It's a bit simple really...


How do I copy a folder of emails to a cd?


I need to 'archive' stuff for use maybe in the future so I want to download some folders. I'm using outlook express but I just can't work it out.



Sorry.. bit dim here

Thank you, lovely people, for your help

I really don't know why I looked in this thread
Lottie, one will be along shortly.

What I've done in the past is archive all the dbx files. I don't have OE anymore, but there will be some files under Documents and Settings somewhere..

Try this:

http://www.freebits.co.uk/backoutlook.html

or

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/270670

This may not be what you want, as this is the whole folder, so if you restore it, it will wipe anything newer. There may be an option to export selected mails... I think you *may* be able to highlight all the mails and drag them off into a folder. You can then burn that folder to CD (you can test by trying to drag a mail to desktop to see if it saves a copy there).

Me neither - I suppose I'm an optimist. Or just nosey!

*sad that it should be something people feel they can't admit to, if they're clever - it's no more a value judgement than any other attribute*

This one is one my sort of clever isn't so well equipped to help with - I tend to poke around on my computer trying things out until they work, and then when that doesn't pan out, I ask my computer science gurus. Will it in part depend on operating system? I know if I right click a folder, it brings an option to copy it to a place - my cute little Samsung NC10 notebook doesn't have a CD drive, but I'd imagine that it might well be an option to copy to a blank CD if it did....

*Arrives, reads the posts, scratches head, and departs rapidly*

You can always get an external USB cd/dvd-rw drive...

I think that might take dedication to finding answers to tough questions a bit far .
Though I had of course been thinking about that as an addition for it for other reasons....

Hello

What e-mail client are you using, that will help me in answering your question.

When you say "copy" do you mean a "hardcopy" or just a backup of the file that you can access later?

I haven't used OE for a long time and here at work I'm on Outlook (the big corproate monster) but I think the procedure is much the same.

Go to File, Import & Export.
Select Export to a file
Then select the type of file - a pst file is a good option if you are going to re-import at a later time back into OE, but if you think you may go to another email programme in the future it would be a good idea to use "Comma Separated Values (DOS)". You could of course do it twice and save both.
Next you can select which folders you want to back up.
Finally select the location of the backup file (either somewhere on your hard drive then copy to CD or else burn direct to CD if you can).

I hope OE works like that, I think it does.

There is an alternative. Select the emails you want to copy and drag and drop them into a folder in Explorer. It will create a .eml file for each email (rather than 1 file containg all emails which export will do). I think it's a messy way to do it but you may prefer it.

Unfortunately, I don't think that outlook express has Outlook (full version's) archive functions.

Here's a link which gives some options

Link thingy

Mole

Ah OK. In that case I think I'd go for the (dirty) drag and drop option.

The alternative solution is to create a googlemail account and automatically foward your emails there (forward but not delete!), no memory issues and you have access as long as you have web access!

Whether it works depends on whether you deleted your emails and only have them on your computer or if they are still on the mail server thingy

Lottie, are you sure you need to archive them onto a CD? If not, why not just create in Outlook Express a New Folder, and put them there? If you are using any Backup software, they should then automatically get backed up to your normal backup location. But if you really need them archived off your PC then read on!

Outlook Express does not have a user friendly way of exporting e-mails to another location. It can be done, as Solari and Mole have suggested (and using their links) by physically moving files on your computer, and I have done this many times when I have needed to re-install Windows, or upsize my C drive.

However, this requires poking about in Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer) and many people are not used to doing that. It also requires having secret or hidden files being made viewable and even fewer people know how to do that .

So I am with Jacobi on this one, but I am sure it will work if the e-mails you wish to archive are only on your PC.

Set up a new mail account with one of the web-based ones, such as googlemail, hotmail, yahoomail etc. The choice is yours really. You don't have to tell Outlook Express anything about this new account.

Go into Outlook Express and forward to this new account all the e-mails which you wish to archive. You may have to do these one at a time, but you do it in exactly the same way as forwarding an e-mail to somebody else in your address book.

I would carry out a check by logging on to the new account (using Internet Explorer as you would any other website, but giving your user name and password set up when you set up the e-mail account) and checking that they are all there. Then you can safely delete them from your own PC, since you will be able to access them at any time in the future, as long as you satisfy any rules set up by Google, Yahoo etc about the use of that account. (I don't have one myself, but I am thinking about things like not accessing them for a certain period).

I am fairly sure this will work, Lottie, but I am open to correction if somebody knows it won't. I realise it is not exactly what you wanted, ie onto a CD, but providing you don't tell anyone about your new e-mail account, it should remain reasonably secure and you will be able to access the archived e-mails at any time and from any PC. You won't easily be able to restore them to your normal PC, but if the text is that important you can always highlight it and copy it to your own PC and then put it anywhere you want.

I hope this helps - I have tried to keep it as simple as possible .

You may be able to create a new mail, then in the main window, highlight all your emails and drag them into the mail text window. Hopefully it will add them all as attachments. That's if you don't mind having them "archived" this way.

Not sure if selecting multiple mails then right clicking will bring up a forward or "send" option.. it's been ages since I used OE! I think I have it installed on a virtual machine so will look later if I get a chance.

Have just checked OE, and yes you can forward multiple e-mails to the same address.

If they are all in a block, use Shift and Click to highlight a continuous section of them. If you need to be selective, you can use CTRL and Click to highlight individual ones for subsequent forwarding.

Go team!