Email backup

Thank you
mine are all pop3, so where do I find my email files to back them up manually myself

Where those email files are depends on:
a. The email program you use.
b. The settings for the file locations. There's a default location, of course, but most email programs would allow you to specify another location. That's, in fact, what I did with my Outlook Express files.

If you know what program you use and tell it here, somebody might be able to figure out the default location. But without that info, all that can be said is "most likely somewhere in your Windows profile (Documents and Settings in XP-speak)".

You might even be able to find out yourself. For Thunderbird, for example, I'd try: http://www.google.com/search?q=thunderbird+file+location

Kees

go to file > export > messages and save as a pst onto your external hdd or to your pendrive. That you can do every week to help you with a backup solution,,,,,but this is to be manually initiated....

I wish this method would work on my Outlook Express. It looks on the face of it to be a perfect solution to backing up the whole lot at one time. When I tried this and was all ready to backup all my email folders onto my external storage hard drive the message came up:-
"This will Export all your messages to Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Exchange" So I agreed and then it said ERROR "The Export could not be performed: An error occurred while initializing MAPI."

So I replied "An error occurred while initializing head-scratching routine!". In other words I was none the wiser for the knowledge.
However, I found a way around this. I make a folder on the desktop and drag each of my named and personally created folders to the desktop folder which makes a copy of the content and I then copy that to my external storage drive, then return and repeat with the next folder. My incoming mail is filtered into various folders to keep. So once I establish the files have been safely created on the backup drive I then delete the temporary copy on the desktop.

Everything then remains on the main Outlook Express but sometimes I delete the originals and clear the folders to tidy things up.
It's not so easy to search for a particular email in the backup file but at least it's not lost for ever and could be IMPORTED into any new PC - though knowing my luck the old Outlook Express type .eml files won't be compatible with Windows Vista or 7 with it's fussy Windows Live Mail, another moving of the goalposts by Microsoft designers that gives most of us grief at one time or another!
Hey ho! we clatter on.
--

What I read in your description of what you do for each OE folder separately.
1. Drag and drop a folder to the desktop.
2. Copy the file to your external hard disk.

It can be done much simpler.

1. Go into My Computer or Windows Explorer.
2. Go to the 'archive folder'. That's the Windows folder all Outlook Express folders are stored in. Each OE folder is one Windows file, for example "Inbox.dbx" or "Sent items.dbx". In OE, go to Tools>Options>Maintenance and click on the 'Archive folder' button to see what Windows folder it is.
3. Select all those files by pressing ctrl-A in My Computer or Windows Explorer.
4. Copy it to your external hard disk (drag and drop or ctrl-C/ctrl V or copy/paste or the copy icon in the toolbar), just like you do all your file copies.

Kees

Seeing your excellent alternative plan just reminded me that when I got a new PC with a brand new empty Outlook Express on it, I went to the old PC and found the inbox.dbx deleted.dbx and all the other folders and it was all inside one identity with a very long file name.

So I copied that identity to a backup drive and then substituted it for the new empty file of the same name on the new Outlook Express.
As if by magic all my old mail and folders all arrived into the new Outlook and I had the history of all my saved mail copied to the new PC.

My method mentioned in the posting was really the one I use to back up certain selected folders on their own (the type of stuff I want to save for the future) and I may never refer to it but it's there if ever I do.

.eml file just open as normal in Outlook when you click on the file from an external source. In this respect OE really is a good program and wish it was available on Vista and Windows 7 as so many people have said to me they miss it.
I really don't know why Microsoft abandoned it, after all they've remodelled and recycled everything else they devised so why ditch something with a good record?
Thanks for your update on my solution.

Just wondering if you're asking me if my issue is resolved when it was Samollie who asked the question.

Sorry if I've misunderstood your query but I had no issue, I was just chipping in with some help in case anyone found it useful.

This forum really is one of the best places to ask questions and get solutions. I've been very impressed with the knowledge here it's been very helpful to me so have the weekly newsletters.