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b- Thank you for the reply. Now I know that the lack of any files in the folder created by the above referenced Microsoft instructions is not due to a problem with my computer.

According to those instructions, “Certain account types connected to the Mail, Calendar, and People applications only save data locally. When you move to new Outlook, that data can be left behind (emphasis added) unless you take specific actions to bring your data with you. This article shows you how to save data from the Mail, Calendar, and People applications and use it in new Outlook or any other email client (emphasis added).”

In view of the fact that Microsoft has locked me out of the Mail, Calendar, and People apps, the exporting of my data should be easy and work flawlessly. Obviously, that is not the case.

I followed Microsoft’s instructions (see link in my January 26 post above) for exporting my emails, calendar, and contacts from the Mail and Calendar app on my Windows 10 machine. A contacts.csv file was created that contains my contacts and a folder was created that should, according to the instructions, contain .eml files for my emails and an .ics file for my calendar events. However, the folder is empty. (Just in case the missing files were hidden files I checked the “hidden items” box in File Explorer.)

Any thoughts about these missing files?

Has anyone migrated from the Mail/Contacts/People app to the “New” Outlook by following Microsoft’s instructions referenced in my post above?

The same thing happened today to the Edge browser folder icons on my Windows 10 machine. Edge also updated today to version 131.0.2903.112. Maybe this update caused the icon change.

Thank you very much for clearing up my confusion about these issues.

Peter Deegan wrote:

It’s possible you already have a Microsoft account.

Just to follow up: I don’t think I have a Microsoft account. When I click on Settings>Accounts>Your info, that page says “Local Account”. It also says “Use a Microsoft account to get all your stuff on all your devices. Sign in with a Microsoft account instead.”

Thank you again for all your help.

Thank you for the very helpful and detailed reply.

Peter Deegan wrote:

You can have a local Windows login then install Office. In other words, the two are separate things.

Just to confirm my understand: Even after I create a Microsoft account in order to purchase, download, and install Microsoft 365 or Office 2024, I could still use the current local Windows login on my laptop?

Peter Deegan wrote:

Is a Microsoft account a concern for you? If so, why?

My Windows 10 laptop is set up with a local account. I have resisted switching to a Microsoft account because (a) I do not really understand what it means to have a Microsoft account, and (b) because of this lack of understanding I am wary of possible negatives of having a Microsoft account.

1. Will Microsoft use a Microsoft account as a tool to gather information about me?
2. Does the requirement to have a Microsoft account in order to use Microsoft 365 or Office 2024 mean that those programs would not be installed on my laptop but instead be in the “cloud”? (Software in the cloud is another concept I do not understand).

Is a Microsoft account required for Microsoft 365?

Paul T – I make monthly disk images with the free version of Macrium Reflect 7 but am not using any sort of disk monitoring software. Thanks for that idea.

Opening up the back of this laptop looks to be a bit tricky. I don’t think I will try opening it unless the disk or something else fails. The hard drive and most of the other components of my previous HP laptop were easily accessible without the use of any tools.

Drcard:)) – Thank you for the link and for confirming that I can set up new Outlook without syncing to the Microsoft Cloud. The new Outlook images presented in the article that you linked to are slightly different than the images that I am seeing when I click through the new Outlook setup pages, but I think that the procedure for avoiding the Microsoft sync function is the same.

New Outlook 1 below is an image of the page with the Advanced Setup button that I mentioned above (without my email address which the setup pages automatically filled in and I deleted).

New Outlook 2 below is an image of the page that is displayed after clicking the Advanced Setup button. Below the iCloud icon is a partially visible iCloud icon and below that icon is a POP icon which is not visible in this attached image. My email accounts are POP accounts. I have not yet clicked the POP button but presumably the setup procedure will be straightforward once I do.

Thanks again.

I just clicked the “Save Emails” button at the top of one of my email folders. The message that then popped up was “The messages in your currently selected folder will be saved to this location on your device” followed by a long address on the C: drive and two buttons, “Save” and “Cancel.”

Occasionally in the past I have used the “Save as” button to save individual emails. This seemingly new “Save Emails” button apparently enables a user to save all the emails in a particular folder, but I have not taken the final step, i. e. clicking on the “Save” button, to do so.

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b

In the attached screenshot the icon or button, which looks like an old floppy disk, is located immediately to the right of the two arrows that appear to be going in a circle. The button appears above every email folder. When a cursor is moved over it the words “Save Emails” appears.

I have not clicked the button because I have a hunch that doing so will install and/or start up the “New Outlook” which I do not want to do yet.

PL1 – Thank you very much for explaining how to “mount an image” that was previously created with Macrium Reflect and how to copy individual files from that mounted image. The free version of Macrium Reflect that I use does not have the file and folder backup feature of the paid versions. Consequently, I did not realize that individual files and folders could be accessed from an image and copied. To make sure I understood how to use this feature I deleted a picture from my C: drive, selected a Macrium disk image from the D: drive (an external portable drive) with File Explorer, copied from the Macrium created E: drive the picture that I had deleted from the C: drive, and pasted the picture back to the C: drive. When I was done I “unmounted” the E: drive.

Thanks again for explaining this very useful feature of Macrium Reflect.

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rizzquery, Lars220, PL1

PKCano wrote:

The nice thing about Macrium is that I can mount an image and recover any data (files or folders) I need to restore without having to restore the whole disk.

I use Macrium Reflect Free Edition version 7.3.6391 once a month before installing the Windows monthly updates to create a full disk image. Fortunately, I have never needed to restore an image, but as a consequence I am not very familiar with all of Macrium Reflect’s capabilities.

What do you mean by “mount an image”?

Re: KB5034441

On March 7, following my usual routine for obtaining updates on my Windows 10 Pro machine, I removed the pause from Windows Update (I did not click on “resume updates”). I did not use wushowhide or any other update blocking tools. On March 8 Windows Update downloaded and installed the February cumulative update KB5034763 and the .Net update KB5034685. KB5034441 was not offered.

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lmacri