# Solved: Opening DBX files without Outlook Express



## kafkaesque (Sep 1, 2011)

A few weeks ago, I sensed my hard drive was going to fail, so I copied folders from Outlook Express onto a thumb drive. Then my hard drive failed.

I realize now that I won't be using OE for my mail in the future. I did a google search, and too many of the sites I found had downloads that looked a little fishy. Is there a way for me to read these messages? (An easy way.)

Thanks, Ellen in NYC


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## throoper (Jan 20, 2007)

Hi Ellen and welcome to TSG.

If you have the DBX files from the Message Store folder, you can use MailView to open and read them. DOWNLOAD HERE. And it's freeware. 
There's no installation involved as it's a standalone program. Just put it in a folder where you know where it is and make a shortcut to it.

It will read them right on the thumb drive.
If you want to be able to open the DBX with just a double click, associate the MailView.exe with DBX files.
Right click a DBX file and click Open With on the menu.
In the Open With dialog, browse to and select the MailView.exe, check the box next to "Always use the selected program to open this file type" and then click OK.

It will also allow you to save selected messages as EML files that can be used by other mail programs.

T.


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## kafkaesque (Sep 1, 2011)

Thank you, throoper.

I appreciate your response (in language I could understand.) 

Ellen in NYC


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