Outlook Express is the e-mail client included with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4, 5, 6 and Microsoft Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP operating systems. Outlook Express is designed for home users who gain access to their e-mail messages. Built on open Internet standards, Outlook Express is designed for use with any Internet standard system, for example, SMTP, POP3, IMAPI, and NNTP. It provides full support for today's most important e-mail, news, and directory standards, and is very easy to use.

Outlook Express e-mail message store, along with the address book, usually resides in subfolders at the following paths:

C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Identities\
C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook Express\
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook Express\
C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book\

This is correct for Outlook Express 4.0, however to correctly determine the location for Outlook Express 5.0, 5.5 and 6.0 e-mail store, it is recommended to search through the registry. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Identities registry key contains ID subkeys which correspond to active identities. Under the each identity key there is a \Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0 subkey which holds the required Store Root string variable. To determine the location of the address book file, take a look at the following registry keys:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WAB\Wab File Name
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WAB\WAB4\Wab File Name

Outlook Express e-mail data is usually comprised of the following items:

E-mail and news (.dbx) folders for Outlook Express 5, 5.5, 6.

E-mail and news (.mbx, .idx, .nch) folders for Outlook Express 4.

Address book (.wab) file.