Transfer WLM messages to Outlook - Win 7

[Tom Brown]

I saw a similar thread submitted by Christine Nester but didn't think I
should hijack it.

I currently have WLM on a new Win 7 machine and would like to give Outlook a
try. For years I avoided Outlook because it took so long to open and it
just seemed clunky compared to OE. I now have a more powerful computer and
am going to give it a try because I miss the old OE format and hope Outlook
will satisfy me.

Can anyone tell me the most efficient way to transfer emails, contacts,
storage folders and account settings to Outlook?

I can install either Outlook 2003 or 2007 so I would appreciate any
recommendations. I mainly plan to just use the email and calendar functions
of Outlook.

Thanks in advance,

Tom

 

[Tom Brown]

I forgot to mention that I am using POP3 and keep my messages on my local
box.

Tom

 

[LD55ZRA]

My experience seems to suggest that as soon as you start to install Outlook
(2003 or 2007), it will see that you already have WLM or OE and ask you
whether you want to import settings and messages from that account. You
should answer Yes and everything will be taken care of.

Your old settings and messages in WLM or OE will remain intact and nothing
will be deleted or changed except that Outlook will become your default
email program.

hth

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Both Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2007 are fully compatible with Windows 7 when
you install their latest Service Packs and additional updates (non patched
versions will have issues).

To migrate to Outlook, first configure you account manually in Outlook; do
not use any of the import options if offered. How to get you data across
depends on whether or not you have already copied the data of the old
computer onto the new one. For details on how to migrate everything over
see;
http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/migratefromoewlm.htm

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]]

am going to give it a try because I miss the old OE format and hope Outlook
will satisfy me.

If you're looking for an Outlook Express look-and-feel, then WLM is much
closer to that than Outlook will ever be.

 

[Tom Brown]

Thanks Robert.

I'll take a look at that web site but at the moment, I have both WLM and
Outlook 2007 running on the same machine and all my messages are on one hard
disk so importing the messages should not be a problem. Win 7 has a handy
feature where you can dock two windows side by side and a side by side
comparison is easy. I have opted to leave the messages on the server in the
Outlook setup so I can check them both and compare the 'look & feel" for a
while until I decided which one I like best.

It is interesting to see the differences in how the Junk and Spam filter
works. I can download the same messages almost simultaneously and it's
interesting to see which ones disappear (until I find them in the Junk or
Spam folders). I actually prefer the "look" of Outlook/OE to the washed out
definitions of WLM. When WLM first came out, a lot of people griped about
that but I guess forces more powerful than the Beta Testers prevailed.

Tom

 

[Tom Brown]

Well, in some ways but in others (look & feel), I find Outlook very
familiar. Sure, it has a lot of extra features but overall, it feels a lot
like OE to me ... with more features. I have already briefly commented on
this in another reply but both share similar territory.

I think of WLM as a hybrid between Outlook and OE. I just object to the
thin, lightweight look of WLM. There are a few other nagging things that
sometimes bug me about WLM. I do like the Quick views Unread E-mail which
looks like it was borrowed from Outlooks Favorites. Also, I am not totally
comfortable with the Storage Folders concept in WLM. Outlook seems to allow
folder management similar to OE.

I'm running both right now and eventually, I'll settle on which one works
best for me.

Tom

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]]

I think of WLM as a hybrid between Outlook and OE. I just object to the
thin, lightweight look of WLM.

I, too, find the readability of WLM to be lacking. I wonder whose idea it was
to make the message list so low contrast.

 

[Tom Brown]

I have noticed that is generally the look of Vista and Win 7 and not just
WLM. I do hope they had a really good reason for doing it instead of fixing
something that wasn't broken. I still prefer Office 97 and Office 2003 to
either of the two "improvements" in 2007 and 2010. But then I also liked
WP5 so what do I know?

Tom