DBXanalyzer

DBXanalyzer^TM reads, analyses and manages email data files created by Microsoft Outlook Express 5 and 6.

Introduction

Do you want a way to manage and read the DBX files created by Microsoft Outlook Express?
Is your Inbox becoming too large?
Do you want to access old emails from another system or from your backups?

DBXanalyzer from DI Management Services allows you to read, analyse and export your emails from any DBX file created by Microsoft Outlook Express versions 5 and 6.

DBXanalyzer example screen

The DBX file does not have to be a current one - it can be an archived copy from your backup, or one from a different computer. DBXanalyzer does not replace your Outlook Express (OE) email client, nor does it alter or change your existing DBX files; rather it enables you to backup, manage and restore the emails in its message store. If you don't know what a DBX file is or how OE stores your emails, read on...

Just released New Improved Upgrade: New release Version 1.9.2 on 25 February 2008. See New Features below for more details.

API available: A separate Application Programming Interface (API) is available as a companion to DBXanalyzer. The API allows you to query and extract data from Microsoft Outlook Express DBX files using most programming languages including Visual Basic 6, VBA (i.e. from Excel and Word documents and Access databases), C/C++, C#, VB.NET and ASP/VBScript programs. For more details, see DBX analyzer API.

Testimonials

I like the straight forwardness and no frills approach of your program. No IT support person should be without it. It is also great for backup purposes because one can just copy the dbx files to any other location and access them later via your prg. Good stuff :-)
- Thinus.

What a fantastic piece of software dbxanalyzer is. I used it today to retrieve an old password from an e-mail buried in a ghost backup of a destroyed hard drive. Windows outlook express was useless for the task. Again, Fantastic.
- Dave.

I recently licensed DbxAnalyzer and I'm delighted with it. I have several gigabytes of email in Outlook Express 6 (built up over 10 years) and it is the first program or export / import mechanism not to hang when trying to extract the data.
- Ian.

I receive a lot of email and keep them backed-up to CDs. This program makes it much easier for me to search for emails from a particular sender or a certain subject.
- Joe.

Saved my email sole !
- Roly.

I wish to express my gratitude for the fine piece of software you made. DBXanalyser saved me lots of time since the day I bought it.
- Jean.

Fantastic, you saved me so much time moving from a broken machine
- Ian.

I used the trial for only a few minutes and found this product to be exactly what I wanted. Thank you!
- F.C.

Hot puppies !!!! It WORKS !!! I got my mail back !!!!
- Justine

Features

Lists all emails stored in the DBX file.
Sort by subject, sender, time received, time sent, email account, size, and message ID.
View the message source of individual emails.
Export individual emails to EML or TXT files.
'Export All' function with a unique name for each file.
Analyse each email with MIMEanalyze^TM and detach attachments to their original files, even attachments within attachments. See MIMEanalyze below.

New Features introduced 2005-8 (Versions 1.5 to 1.9.2)

Ability to remove or separate attachments added in version 1.9
New help file added in version 1.9.2 for compatibility with Windows Vista
DBXcmd Command-line utility now included (new in Version 1.7 - see DBXcmd.exe).
Option to search for messages in multiple DBX files (improved in version 1.8 - see Find In Files).
Open email messages directly with your default email client.
Create a list of message details in CSV format which can be read by Excel or a database application.
Added option to prepend date and time before output filename
Search for text inside email messages.
Open attachments in MIMEanalyze with their native application: HTML files with your browser, Word docs with MS Word, PDF files with Adobe Acrobat, and so forth.
Added extra columns with sender and recipient email addresses.
Improved error handling
Improved installation program (thanks to Nullsoft)
Fixed problems with long filenames

Thanks to Ronn Andreasen, Inseo Park and Mike DeAngelo for their helpful suggestions.

DBXanalyzer has a small footprint (under 100kB for DBXanalyzer and MIMEanalyze combined). It works on all 32-bit Windows platforms 95/98/Me/NT4/2K/XP/2003/Vista. You do not even need to have OE installed to use it.

