Send/Receive button) or that the account configurations contain old settings. Try clearing all caches and temp directories to clear its mind.

email
Outlook Recovery Toolbox
POP3
SMTP
Stellar-Phoenix Outlook Recovery Tool
Windows

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