Home : Tutorials : Finding Important Files & Folders : Finding Microsoft Outlook Express .DBX mail files

This is how to browse to your mail files.  Using Windows search you can search for *.dbx to find all your mail files as an alternative.

 

• Click on the Start button.

• Left-click on Run...

• Type cmd in the Run box.

• Take note of 2 things.  1) D:\ is the drive letter where my profile is located.  2) Administrator is the profile I am currently using.  The drive letter or username are probably different for you.  You need the correct directory information from your computer to find the data contained in your profile.
• Write it down & type exit.   Press the Enter key.
• Go back & left-click on the Start button & left-click on Run...
• Type the drive letter you found earlier.  I would type d:\ to open a new window. (Shown below)

• Double left-click on Documents and Settings .

• Double left-click on the username you found earlier.  In my case Administrator .

• Double-click on Local Settings.

• Double-click on Application Data. (Folder is hidden by default.)

• Double-click on Identities. (Folder is hidden by default.)

• Double-click on the folder that looks identical to the folder shown here.  Each folder is a separate Identity in Outlook Express.  If you have multiple Identities you will have more than one folder listed.  Identities are a feature of Outlook Express.  They are different than having multiple email addresses.

• Double-click on Microsoft.

• Double-click on Outlook Express.

• Each of these files represent a folder I created in Outlook Express.  Type Ctrl-A to Select All.  Copy or drag these files to your backup program or backup location.