DBXanalyzer is a shareware product. Download and use the trial shareware version now or buy a licensed version. The unlicensed shareware version has irritating nag screens and other restrictions. The licensed version does not. Licensed users are entitled to free upgrades for the life of the product (regardless of its current price) and email support.

MIMEanalyze

Use the Analyze option to see the structure of an email message, including attachments. Use the Detach option to create a file copy of the attachment. Use View to see the raw data as stored in the email text (graphics and binary attachments will display in the raw base64-encoded format). Use Open with App to open the attachment with the default application on your system.

MIMEanalyze shows the structure of an email message

MIMEanalyze classifies the following MIME part types:-

	Attached email (EML) message
	Attachment
	Text
	Binary
	Video
	Audio
	HTML
	Richtext (RFC 1341)
	Image
	Secure (PKCS) part
	Headers
	Encapsulated body part
	MIME preamble and epilogue

DBXcmd command-line utility

DBXanalyzer is now shipped with DBXcmd, a command-line utility that can be called from the command line (aka the MS-DOS prompt) or from a batch file. You can use DBXcmd to create a list of messages in your specified DBX file in a variety of formats, including CSV format, or you can export the messages as a set of EML (TXT) files with unique filenames.

DBXcmd command-line utility

For more details and examples, see DBXcmd command-line utility.

Summary of Our DBX Programs

Program	Description	Included in DBXanalyzer download
DBXanalyzer	GUI-based program	Yes
DBXcmd	Command-line program (more details)	Yes
DBXazapi	Programmer's API (more details)	No
MIMEanalyze	GUI-based program called with Analyze option in DBXanalyzer	Yes

Help

View the DBXanalyzer help file (zipped, 44 kB).

Techniques

This section describes useful techniques for using DBXanalyzer in question and answer format. 'OE' means Microsoft Outlook Express.

How does OE store my emails?
What is a DBX file?
What is an EML file?
How can I organise and analyse my ever-expanding OE 'Inbox' and 'Sent Items' folders?
How can I retrieve emails from backups of my email data folder?
How can I copy an email from an archived DBX file into my current OE folders?
Where is my OE message store? Can I change it?
Can I export several files at once?
What is the difference between 'Export' and 'Export All'?
Can I export all my email files at once?
How do I get a copy of an attachment in an email?
Can I use it in a batch file or with the Windows scheduler?
Can I search in several DBX files at once?
Why do I get 'No messages found' or 'Unexpected type byte [c6]' errors?
Any known issues?

Question: How does OE store my emails?

Answer: OE stores your emails in a proprietary database format called DBX. Each folder in 'Local Folders' has a corresponding file called Inbox.dbx, Sent Items.dbx, and so on. If you create your own folder called, say, 'myfolder', then OE will create a file called myfolder.dbx. DBXanalyzer allows you to read these DBX files and extract the emails from them.

Question: What is a DBX file?

Answer: A DBX file is a proprietary database format in which OE stores the emails it has sent and received.

Question: What is an EML file?

Answer: An email message is always a simple ASCII text file. An .EML file is a Microsoft extension used to denote an email file; thus myemail.eml is an ASCII text file as received by your email client, and OE will open it by default. Even though it may appear that this is a proprietary file created by Microsoft Corporation, it is not. The file is still a simple ASCII text file that can be read by Notepad or any other text editor. It could equally well have a .TXT extension.

However, an email stored inside an OE DBX file is stored in a proprietary format. You can export EML files directly from OE by dragging-and-dropping the message onto the desktop. DBXanalyzer will allow you to read and decode these proprietary files. Use the Tools - Export or Tools - Export All options to export individual emails as non-proprietary .EML or .TXT files.

Question: How can I organise and analyse my ever-expanding OE 'Inbox' and 'Sent Items' folders?

