Recovering Windows Mail

Sorry guys. I'm sure this problem is easy to solve. It's just that I can't
see it.

Because Vista has been causing me so many problems (blue crash screens,
system restore doesn't work etc) I must restore to factory settings, wiping
the c: disk and starting again. I have backed up all files on an external
drive. The problem is that I can't see how to import all my mail accounts
and mail history back into Windows Mail which will have been reloaded from
new.

Can someone please tell me how to do this?

Thanks very much

"m1234" <m1234@free.fr> wrote in message
news:BD13B869-64B7-413A-BE66-259B86B29DDB@microsoft.com...
> Sorry guys. I'm sure this problem is easy to solve. It's just that I
> can't see it.
>
> Because Vista has been causing me so many problems (blue crash screens,
> system restore doesn't work etc) I must restore to factory settings,
> wiping the c: disk and starting again. I have backed up all files on an
> external drive. The problem is that I can't see how to import all my mail
> accounts and mail history back into Windows Mail which will have been
> reloaded from new.
>
> Can someone please tell me how to do this?
>
> Thanks very much

A full read here should put you right:
http://www.oehelp.com/backup.aspx

--
Regards Steve.
MS-MVP : Mail.
[DTS] UK.

Open Wndows Mail
Click on "File", choose Import from the context menu, select Messages
for example,
select the line Microsoft Windows Mail (or whatever you need), click
next,
browse to your backup folder and select it.
The wizard will help you through the remaining steps.


--
raymundka

Thank you both for your quick replies. They look very useful.

I have a supplementary question. I've just bought a Vista portable. Can I
access the same mail accounts on that and then synchronise the mailboxes
with my desktop Vista machine when I get home? It would be bvery useful to
have up-to-date mail history always with me.

How do I identify the files? If I can't synchronise them, can I copy them
across from time to time manually?

"m1234" <m1234@free.fr> wrote in message
news:71C580FF-8C1D-4EB3-88FE-6FAA9AF7EF40@microsoft.com...
> Thank you both for your quick replies. They look very useful.
>
> I have a supplementary question. I've just bought a Vista portable. Can
> I access the same mail accounts on that and then synchronise the mailboxes
> with my desktop Vista machine when I get home? It would be bvery useful
> to have up-to-date mail history always with me.
>
> How do I identify the files? If I can't synchronise them, can I copy them
> across from time to time manually?

No sync is possible using WM.

For received mail you need to set both machines to leave a copy of each
message on the server, set one of them to delete from the server after a
reasonable number of days, to avoid your server mailbox from over filling
Tools>accounts>select your account>properties>advanced tab.

Sent items is a different matter, you could cc yourself with each message
that you send from each machine, move to sent folder or delete the
duplicates that this will generate.

HTH?

--
Regards Steve.
MS-MVP : Mail.
[DTS] UK.

Common POP accounts don't sync.
With WM you can only sync if you use an IMAP account.
Free IMAP accounts are available from AOL and Gmail.

WLM will sync Hotmail/MSN/Live.com accounts as well as IMAP.
http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview
--
Gary VanderMolen, MS-MVP (WLMail)


"m1234" <m1234@free.fr> wrote in message news:71C580FF-8C1D-4EB3-88FE-6FAA9AF7EF40@microsoft.com...
> Thank you both for your quick replies. They look very useful.
>
> I have a supplementary question. I've just bought a Vista portable. Can I access the same mail accounts on that and then
> synchronise the mailboxes with my desktop Vista machine when I get home? It would be bvery useful to have up-to-date mail
> history always with me.
>
> How do I identify the files? If I can't synchronise them, can I copy them across from time to time manually?