Recover Deleted Contacts From Outlook Express – Manual Method
“Being a regular user of MS Outlook Express utility I relay on it for managing my data which includes Contacts, emails and other related data. But for last some days my Outlook Express was started functioning abruptly. Due to this I discarded the application carelessly, however when I started the application today. It wouldn’t start up, somehow I manage to open it. I find out that all my contacts which I had saved since so long have gone missing. I checked the deleted folder but it only contains mail that has been deleted and not the contacts. I need to restore those contacts as they are very important, Can someone help me how to recover deleted contacts from Outlook Express DBX file?”
Path to Recover Deleted Contacts from Outlook Express
It is a free email client which comes distributed with Internet explorer 6. It uses DBX files to store its data such as Emails, notes, contacts etc. This utility provides user the ability to check for emails using both IMAP and POP connection type. However like other email clients some times contacts from Outlook Express get lost due to numerous reasons. But Outlook Express lost contacts can be recovered manually which is an advantage of this utility.
What happens if contacts gets deleted in Outlook Express?
Whenever contact in DBX file were lost or deleted, they usually gets moved to the Deleted Items Folder i.e Recycle Bin; this is the folder which gives a chance to restore deleted contacts. But if contacts were deleted long before or deleted using “Shift + Del” key combination then they cannot be found in Deleted Items Folder. In such situation the question arises is there any way to restore lost contacts? What can be the alternate solution to recover deleted contacts from Outlook Express?
How to Recover Deleted Contacts From Outlook Express DBX file
Manual method easy way to recover deleted DBX file Address Book. If you backed up your Outlook Express address book (WAB) then lost contacts can easily be recovered manually. Because the contacts in Outlook Express stored locally in a (.wab) Windows Address Book.
Steps to Recover Outlook Express Address Book Manually
1. I First Enabled “show Hidden files and folders”.
2. Open Windows Explorer to C: \Documents and Settings folder.
3. Then Using CRTL+F open a search window.
4. Now in the top most Search Box, I typed (.wab) and press search option.
5. Here I found number of files with a WAB extension (e.g Name.wab~ ; Contacts.wab~)
6. I took a copy of the contacts folder and placed it on the desktop. I renamed this folder to Contacts1.wab and open it by double click to check whether it contain deleted or missing contacts.
7. Now I opened Outlook Express and select Tool then moved to Address Book(WAB) from the address book menu.
8. Here I clicked the backup copy of the Address Book of Outlook Express.
9. Finally clicked on Open and then click Ok.
Save Outlook Express Missing Contacts to Avoid Deletion in Future
These types of circumstances could be arise again. To over come these issues Outlook Express Contacts can be saved against future deletion in a format which protects them from further corruptions. To do this DBX file Address book can be saved in PST format so that they can be accessed using Outlook. To save contacts from DBX format into PST format I used a third party utility which stores all my data of DBX file into PST including contacts.
Some features of Third Party Utility
1. It export DBX file data into PST in Batch.
2. It quickly scan DBX file and show individual result of all.
3. Auto detects DBX file folder storage location.
Conclusion
In The above discussion we discuss how to recover deleted contacts from Outlook Express. The paths that can be used to restore Address Book and then we discuss what if the contacts are permanently deleted and how following the manual steps DBX file Address Book can be recovered. At last we discussed a third party utility “DBX to PST Converter” to save the Outlook Express Data into PST format against future deletion with its highlighted features.