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Outlook Express

Auto Email Response

"Maybe you can help me? I have Windows 95 with Outlook Express. A business friend of mine overseas is able to set his e-mail so that if he is out of the office on a trip, and I e-mail him during that time, I get an immediate e-mail response to that effect. I would like to set mine to do the same thing when necessary, but have been unable to follow his directions on how to do it! Maybe you can advise?"

mgrace74 answers: "First, create a text file with Notepad and save it as a .txt file. Now, in Outlook Express go to Tools | Message Rules | Mail. Select 'For All Messages' in box 1. Select 'Reply with Message' in box 2. Click on the word 'message' in box 3, and select your .txt file. Name your rule and 'Apply' it when you want it to auto respond to all incoming messages."

Backing Up Outlook Express Data

Backing up your data is an essential task when it comes to computers. You need to be prepared for the moment when (not if) something goes terribly wrong and it's time for a clean install. But don't forget to include your e-mail data in your backup. You don't want to lose all those messages or e-mail addresses, do you? We'll show you how to back up all your important e-mail data, such as the actual messages, rules, signatures, and address book if you're using Outlook Express (OE), one of the most popular e-mail clients for home computer users.

OE is part of the Microsoft Internet Explorer integrated package of software. These procedures should work with all versions of OE 5. If you find that you don't have some of the options listed here, you might need to update your software to a newer version.

Outlook Express Identities

When you set up OE, on a new installation of Windows, you create an identity. Windows assigns this identity a random 36-character GUID (Global Unique IDentifier). To find out your GUID, use Windows Explorer and look in this location:

C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Identities

When several members of a household want to use OE to work with just their own mailbox(es), you can create multiple identities. In other words, you can create an identity for User 1 (yourself), User 2 (your spouse), User 3 (your teenage kid), etc. When a user starts up OE, they will select their identity, enter their password if applicable, and will then be able to work with just their mail messages.

For more information about identities, refer to the OE help files or to this article: How to Create and use Identities in Outlook Express - http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q209/1/69.asp?LNG=ENG&SA=PER&FR=0

You'll see later on in this article why this is important to know.

Back It Up

Before you start, you need to think about where you will set up a storage location for your OE backups. You could set up a folder on your hard drive that contains subfolders for each identity, with subfolders for all of the various parts of OE. For example, you could create a folder named OE Backup. In this folder, create a subfolder for each identity, e.g. John Smith, Mary Smith, Susie Smith, etc. In each one of these folders, create a folder for OE rules, OE messages, OE accounts, etc.

Regularly back up all your OE data to this folder, then copy this folder to a backup media such as Zip, CD-R, or network drive.

It's a good idea to be working offline (that is, not connected to the Internet) while doing these steps. On the main OE toolbar, select File and then click on Work Offline.

OE Accounts

Within any identity many e-mail accounts can be set up. These accounts are individual e-mail addresses and include information about the type of e-mail account, username, password, mail server name, and other information to allow you to send and receive e-mail. To back up the account info:

1. From the OE main tool bar, go to Tools / Accounts / Mail.

2. Select an account to back up by highlighting it.

3. Click on the Export option, select a storage location, and click Save.

Repeat these steps for each account. The file name will be the e-mail account name and will have the extension iaf.

If you have multiple identities, repeat these steps for each additional identity.

OE Folders

OE sets up several default folders for each identity, such as Inbox, Outbox, Deleted Items. These folders, that have the file extension .dbx, are by default stored here: C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Identities\{GUID}\Microsoft\Outlook Express All your e-mail will be stored in those folders in this directory.

Tip: If you prefer to store the data in a different location, e.g. a different partition or a different hard drive, use these steps.

1. In OE, go to Tools / Options / Maintenance / Store Folder.

2. Use the Change button to browse to the alternate storage location.

3. Highlight the folder, then click OK three times to close the dialog.

4. Shut down and restart OE for the change to take effect.

5. This is now the new storage location for your OE folders, however, your GUID will still be in the location mentioned above and is still associated with the folders in their new location. Your GUID is also associated with the accounts listed in OE.

