Stump the PC Club is a free tech-advice column written by members of the North Orange County Computer Club, which has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s site at noccc.org. And don’t forget to stop by the Gadgetress’ home for the PC Club, at ocregister.com/link/pcclub, to find out how to ask a question and read past answers.
QUESTION: Is there an easy way to transfer all Eudora files from one PC to another? Both PC’s are running Windows XP.
PC CLUB: There are several important skills involved in managing your e-mail and one of the most important ones is relocating your e-mail files to a new PC.
Several e-mail programs have instructions on their Web site for doing this, including Eudora, a longtime free e-mail program. But sometimes finding the instructions requires a little searching. I’ll tackle two of the more popular programs for you: Eudora and Outlook Express.
Eudora e-mail
In Eudora’s case, the instructions are on its Web site at “How to move and back up files” (link: http://bit.ly/CBxqd). The instructions are for Windows XP but vary only slightly for Vista. For XP, data files are kept in the User’s Application Data folder, which is typically found here:
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Qualcomm\Eudora
The “username” is the User’s XP login name. For Windows Vista, the location is:
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Qualcomm\Eudora
The instructions are straightforward and easy to follow. Another useful skill to have is the ability to backup your e-mail in case you experience a mishap. For Eudora, you can backup the folders from their default location as discussed above to another device such as an external hard drive or flash drive.
Outlook Express
To move your e-mail archive in Outlook to a new PC or a second PC, you need to know where the archive is stored. For Outlook Express, the default e-mail folders are located here:
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities.
You can also find out where your messages are stored by opening Outlook Express and clicking Tools and then Options. Select the Maintenance tab and then click the Store Folder button. You won’t be able to see the entire location unless you click in the box and use the right-arrow key on your keyboard to reveal the entire path or location. Vista users will find their Windows Mail files located here:
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail\Local Folders
Before you do any of the tasks outlined here you will have to instruct Windows to show hidden files and folders. You can do this by opening My Computer, selecting Tools, Folder Options and selecting the View tab. Place a checkmark next to Display Hidden Files and Folders and click OK.
If you are switching from either Outlook or Outlook Express to Eudora, Eudora has an import feature that you can access from File, Import (see image on right).
For the reverse, Outlook Express users can click File, Import, Messages to import your Eudora messages — or messages from other competing e-mail programs. Depending on what you are trying to accomplish you can usually locate instructions by searching with Google or your favorite search engine. For example, searching Google for “switch from Eudora to outlook express” resulted in several helpful answers including the one at this link: http://bit.ly/8aTMi.
Web mail vs. PC mail
This brings me to another issue readers should consider: Traditional e-mail vs. Web mail.
One of the benefits of using Web mail rather than one of the mail programs mentioned above is that all of your e-mail messages, settings and attachments are stored online. For example, if you use Yahoo Mail or Gmail, you will never lose any messages if your PC should crash or get lost. In addition, you will never have to worry about moving everything to a new PC.
When using Outlook Express and upgrading a PC from XP to Vista, you must switch from Outlook Express to Windows Mail, which requires some effort if you want to retain all of your old messages. In the upcoming Windows 7, neither of Outlook Express nor Windows Mail will be supported. Your options will consist of changing to Windows Live Mail, Outlook (which is not free), another Internet Mail client or Web mail. You can read more about Web mail versus regular mail in a previous Stump the PC Club answer, “How to access one e-mail account from multiple PC’s.”
One last tip…
Don’t forget to keep your e-mail user IDs and passwords in a safe place. Since we all sign on automatically, it is easy to forget passwords. If you ever need to set up your e-mail account again, you’ll need your password or you’ll have to get assistance from your Internet provider. ~Ed Schwartz, NOCCC member. View his blog at www.edwardns.com/blog