Outlook Express is a free basic e-mail program that doesn’t allow you to manage your appointment and tasks. Outlook Express users often install the Office 2003 package without using the wizard to move all their Outlook Express content, thus arriving in Outlook 2003 automatically and painlessly. This article covers the basic steps for upgrading to Outlook 2003 while keeping your data intact.
Moving from Outlook Express to Outlook 2003
If you’ve been working with Outlook Express as your mail program for some time and finally decided to move to Outlook 2003 so that you can benefit from the Calendar, Tasks, and other features, you may be wondering how you can transfer your Outlook Express data to Outlook 2003 without losing any information. The Outlook 2003 Import and Export Wizard enables you to move all your Outlook Express data, including the mail account, all mailboxes, the address book, and rules into Outlook 2003, in a few easy steps.
Importing Internet Mail account settings
Outlook 2003 Importing wizard detects the Outlook Express data installed on the same PC. To migrate from Outlook Express to Outlook 2003, you first need to import your Internet Mail account settings:
- In Outlook 2003, choose File->Import and Export.
The Import and Export Wizard appears.
- Select Import Internet Mail Account Settings from the list box.
- Click Next and follow the wizard until the end.
The Internet settings are installed in your Outlook 2003.
TIP: Before importing your older mail to Outlook 2003, clean out all undesired mail from all your mail folders so that you can start a new application without junk mail.
Importing mail folders and other data
If you’ve been running Outlook Express for some time, you probably created mail folders, an address book, and maybe even some mail rules. Don’t worry. You can import all your data with the Import And Export Wizard. Follow these steps to import your mailboxes, address book, and mail rules:
- In Outlook 2003, choose File->Import And Export.
- Click Outlook.
The Import And Export Wizard appears.
- Select Import Internet Mail And Addresses from the list box and
click Next.
The Outlook Import tool moves to the next page (see Figure E-1).
- Select the Internet mail application you want to import from.
In this case, choose Outlook Express.
- Check the Import Mail check box to import all your e-mails.
- Check the Import Address Book check box to import your address
book.
- Check the Import Rules check box if you want to import your older
Outlook Express rules and click Next.
The Import Addresses page appears. If you’re already using the Outlook
contacts folder, you may have some duplicate addresses after you import from an external source.
- Select one of three options: Replace your duplicates with items you import, allow the duplicates to be created, or don’t import any duplicate items.
- Click Finish.
At the end of the import procedure, you’re running Outlook 2003 with all your previous Outlook Express data.
Changing your default mail system
Even though you’ve imported your Internet account settings and your date, your computer’s Internet Explorer settings still selects Outlook Express to create a new message. To change the default mail system from Outlook Express to Outlook 2003, follow these steps:
- In Internet Explorer, choose Tools->Internet Options.
The Internet Options dialog box appears.
- Click the Programs tab.
- Select Microsoft Outlook from the E-Mail list box.
- Select Microsoft Outlook from the Newsgroups list box.
- Click Apply and then OK.
Your Internet settings are now linked to Outlook 2003.