To back up these OE folders, open Windows Explorer, locate the folder on your hard drive where you store them, and copy them to your OE backup folder, keeping them organized as discussed above.

Address Book

The Address Book contains the contact information such as e-mail, address, phone number, etc. for all your friends, family, etc. The address book is by default stored here:

C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book\filename.WAB.

The address book will always have the file extension .wab, but the file name will either be default.wab or the name of the user that Windows is registered to as shown when you go to Start / Settings / Control / Panel / System / General / Registered to - e.g. John Smith.wab. This info can be found in the registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Registered Owner.

To back up your address book, follow these steps:

1. From Outlook Express, click on Tools / Address Book, then File / Export / Address Book (WAB). Or from Windows: Start / Programs / Accessories / Address Book / File / Export / Address Book (WAB).

2. Choose a storage location and give it a file name.

3. Click Save

In addition to having a backup, we also recommend that you keep a current printout of your address book for reasons explained in the next section.

Address Book -- Multiple Identities

The preceding procedure also works for Outlook Express setups with multiple identities, but it's not as simple. When you create multiple identities, each user can see shared addresses (contacts), but each user will only see his personal contacts. However, everything is stored in one file, that is the filename.wab file. When you import the address book, the shared contacts folder will remain the same, but each identity's (user's) unique contacts will be merged. To help sort it out before exporting, each user should print out his/her unique address book, then the unwanted contacts can be easily deleted after the import.

To prevent the merged contacts after a import, Windows can be set up with profiles and passwords so that each user must sign on to Windows. In that case, each user will have his/her own unique address book. However, since using Windows and Outlook Express is an everyday event and importing the address book is probably a rare event, just keep in mind that the address books will merge and not bother with Profiles/Passwords.

Message Rules, Signatures, and OE Settings

WARNING: This section involves editing the registry. Always back up your registry before modifying it.

More items you probably want to back up are message rules, signatures, and OE settings. You can save them all in one step, including customized toolbars, by exporting a few registry keys!

1. To get to the registry, click on Start / Run, type regedit and click OK.

2. Navigate to this key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Identities \ {GUID} \ Software \ Microsoft \ Outlook Express \ 5.0

3. In the left-hand pane of the registry screen, click on the folder icon labeled 5.0 to expand it. Under this key, you will see many subkeys. The ones that you may want are "blocked senders," "mail," "rules," and "signatures."

4. Click on each subkey that you wish to export and on the tool bar at the top, click on Registry / Export Registry File.

5. Select a storage location and a file name (Note: the file name must have the extension .reg)

6. Repeat this step for each subkey that you wish to save and for all identities.

7. Exit the registry by clicking Registry / Exit.

It seems tempting to export the entire "5.0" key, but it will not work when you try to put it back into a new installation of Windows.

Restoring It

Now let's talk about how to restore all your OE data in a clean Windows installation. If you set up your Dial-Up Network (DUN) connection (or high-speed connection) before getting into Outlook Express, you want to work offline. Cancel the dialer and select Work Offline or go the File menu and select Work Offline.

OE Accounts

To set up the accounts in a clean Windows installation, select Tools / Accounts / Import, navigate to the backup directory, and move them back in, one at a time.

If you have multiple identities, first restore only the accounts for the main identity and then create the other identities. Use the File / Identities / Manage Identities menu in OE and then move those accounts back.

OE Folders

To move your messages into a new installation of OE:

1. From the main OE toolbar, select File / Import / Messages.

2. Select Outlook Express 5 and click Next.

3. Select Import mail from an OE5 store directory and click Next.

4. Use the Browse button to navigate to the folder containing the backup data, highlight it, click OK, then Next.

5. In the next dialog, select All folders (unless you have a specific reason to import only selected folders), click Next, then Finish.

If you have multiple identities, switch to each identity and repeat the steps to restore the folders for each identity.

Address Book

To restore your address book:

1. From Outlook Express, click on Tools / Address Book / File / Import / Address Book (WAB). Or from Windows, go to Start / Programs / Accessories / Address Book / File / Import / Address Book WAB.

2. Navigate to the backup folder, highlight the desired address book file, and click Open.

If you have multiple identities, refer to the "Back It Up / Address Book -- Multiple Identities" section for information on how the address book entries will be merged after an import.

