I have tried backing up email folders and my address book to CD but without success. Having saved the hierarchy of folders under C:/DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS/(USER)/APPLICATION DATA/IDENTITIES/{1234….}/ETC I cannot resurrect any mail from the CD. I have also tried saving the address book but when I try to import it a message appears saying the book is locked. When attempting to export the address book, the exported copy has no contents. How can I copy my email and address book and retrieve them for later use (eg. after reformatting the hard disk)? I use Windows 2000 and Outlook Express.

You should be able to recover your email if you have backed up the Outlook Express mail storage files. Open Windows Explorer and go to the C:/DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS/(USER)/APPLICATION DATA/IDENTITIES/{1234….}/MICROSOFT/OUTLOOK EXPRESS folder. Copy the backed up mail files from your CD into this directory (eg. Inbox, Outbox, etc…). Now, rename the ‘Folders.*’ (the extension may vary depending on your version of Outlook Express) to something like ‘Foldersold.*’ (in case you need to restore it if this procedure doesn’t work). You need to do this so that Outlook Express can recreate the Folders file which should recognise your mail store files. Also, right-click on your mail store files that you have copied from the CD, and click ‘Properties’. You will have to uncheck the ‘Read only’ attribute. Please let me know if this procedure works for you. Regarding the error message that your Outlook Express address book is locked, this problem can occur if you exported the Address Book from a version of Outlook Express that is older than the version which you are using to import the address book. To fix this problem, upgrade to the version of Outlook Express which you previously used to access the address book.