DBXanalyzer

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

Introduction | Testimonials | Features | New Features | Download | MIMEanalyze | DBXcmd | Summary | Techniques | Help | Support | Background | References | Contact Us

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.

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...

Testimonials

What users have to say about DBXanalyzer:

Features

• Lists all emails stored in any valid 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 non-proprietary EML or TXT files.
• 'Export All' function with a unique name for each file.
• Analyse each email with MIMEanalyze^TM and detach attachments from their original files, even attachments within attachments. See MIMEanalyze below.

New Features introduced 2005-9 (Versions 1.5 to 1.9.4)

• The executables in version 1.9.4 are digitally signed by our code authentication certificate.
• Largest individual message size increased from 16 MB to the size limit of DBX files (500MB?) in version 1.9.4
• New help file added in version 1.9.2 for compatibility with Windows Vista+
• Ability to remove or separate attachments added in version 1.9
• 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
• Extra options added to DBXcmd to export with unique names for backup.

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

DBXanalyzer has a small footprint (under 200kB for DBXanalyzer, DBXcmd and MIMEanalyze combined). It works on all 32-bit Windows platforms 95/98/Me/NT4/2K/XP/2003/Vista/W7/W8. You do not even need to have OE installed to use it.

New compilation for version 1.9.4

2009-12-28: All executables in version 1.9.4 have been re-compiled using MSVC++ 9.0 (VS2008) and tweaked using Cloanto's Legacy Extender so they will work on W9x systems. Earlier versions were all compiled using the good old faithful MSVC++5.0, which has served us well for 12 years or so, and which produced executables that ran without problems on any Win32 system from W95 through to the latest W7. The only reason we have "upgraded" to MSVC9 is because MSVC5 won't work on Vista and above and our main XP machine died (along with our W95 test machine - is there a hint here?).

Download

2014-05-31: The Licensed version of DBXanalyzer is now available for free. Download the zipped install file (367 KB). Unzip the file and double-click on Setup.exe to install.

Please read the licence conditions before installing. If you do not agree with these terms and conditions, DO NOT INSTALL OR USE THE SOFTWARE.

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 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.

Update 17 February 2009: We added an extra option to DBXcmd to enable you to export messages in a useful manner. See Using in a Batch File - Number 2.

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

Summary of Our DBX Programs

Help

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

Support

There is no support whatsoever for this free product. If it works for you, fine, please use it. If you have a problem, please read the help manual above or look at the questions and answers in techniques below.

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?
• Does it open Outlook PST files?
• 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:

1. Find the folder in which OE stores its message store (see 'Where is my OE message store?').
2. 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.
3. The next time you start OE, it will create a new, empty inbox.dbx file.
4. 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:

1. Copy your old DBX files into a separate folder on your current machine.
2. 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: 

1. Use DBXanalyzer to open the archived DBX file.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. '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:

1. Open OE, choose menu options Tools - Options.
2. Select the Maintenance tab.
3. Click Store Folder to change the location of your message store.
4. 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.

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.

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: Does DBXanalyzer open Outlook PST files?

Answer:

• No, DBXanalyzer is only for Outlook Express DBX files. Outlook (that's the one without the Express) uses a completely different format called PST. Try Pst Viewer Pro if you need to open .PST files.

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.

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 W98, XP, Vista and W7 platforms.

The program was designed and written by David Ireland of DI Management Services Pty Ltd using Microsoft Visual C++ 9.0 (VS2008). 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 1.9.4 released 28 December 2009.

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

If you have any comments, feedback or questions please send us a message.

This page last updated: 31 May 2014

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