Messages Rules, Signatures, and OE Settings

This section involves modifying the registry by importing the registry key(s) that you exported for your backup. It is recommended that you back up your entire registry before starting these procedures.

If you installed Windows from scratch and want to restore the previously backed up registry keys, you need to update the backup of the registry keys with the new GUID since the new Windows installation assigned you a different GUID automatically when you started setting up OE. First you need to find out what the new GUID is.

1. Click on Start / Run, type regedit and click OK.

2. Navigate to this key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Identities \ {GUID}

3. Click on the folder icon next to it.

4. Look in the right-hand pane to see the username value; it will be the same as the identity name used in OE. With the GUID highlighted on the left, right-click on it, select Rename, then press Ctrl+C to copy it to the clipboard, then immediately press the ESC key. Do not rename the key!

5. Exit the registry by clicking Registry / Exit.

6. Go to Start / Programs / Accessories / WordPad

7. Select File / Open. Change the Files of Type drop-down menu to All Documents (*.*).

8. Navigate to the folder where the first backed up registry key is stored, highlight it, and click Open.

9. Select Edit / Replace. Paste the GUID from the clipboard into the Replace with field by right-clicking in the field and clicking Paste.

10. Move the Replace box out of the way so you can see the first few lines of the registry file. Highlight and copy the old GUID in the document, including the curly braces { } !

11. Paste the old GUID into the Find what field of the Replace dialog box by right-clicking in the field and clicking Paste.

12. Select Replace All to replace every occurrence of the old GUID in this registry file with the new one.

13. Go to File / Save, then File / Exit.

14. You must repeat this procedure for all saved registry keys.

15. To import each modified registry key, open Windows Explorer, maneuver to the folder with your OE backups, then double-click the modified registry key to import it and merge it with your registry.

Repeat these steps for each key to be imported and for each identity.

Export Outlook Express Message Rules

Is there a way to export Microsoft Outlook Express message rules? Whenever I reformat my computer or want to set up OE on a different computer, I have to do a lot of work to reset all the message rules manually. Is there a way to make this task easier? Or can you tell me which file or Registry item to back up or change?

Mail rules for Outlook Express 5.0 and 6.0 are stored in the same place in the Registry. Launch REGEDIT and navigate to HKEY_ CURRENT_USER\Identities. This key will have one or more identity subkeys whose names are GUIDs—strings of letters and numbers in curly brackets, such as {12345678-90AB-CDEF-1234-567890ABCDEF}.

If there's just one subkey, you're in luck. Otherwise, you must check each in turn to determine the correct one. Specifically, navigate to the Software\Microsoft\ Outlook Express\5.0\Rules\Mail key below each identity key. The subkeys of the Mail key should have numbers for names. As you select each number subkey, you should see a value called Name in the right-hand pane. The value's data is the name of one of your rules. When you've identified the correct identity subkey, select the Mail key for that identity and choose Export Registry File... from the Registry menu. If you are using Windows 2000 or XP, pull down the Save as type list and then select the Win 9x item. That will ensure that you can use the resulting REG file on any Windows platform.

On your new machine, determine the correct identity subkey as described above. Load the REG file into WordPad or your word processor and use Find and Replace to replace all instances of the old machine's GUID with the identity for the new machine, then save the file. Double-click on the modified REG file to copy the rules into your new machine's Registry. You may need to do some editing in Outlook Express if, for example, a rule specifies moving messages into a folder that does not exist on the new machine.

Outlook Express Attachments

Version 6 of Outlook Express adds an option to block attachments that match Internet Explorer 6's unsafe-files list. According to Microsoft, this feature is not enabled by default. But judging from many reader letters similar to this one, it is enabled—at least in some circumstances. Readers are also reporting that nearly all of the attachments they receive are considered unsafe.

To turn off this feature in Outlook Express, select Options from the Tools menu, click on the Security tab, and uncheck the box that says Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus. Once you click on OK, you should be able to open your attachments without any further trouble. But before you do this, make sure your antivirus software is up to date, and set it to update automatically.

