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To back up all of your emails from Outlook Express (including all folders you may have created), carry out these very easy to follow instructions. But first, you need to make sure that you are showing any Hidden Files.

Open Windows Explorer and click on Tools, then Folder Options. Click on View and see that the appropriate box is ticked.

Press Apply, press OK and then expand the folders in Windows Explorer until you arrive at Outlook Express, as shown in the photo:

Right click on the Outlook Express folder and choose Copy.

Locate the place where you are going to save it to and Paste it into there.

Bear in mind that if you do this a second time, you will have a folder in the destination folder with the same name, and if you paste, it will overwrite the contents of the original one you saved. To avoid this, rename the original one first, perhaps using the date as an indication of when you saved it and also giving it a unique name.

Renaming it "OE040328" will tell you that you saved it on 28th March 2004. The date is written this way so that it always appears in chronological order.

Once any previous folders are renamed you can paste your current one and then rename it there and then in readiness for the next back up.

REMEMBER - If you ever return a saved folder back to its original location, you will overwrite any current emails/folders you may have in Outlook Express at that time, so think about it before you use a back up. They are there solely as a back up.

To use a back up folder I would first save the current folder which can always go back after you have finished using the information you wanted from the back up folder. Outlook Express must not be running when you transfer folders back to their original location.