Back Up or Copy your Outlook Express Address Book

There is little more important than your contacts in Outlook Express. Backing them up is always a good idea in case you ever decide to switch to a different e-mail client. You can do this in Outlook Express but it may involve editing your registry. Before you do anything to your registry, you should always back it up. If you do not and go mucking about with it and make a mistake, you could end up with a very expensive doorstop! So, before you follow the steps below, make sure that you back up your registry somewhere so that you can access it.

This pertains to Outlook Express and not MS Outlook which is a part of the MS Office Suite.

Having said that, follow the steps below:

1. Launch Outlook Express.
    
2. Click on Tools | Address Book.
    
3. Select Help | ABout Address Book from the Address Book's menu.
    
4. Highlight the path in the File: box, not including the file name.
    
5. If the complete string under File: is C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Application Data\Microsoft Address Book\user_name.wab, highlight everthing up to name, as above.
    
6. If your About Address Book does not show a File: box, select Run from the Start menu.
    
7. Type Regedit.
    
8. Click OK.
    
9. Go to HKEY_CURRENTUSER\Software\Microsoft\WAB\WAB4\File Name Highlight the path of the Default key as above.
    
10. Press CTRL + C.
     
11. Select Run from the Start menu.
     
12. Press CTRL + V.
     
13. Click OK.
     
14. Click on your address book file (the file name that you copied above) (it typically has your user name - with the right mouse button.
     
15. Select Copy from the context menu.
     
16. Open the folder where you want to put the back-up copy in Windows Explorer.
     
17. Select Edit | Paste from the menu.

You now have a backup copy of your Address Book!

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