Quarantine Selected E-Mails

Most of the spam I get isn't addressed specifically to me, so I want Outlook Express 5 to take any e-mail messages that are not addressed directly to me and put them somewhere other than my in-box. I tried to use Message Rules, but I couldn't figure out how to tell OE to select e-mail addresses other than mine. Could you please give me a step-by-step approach?

This procedure is slightly more difficult than the usual Message Rules task, because you want to select messages that do not meet a certain condition. Here's how, step by step:

Select Tools | Message Rules | Mail from the menu.

Click on New.

Check the box labeled Where the To line contains people.

Click on the blue underlined words contains people in the description at the bottom.

Enter your e-mail address and click on Add.

Click on Options, select Message does not contain the people below, click on OK, and then OK again.

Check the box labeled Move it to the specified folder.

Click on the blue underlined word specified.

Create a new folder named Not to me and select it.

Name the rule Not to me and click on OK, then OK again.

That's it. After you complete this procedure, an e-mail message that arrives without your address in the To field will be placed in the Not to me folder rather than your in-box. You'll still have to review the messages in the Not to me folder; they could be legitimate messages using a Bcc field or messages sent to an e-mail group you've joined. But you can count on your in-box containing only messages addressed to you.

Restore Outlook Express Mail Rules

OLEXP: How to Backup and Restore Outlook Express Blocked Senders List and Other Mail Rules

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 for Windows NT 4.0

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.01 for Windows NT 4.0

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.0 for Windows NT 4.0

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 for Windows Millennium Edition

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 for Windows 98 Second Edition

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.01 for Windows 98 Second Edition

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.0 for Windows 98 Second Edition

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 for Windows 98

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.01 for Windows 98

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.0 for Windows 98

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 for Windows 95

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.01 for Windows 95

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.0 for Windows 95

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 for Windows 2000

Microsoft Outlook Express 5.01 for Windows 2000

This article was previously published under Q276511

For information about the differences between Microsoft Outlook Express and Microsoft Outlook e-mail clients, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

257824 OL2000: Differences Between Outlook and Outlook Express

IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SUMMARY

This article describes how to back up and restore your Blocked Senders list and other mail rules in Outlook Express 5 and later. If multiple Identities are in use for Outlook Express, these steps should be repeated for each Identity, and the backup data segregated accordingly. This will facilitate restoration of each Identity.

MORE INFORMATION

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

How to Back Up Blocked Senders List and Other Mail Rules

The Blocked Senders List

Click Start, and then click Run.

In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.

Locate and click the following registry subkeys (save each key to a different file):

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{Identity Number}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Block Senders

On the Registry menu, click Export Registry File.

In the Save In box, change the location to your desktop.

In the File Name box, type blocked senders.reg (for the Block Senders key), and then click Save.

Other Mail Rules

Click Start, and then click Run.

In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.

Locate and click the following registry subkeys (save each key to a different file):

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{Identity Number}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Rules\Mail

On the Registry menu, click Export Registry File.

In the Save In box, change the location to your desktop.

In the File Name box, type mail rules.reg (for the mail rules key), and then click Save.

On the Registry menu, click Exit.

NOTE: For additional protection, copy the registry key files from your desktop to any of the following locations:

Another partition on your computer.

A network location.

Some form of removable media.

How to Restore the Existing Blocked Senders List and Other Mail Rules to Function on the Newly Installed Operating System

Open Outlook Express on the new computer, and complete the Internet Connection Wizard to set up your Identity and account information. If you had multiple identities in the previous installation, complete these steps for each Identity. To do this:

Click Start, and then click Run.

In the Open box, type notepad.exe.

Click Open on the File menu, and then locate the Block Senders.reg file that you created.

In the second line of text, select the text after "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identity\" that includes the braces {}. On the Edit menu, click Copy to copy this text to the Microsoft Windows Clipboard.

On the Edit menu, click Replace. Click your pointer in the Find what box, and then click Paste on the Edit menu to paste the text into that box. Do not close the Notepad application until you are directed to do so later in this process.

Start Registry Editor on the new computer (as in step 1 of "The Blocked Senders List" section), and locate the HKEY_Current_User\Identities folder. Double-click the User ID key in the right pane, and then click the Value data.

