Infopackets Reader 'George' writes:

" Dear Dennis,

I have Windows 98 installed on my machine. I have installed Internet Explorer 6.0 which also upgraded my Outlook Express to version 6.0. I still have some Outlook Express 5.5 emails that I would like to import to Outlook Express 6.0, but there is only a single option to import Outlook Express version 4.0 emails. How can I get my version 5.5 emails? By the way, I have learned many things from your newsletters -- thanks for that! "

My Response:

At first, I was under the impression that Outlook 5.5 emails were compatible with Outlook 6.0? Maybe not. Anyway, there is a workaround.

There's a cool free program that I bumped into just recently, called DBXTRACT. It takes Outlook Express version 5+ .DBX files (the email file folders) and converts them into Outlook Express version 4 compatible .EML files. First, locate the Outlook 5.5 .DBX files on your system (Start -> Find).

Note that your Outlook 6 files will most likely appear as well since they both use the same extension. You can differentiate the two versions by going to Outlook and clicking Tools -> Options -> Maintenance -> Store Folder tab and locating where the current email files are stored (these are version 6.)

Assuming that you've successfully located version 5.5 .DBX files, convert them using DBXTRACT; place the new files into a temporary folder. The next time you load Outlook Express, click File -> Import -> Emails and choose Outlook Express version 4 (load them from the temporary folder).

PS: For Windows XP users, the option to Import from Outlook 5.5 to 6.0 is done by selecting to "import Outlook Version 6.0" emails from the the import menu... there is no option to convert 5.5 emails.