Transfer email account from Windows Mail Vista to Windows Live Mail on Windows 7

Windows Mail was the default email client on the Vista operating system. It replaced Outlook Express whose further development and support was stopped by Microsoft. Very soon Windows Mail itself was shelved and the company started to promote a new email program, Windows Live Mail. On this page, I will be providing instructions on how to transfer an email account from Windows Mail Vista to Windows Live Mail, the default email program on Windows 7.

An email program can only be used to send and receive email once an account has been setup in it. This can be done in two ways. You can either configure the email account manually when you know (and remember) the username, password, incoming and outgoing email server settings. Or, if you are already using this email address on Windows Mail Vista, you can simply transfer the email account settings using the import-export functions.

Import and Export to transfer email account from Windows Mail to Windows Live Mail

The email account settings (username, password, incoming and outgoing server information) can be exported from Windows Mail (on Vista) to a file which can then be moved and imported in Windows Live Mail on Windows 7. The instructions for this simple process are below with accompanying screenshots in a slideshow.

• Start Windows Mail on your Vista computer and click "Accounts" from the "Tools" menu - [Slide 1].
• You shall now see the "Internet Accounts" pop-up window. There can be more than one email accounts configured in the Windows Mail email client. But they can only be exported one by one - [Slide 2].
• Select the email account you want to transfer and then hit the "Export" button. The settings of the email account will be stored in .iaf file format - [Slide 3].
• Move to the folder to which you want to save the .iaf file and enter a file name - [Slide 4].
• As I mentioned before, if you have many email accounts, you should export them one by one in separate .iaf files - [Slide 5].
• Transfer the email account information (.iaf) file from the Vista computer to the Windows 7 machine with a Flash drive or simply email these small files to yourself - [Slide 6].
• Open Windows Live Mail program on your Windows 7 computer. Select "Accounts" from the "Tools" menu - [Slide 7]. Important: You may need to unhide the Windows Live Mail toolbar to get these options in the top menu.
• There probably won't be any email accounts configured in the Windows Live Mail installation. To get the Vista email account settings, hit the "Import" button - [Slide 8].
• Browse to the folder in which you copied the .iaf file - [Slide 9].
• Select the file and click the "Open" button - [Slide 10].
• The email account settings will be imported to the Windows Live Mail program on Windows 7 - [Slide 11].
• If you have many .iaf files (several email accounts), you have to transfer (import) them one by one.

Remember to delete the .iaf files once your work is done. Why? Because they contain important login details (username and password) of your email accounts. Needless to say, that this information should be kept secure.