Outlook Express Backup Wizard

Restoring Multiple Identities

What are identities?

Identities are Outlook Express user profiles. By default, your Outlook Express contains only one identity, called 'Main Identity', but you can create any number of additional identities.

For example, let's say you share a computer with your friend. You can create two separate identities and receive mail into two separate mail boxes. You can create new email folders, add new accounts, create any rules and signatures in your identity, but these changes will not affect your friend's settings.

Outlook Express Backup Wizard can store multiple identities in one backup file and allows you to choose which identities you want to back up or restore.

Why are some of the backed-up identities marked as 'click here to select'?

This happens when the wizard cannot automatically choose identities to restore to. Identities contained in the backup file can be restored only to EXISTING Outlook Express identities. When restoring multiple identities, the wizard tries to choose target identities automatically, based on their names. For example, if your backup file contains an identity named 'Bob' and your Outlook Express contains an identity with the same name, the wizard will automatically choose 'Bob' as the target identity. If the wizard cannot choose the target identities automatically, it leaves them blank and marks them as 'click here to select'.

What should I choose instead of 'click here to select'?

For each identity marked as 'click here to select', you must choose a corresponding target identity to restore the Outlook Express data to. The target identities are selected from the list of existing Outlook Express identities. You can choose any existing identity to restore to. When restoring Outlook Express data, the wizard replaces the data of the target identity with the data from the backed-up identity. Warning: If your Outlook Express identity contains important data, do not select it as the target identity, but create a new empty identity instead.

How can I create a new Outlook Express identity?

To create a new identity:

1. Close the wizard.
2. Run Outlook Express.
3. Choose File > Identities from the menu and then click Add New Identity.
4. Enter the name of the identity. For example, if you want to restore the identity named Nicole, give the new identity the same name (Nicole).
5. When asked to switch to the new identity, click Yes. If you answer No, the address book may be restored incorrectly.
6. Repeat these steps to create the desired number of identities.

After creating all the identities, close Outlook Express and run the wizard again. When closing Outlook Express, don't log off your current identity. Instead, use the File > Exit menu command.

I've created new identities, but I can't see them in the list. What's wrong?

This may happen if you did not close the wizard before creating new identities. To make the new identities appear in the list of target identities, close the wizard and run it again.

Why can't the wizard create Outlook Express identities for me?

The wizard cannot automatically create Outlook Express identities due to a technical limitation of Outlook Express. You should create identities manually. See the instructions above.

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