Press CTRL+C to copy that value to the Windows Clipboard. Click Cancel to close the Edit String dialog box, and then close Registry Editor.

In Notepad, click your point in the Replace with box, and press CTRL+V to paste the text. Click Replace All to replace all instances of the text strings.

Scroll through the entire list to make sure that all registry keys have the new text string, rather than the old string. On the File menu, click Save, and then close Notepad.

Double-click the Block Senders.reg file, and then click Yes when you are prompted: "Are you sure you want to..." to import the Block Senders list to the registry for the new computer.

Follow steps 2 through 11 above on the mail rules.reg file to update that file with the new Identity information.

Password-Protect the Outlook Express In-Box

You can password-protect your in-box using OE's Identities feature. From the menu select File | Identities | Add New Identity. Define a secondary identity, which you will not actually use; do nothing but give it a name. Do not switch to the new identity when prompted. Then select your own main identity and click on the Properties button. Check the Require a Password box and enter the password you want to use. Click on OK, then on Close.

After doing this one-time procedure, you must always close OE by choosing Exit and Log Off Identity from the File menu rather than merely selecting Exit. This menu item is disabled unless multiple identities are defined. (That's why you created the nonfunctional secondary identity.) When you log off in this way, nobody can launch OE without supplying the password.

The initial release of Outlook Express 6.0 had a problem with switching identities. If you use version 6.0, be sure to update it with Service Pack 1.

Stop Blocking Attachments

Outlook Express 6 can be configured to block any attachments whose extensions are in Internet Explorer 6's list of unsafe file types. (We've even seen new systems that had attachments blocked by default.) If such an attachment arrives, you'll get a message like "Outlook Express removed access to the following unsafe attachments in your mail:".

Specifically, OE 6 blocks attachments having any of these extensions: .asp, .bas, .bat, .chm, .cmd, .com, .exe, .hlp, .hta, .inf, .isp, .js, .jse, .lnk, .msi, .mst, .pcd, .pif, .reg, .scr, .url, .vbe, .vbs, .ws, and .wsh. You can't remove items from this list, as it's hard-coded in the file Shdocvw.dll. Other file types that have the box Confirm open after download checked in Windows Explorer's Edit File Type dialog may also be blocked.

To turn off this feature in Outlook Express, select Options from the Tools menu, click on the Security tab, and uncheck the box that says Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus. Once you click on OK, you should also be able to open attachments that arrived while this feature was on.

Tilde Desktop Folder Fix

Mystery solved! It is the result of a windows update 330994 patch. You get the temp file after a change is made to your address book in Outlook express. You can see if you have the patch by going to IE....Help...About and seeing if the patch is listed there. I made a change to my address book this morning and "Bingo" the file appeared!

Here is the info I obtained! Phewwwwww! Glad that's over with!

One of the "fixes" from MS several months ago causes this glitch.

What that file is (which I believe you will see is named "~") is your yourname.wa~ file which on my PC resides in C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book .

That file is the backup for yourname.wab (the OE Address Book). But now, after the glitch, the .wa~ file is no longer getting updated when you make a change to Address Book. Rather it goes to your Desktop as "~" instead of to C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book as yourname.wa~.

However, your Address Book, itself, is still getting updated. So unless you worry about the backup no longer being updated(what good is it, anyway??), you can delete the "~" file. Or if you cannot live without the updated backup .wa~ file, then just rename that suspicious "~" file to yourname.wa~ and send it to the C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book folder (replacing the existing and now outdated yourname.wa~ file).

Supposedly MS was working on a fix many months ago, but I have seen no announcement of one yet, and none of the recent MS fixes have cured the problem.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That "~" (tilde) file is most probably appearing as the result of installing the "April 2003, Cumulative Patch for Outlook Express (330994)". Microsoft is aware of the problem and is supposedly working on a fix. Many people are experiencing this problem and from what I've read about this problem that icon will also reappear when you reply to an e-mail and you have your Outlook Express set up to enter the persons e-mail address to your address book whenever you reply to an e-mail. You can either just put up with it or follow the uninstall directions for the patch at the link below.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/critical/330994/default.asp


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