Answer:

Find the folder in which OE stores its message store (see 'Where is my OE message store?').
Move the file inbox.dbx or Sent Items.dbx to another directory. You may want to rename it, say, to inbox_01_2003_to_06_2003.dbx so you know what it contains.
The next time you start OE, it will create a new, empty inbox.dbx file.
Use DBXanalyzer to access and review the old emails in your archived DBX files.

Question: How can I retrieve emails from backups of my email data folder?

Answer:

Copy your old DBX files into a separate folder on your current machine.
Use DBXanalyzer to open the DBX file and view or export the email messages you want to retrieve. Use the Find function to search for files you want.

Question: How can I copy an email from an archived DBX file into my current OE folders?

Answer:

Use DBXanalyzer to open the archived DBX file.
Select the important emails and use the Export or Export All option to create .EML files from the emails. It's simpler if you export these to a new folder.
Open OE, re-size the window so you can see both the OE window and the directory that contains the exported EML file in Windows Explorer.
'Drag and Drop' the EML files into the OE folder (say, Inbox). This will add the emails to the current OE database.

If you double-click on the EML file in Windows Explorer, it should open anyway in OE.

Question: Where is my OE message store?

Answer:

Open OE, choose menu options Tools - Options.
Select the Maintenance tab.
Click Store Folder to change the location of your message store.
The details are displayed in 'Your personal message store is located in the following folder'.

This folder will contain all your current DBX files. By default* it is usually something simple like

C:\Documents and Settings\myname\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{4733BCCD-0BAA-3FAF-B3C4-4E542A79DF7C}\Microsoft\Outlook Express

. If you select Cancel at this stage, there will be no change.

It is recommended that you change this to something more useful like C:\EmailData and then make sure you back up this folder frequently. Use DBXanalyzer to recover messages from your DBX backup files.

* Note: the default OE message store location is usually hidden unless you set Windows Explorer to show hidden folders. To do this:-

Open "My Computer" or "Windows Explorer" and select Tools and Folder Options...
Tab: View and check Show hidden files and folders
Click OK

Question: Can I export several files at once?

Answer: Yes. Hold down the Ctrl key while clicking on files in the list. This will select as many files as you want. Alternatively, hold down the Shift key and this will select all files between the previous selection and the current one. Use 'Export' or 'Export All' to export these files to non-proprietary EML files.

Question: What is the difference between 'Export' and 'Export All'?

Answer: 'Export' will ask you to confirm the filename for every file you export. 'Export All' will only ask you once; then it will just export all the remaining files you have selected to the same directory using the default unique name. Export to an empty folder to ensure no existing files are over-written.

Question: Can I export all my email files at once?

Answer: Yes. Select Tools - Select All or press Ctrl-A and then Tools - Export or Tools - Export All. (Hint: 'Export All' is simpler.) This will export all the messages as individual non-proprietary EML text files. DBXanalyzer will assign a name to each file that is unique for the set of messages that are being exported at one time. If you export all the messages to a new, empty directory, you are guaranteed that all the files will have a unique name. This does not happen with OE.

Question: How do I get a copy of an attachment in an email?

Answer: Select the message in the DBXanalyzer list and choose Tools - Analyze (or right-click on the message and select Analyze). This will open the file in our MIMEanalyze program. MIMEanalyze displays all the separate parts of the MIME file. Attachments are shown in bold. Select the attachment you wish to detach, right-click and select Detach.

Question: Can I use it in a batch file or with the Windows scheduler??

Answer: Use the command-line utility DBXcmd (new in Version 1.7). DBXcmd is a separate program called via the command line (i.e. in MS-DOS mode). You can create a list of messages in a variety of formats or export the messages in EML (TXT) format to a target directory. You can call the utility from a batch file or have the Windows Scheduler run the batch file every night, for example, to backup certain messages from your DBX files. For more details and examples see DBXcmd command-line utility.

Question: Can I search in several DBX files at once?

Answer: Yes. Use the Find in Files option in DBXanalyzer. This option (now improved in version 1.8) allows you to search all DBX files in a given folder.

Use the `Find in files' option to search multiple DBX files

See the help manual for more details.

