Fig 1.0 Click on the SHOW MENU BAR menu-item to continue
| IMPORT CONTACTS AND E-MAIL FILES |
If you want to import a Contacts List (Address Book) from a .wab file, .vcf file or .csv file into Windows Live Mail this section will show you how. Even though the example given is for importing a .csv (Comma Separated Values) file it also applies to the .wab (Windows Address Book) file type and .vcf (Business Card) file type. On top of this you will also be shown how to import Outlook Express E-Mails from a previously saved Outlook Express folder. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, windows live mail does not have a working function to import .eml files, so you will have to drag this type of e-mail file into a windows live mail folder (i.e. into the INBOX) one by one or as a grouped selection.
Begin by clicking on the CONTACTS button of windows live mail, which is located in the bottom-left corner of its window, to bring up the Windows Live Contacts window (Fig 1.0). The CONTACTS button of windows live mail is not shown here because I assume you have read the previous sections or already know about the CONTACTS button.
When the Windows Live Contacts window appears (above) more than likely it will be displayed without its, classic, Menu Bar. If so, click on the MENUS drop-down menu and select its SHOW MENU BAR menu-item to display the classic Menu Bar.
With the classic Menu Bar now displayed (above) click on its FILE menu and then hover over the IMPORT sub-menu. From there, select the COMMA SEPARATED VALUES (.CSV) sub-menu menu-item to bring up the CSV Import window (below). This window allows you to browse for a Contacts List (Address Book) file in the .csv file format. So when the CSV Import window appears click on its BROWSE button to find a .csv file.
After clicking on the BROWSE button (Fig 1.2 above) the Open file requester will appear (Fig 1.3 above). You need to navigate it to a .csv file that
contains your Contacts List (Address Book entries). In this example I have navigated it to my DOCUMENTS folder, selected the Contacts.csv file (that I
exported from Windows Vista) and then clicked on the OPEN button to have that Contacts.csv file's path name put inside the BROWSE edit box (below). I
could of double clicked on the Contacts.csv file instead.
Clicking on the OPEN button, or double clicking on a .csv file, closes the Open file requester and then inserts that .csv file's path name (file location)
into the BROWSE edit box of the CSV Import window. When this happens click on the NEXT button of the CSV Import window to continue.
The next page of the CSV Import window allows you to select which fields/records (i.e. First Name, Last Name, Etc) to include in the import process, and more precisely which data/information to include. For example. If your address book (contacts list) contains First Name and Last Name entries (i.e. John White and Denise Oakdale) but no Middle Name entries you might want to untick the Middle Name field/record, simply because there is no need to import empty fields/records. So go through the listed (ticked) fields/records headings and untick the ones you do not want included in the import process.
When you have ticked and/or unticked your fields/records click on the FINISH button to finish your selection (Fig 1.5 above) and to automatically start the import process (Fig 1.6 above). The above procedure works exactly the same for .wab files (Windows Address Book) and .vcf files (Business Cards) - See the sub-menu menu-items in Fig 1.1 above.
One thing to note here is that it can take 2-4 Minutes to import over 100 Contacts, so if you do not see the green progress guage moving for a while just be patient!
| IMPORT OUTLOOK EXPRESS E-MAIL |
Before I show you how to import Outlook Express E-Mails you must first have the, classic, Menu Bar switched on (as shown in Fig 1.0 above) - Click on the MENUS drop-down menu and select its SHOW MENU BAR menu-item to display the classic Menu Bar.
With the, classic, Menu Bar switched on and displayed the next thing to do is click on the FILE menu. From there, hover over the IMPORT sub-menu and then select the MESSAGES sub-menu menu-item to bring up the Windows Live Mail Import window (Fig 2.2 below).
After clicking on the MESSAGES button (Fig 2.1 above) click on the NEXT button of the Windows Live Mail Import window. The PROGRAM option should be set
to MICROSOFT OUTLOOK EXPRESS 6 by default, but if it isn't simply select it before clicking on the NEXT button.
The next window to appear asks you to BROWSE for the location of your previously exported (saved) Outlook Express folder. In this example I have saved
it inside the DOCUMENTS folder under the name of Outlook Express. However. This folder does not have to be called Outlook Express. You could rename it
to Saved_OE_E-Mails for example before BROWSEing for it. Anyway! Click on the BROWSE button to bring up the Browse For Folder window.
Once you have located the folder of your previously saved Outlook Express e-mails, using the above Browse For Folder requester, click on the requester's OK button in order to have that folder's path name inserted into the BROWSE edit box.
Now you have located the folder containing the Outlook Express e-mails; The next thing to do is decide which of the original outlook express e-mail folders you would like to import into windows live mail. For example. You might only want to import the original INBOX folder and SENT ITEMS folder. In which case, on the next window you would select those two folders only before clicking on the NEXT button. In this example though I have left the default setting of ALL FOLDERS alone and just clicked on the NEXT button.
At this point your Outlook Express e-mails will be imported, from your previously saved Outlook Express folder into windows live mail. A green progress guage will briefly appear (not shown here.....because it went too fast for me to record it!) before you then need to click on the FINISH button.
After successfully importing your Outlook Express e-mails, windows live mail will create a special folder for them called: Imported Folder. In turn, this folder is stored inside the Windows Live Mail folder called: Storage Folders.
The layout of the Imported Folder is exactly the same layout used in Outlook Express - It has a Local Folders which in turn has an INBOX folder, an OUTBOX folder and so on. In this example I have the Welcome To Outlook Express 6 e-mail imported as well as three other, test, e-mails; one of which has not been opened yet and one that has an attachment, proving that the import was truly successful.
| DRAG EML E-MAIL FILES |
As said above; With .eml e-mail files you need to open the folder where they are stored (i.e. on a Flash Drive folder) and drag them into a windows live
mail folder (i.e. into the INBOX folder). Therefore you will need to have the two folders (windows) opened side-by-side. COPY & PASTE will not work.
At best, all you can do is highlight 10 .eml files at a time for example and drag them into the windows live mail folder.
An example has not been given here simply because the DRAG technique has been explained, in detail, in the
Copy & Paste section for example and throughout this website.
Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation. As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.
