Convert EML to DBX?

If one is to try to convert Windows Mail EML files to one single chunk
Outlook Express DBX file, how would one do that?

Copy all the EML files (drag/drop) into a Windows Explorer folder. Copy
that folder to a machine running XP and Outlook Express. Open a local mail
folder in Outlook Express and open the folder containing the EML files. Now
drag/drop from the Explorer folder to the local mail folder.

You'll probably have to resize the Explorer and OE windows to do it, but
it's simple. Ctrl+A will select all the EML files for a quick drag/drop.
Good luck.

Thank you so much sir, I cannot believe it was that simple. You have saved
me losing 3+ years of email messages. Thank you again.

[RobertC]

I have not been able to get this solution to work. I am running WinXP64. I have 806MB of emails in .eml format in 831 folders containing 14,190 messages. I started a new identity in Outlook Express and made the store folder Dummy on my E:\ drive. The .eml files are in a file on the E:\ drive called Converted. I tried changing the store folder to converted, changing the store folder to one of the sub-folders under converted and copying the files in one of the sub-folders to Dummy. None of these resulted in any messages appearing in the test identity either directly or after closing and reopening Outlook Express. Likewise importing did not work either. What am I missing?

RobertC

Did you also copy folders.dbx along with the other dbx files you wish to
import? Without it from the original store, nothing will import. Next, how
did you copy the dbx files to your Vista box? Use a CD/DVD? If so, the
files in question are marked by the OS as Read Only and this attribute must
be cleared before the import will work. Second if a CD/DVD, you cannot
import from the CD/DVD because of the Read Only attribute. Just copy all to
a temporary folder on your Vista hard drive (which you can later delete),
clear the Read-Only attribute on all the files, then do the import. Works
on more than 12 machines in this immediate area w/o problem. Also, do not
attempt to import over a network.

[RobertC]

Dear Jim:

Thank you for the prompt reply.

There are no CDs or DVDs involved. Everything is on the hard drive, partition E:. I am not using Vista but Windows XP Professional 64. For some reason, when I loaded it, it loaded on the E: partition rather than the C:. On this computer C: is a Deskstar 80GB drive, D: is a DVD drive and E: is a Hitachi 160GB drive. All of the files are on the E: drive. I am not networked except for the DSL router.

I created a file which I named Dummy on the E: drive. I added an identity in Outlook Express and changed the email store to E:\Dummy. It automatically added Folders.dbx, Inbox.dbx, Offline.dbx and Outbox.dbx.

The emails were gathered from various sources which consisted of many backups. Consequently there were numerous duplicates. I converted them all to .eml files with dbxconv.exe in a combined file called Converted. Each of the .dbx folders had one or more messages. dbxconv created a folder under Converted in the name of the dbx folder and put the messages in them. If there were same name folders from the various sources, it appended a numerical designation to the name in the form of (n). If there were duplicate messages in the folders in appended a similar designation to the end of the message name. When everything was converted, I pulled up the properties on the file Converted and cleared the Read Only checkbox for all sub folders. I then scanned the result file with DoubleKiller.exe which flagged all of the duplicate files based on date plus time received plus checksum identical. There were over 1500 duplicates found and deleted. Now I would like to put the remaining eml files back into .dbx form to import into Outlook Express. If they can be imported directly, that would be great.

I am sorry for my ignorance. The last serious programming I did was 40 years ago on an IBM 360 in assembler and Fortran.

I tried to follow your instructions. I copied a couple of the sub folders from Converted to Dummy. I also copied the contents of one of the sub folders into Dummy. So dummy contains the dbx files noted above plus two sub folders of .eml files plus a half dozen .eml files from one of the sub folders. I opened Outlook Express and switched to the identity for which Dummy is the store folder. Nothing happened.

I hope this is detailed enough to determine what I did wrong.

Thanks.

Robert: That was a rather convoluted way to do it. To fix the problem now,
I'd create a new folder with subfolders as appropriate, I.e., Inbox, Sent
Items, etc., and have it opened to half screen. Then open your Dummy folder
with the EML files and drag/drop them into appropriate folders. When
finished, you can delete the Dummy folder if desired. Now open the mail
program to half screen size, and drag/drop the EML files into the
appropriate local folder in the mail program (drop them into the Message
List pane) and they will be incorporated into the DBX file when you exit the
mail program.

[RobertC]

Dear Jim:

Thanks. Now I finally understand and it works as described. The purpose of doing this was to eliminate the duplicates. Having left me with 831 folders to open, move messages to Outlook Express and then re-create folders is daunting. I will look for a program that can scan several message stores and flag duplicates for removal. Then it would only be a matter of importing what is left and the folders would be re-created. Combining similar folders would not be as daunting. Otherwise, what would be a non-convoluted way of accomplishing this?

Thanks again.

My OEX program (www.oehelp.com/OEX/) will remove duplicates. It will be
available for Vista soon.

Robert: As Steve Cochran has posted, his OEX program will eliminate
duplicates and should be available in a version for Vista soon. It has been
available for Outlook Express for quite some time and has other features
that are quite handy. Read about it here:

OEX:
http://www.oehelp.com/OEX/

For this business use-'corrupt dbx'
(http://www.recoverytoolbox.com/corru...l),fortunately tool is
free,tool permits to unpack *dbx* files, where -Outlook Express- keeps
your messages and to retrieve separate files in eml format, that can be
restored without errors,program is compatible with -Windows Me, Windows
98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista,program
is -working in a batch mode and this tool processes very large *dbx*
files, it is better to launch this program on more efficient
workstations for fixing -Outlook Express- corrupted *dbx* files and
-Outlook Express- *dbx* corrupt,all emails will be retrieved separately,
users can open these files with any email client, compatible with
-Outlook Express.-