Outlook Express - Backing Up Rules
- From: "Registry Answers" <regtips@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Registry Answers" <regtips@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 12:10:59 -0500
Registry Answers will also include select reg related subjects from my
Wintips&Trips support group.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WinTips-Tricks/ Today a question relating to
Mail Rules in Outlook Express.
Also, this is being sent in simple html formatting. Let me know if there is any
problem reading this or if you see any strange characters.
How to backup Mail Rules in Outlook Express.
Mail rules (as well as the blocked sender list) are stored in the registry,
mostly in non legible format (hex and binary values)
Backing them up is a simple matter of exporting the Rules\Mail key which you
will find here:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{your id number here}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook
Express\5.0\Rules\Mail
Select the Mail key, click File>Export and then choose a name for the file and
save it with a reg extension to a safe place on your hard drive.
This file can then be used to restore your Rules at any time needed (ie after a
loss, or format-reinstall) by simply double clicking it to import the data
back into the registry.
To backup the Blocked Senders list, do the same, but at this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{id number}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook
Express\5.0\Block Senders
Of course, you can also backup any other OE keys you'd like to save (ie your
Signatures)
Notes:
- the above key location applies to Outlook Express 5 to 6. If you are using
the old OE 4, the Rules key is here:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\Mail\Inbox Rules
- the id number is in a 32 byte hexadecimal format such as:
{EA2D2ECD-DE7A-48F0-8E65-E94368CA3726}
- if you have more than one user profile set up, you will have more than one
"id number" under the Identies key. To
find out which one belongs to which user, simply select it and look in the
right hand pane to see the value for UserName.
- each rule you form has it's own Rules\Mail subkey named 000, 001, 002, and so
on. ie:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{id number}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook
Express\5.0\Rules\Mail\000\
Secret: though I said most of the Rules data is not in legible format, this
doesn't mean you can't find out what some of that data translates to.
Specifically, under the specific Rule folder (000, 001, etc) you will see a
subkey named Criteria with another subkey named the same as the Rule key (000,
001, etc)
Example:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities\{id number}\Software\Microsoft\Outlook
Express\5.0\Rules\Mail\000\Criteria\000
In the right hand pane for the 000 key, you will see a value named "Value"
This value is in hexadecimal format but if you convert the hex to decimal,
you can see what the hex characters translate to in "plain english" And what
they translate to is the criteria set for the particular rule - ie the Rule
Description you set. And to see this information requires no outside hex
converter or any math. Simply double click "Value" and in the right hand side
of the binary-hex data, you will see the legible translation.
vic
Accessing the registry - unless otherwise stated, click Start>Run, type
regedit, and click ok.
Better yet, create a desktop shortcut to regedit.exe which you will find it in
your Windows directory
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