Question: Why do I get 'No messages found' or 'Unexpected type byte [c6]' errors?

Answer: There are some DBX files that don't contain emails. Examples include Folders.dbx, Pop3uidl.dbx, and Offline.dbx. These are OE's own indexing files. Because there are no email messages in them DBXanalyzer can't read them and will give errors like

No messages found
Does not contain email messages
(Unexpected type byte [c6])
(Unexpected type byte [c7])

Your emails should be in files named like Inbox.dbx and Sent Items.dbx.

Question: Any known issues?

Answer:

DBXanalyzer is not currently designed to work with non-US-ASCII text data. Sorry CJK and Unicode guys. Maybe in a later version.
Attempting to read large DBX files (~1-2 GB) will cause the program to quit silently. OE will fail, too, so don't let your DBX files get too large.

Download

Download the Trial Shareware version 1.9.2 as a zipped install file (253 KB). Unzip the file and double-click on Setup.exe to install. Alternatively, download or install directly using the install EXE file (269 KB). You need administrator privileges to install the program. However, once installed, a user with any privileges may use the program. Please read the shareware licence conditions before installing. The Trial Shareware version allows you to use the program for ten days.

If you find the program useful, or if it saves your day by recovering that important missing email or attachment, please support development costs by purchasing a licensed version.

Purchase

The Licensed Version of DBXanalyzer does not have any 'nag' screens or restricted menu options. Purchase a licensed version here. Licensed users are entitled to free upgrades. Please read the full licence conditions before purchase and make sure the trial version does what you expect.

Licensed Users

Licensed users may download the latest copy here.

Background

DBXanalyzer^TM, MIMEanalyze^TM and DBXcmd^TM are Win32 programs written in ANSI/SDK C. The programs use only standard Win32 API calls that should be found on all Microsoft platforms with Internet Explorer 4 and above installed. These programs and the setup program have been tested on W2K, XP, NT4, W95 and W98 platforms.

The program was designed and written by David Ireland of DI Management Services Pty Ltd using Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0. We used Raihan Kibria's FRHED free hex editor to analyse sample DBX files and Ian David Mead's UltraEdit-32 Text Editor to read and analyse email files. The installation program was created using the brilliant Nullsoft Scriptable Install System. The executables were compressed using UPX, the Ultimate Packer for eXecutables. No reverse engineering was carried out on Microsoft Outlook Express or any other Microsoft executable to create this program. We have no connection whatsoever with Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

DBXanalyzer^TM was first published 5 August 2003 by DI Management Services Pty Ltd. The latest version is 1.9.2 released 25 February 2008.

References

We referred to the following documents when designing the DBXanalyzer program:

RFC 2821 Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, J. Klensin, April 2001
(Replaces the original SMTP specification RFC821 Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, Jonathan B. Postel, August 1982).
RFC 2822 Internet Message Format, P. Resnick, April 2001
(Replaces the original RFC822 Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages, David H. Crocker, August 1982).
RFC 2045 Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part One: Format of Internet Message Bodies, N. Freed and N. Borenstein, November 1996
RFC 2046 Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types, N. Freed and N. Borenstein, November 1996
RFC 2047 Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Three: Message Header Extensions for Non-ASCII Text, K. Moore, November 1996
RFC 2049 Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Five: Conformance Criteria and Examples, N. Freed and N. Borenstein, November 1996
RFC 2183 Communicating Presentation Information in Internet Messages: The Content-Disposition Header Field, R. Troost, S. Dorner, K. Moore, Ed., August 1997
Windows NT Win32 API SuperBible, Richard J Simon, Waite Group Press, 1997.
Windows Common Controls & Messages API Bible, Richard J Simon, Waite Group Press, 1996.
Programming Windows, Charles Petzold, 5th ed. Microsoft Press, 1999.
C Interfaces and Implementations, David R. Hanson, Addison-Wesley, 1997.

Contact us

Any comments, feedback, questions to our email or use our Contact Page.

This page last updated: 14 May 2008