Migrating Email & Contacts to Windows 8

A couple of my students have asked a similar question - re migrating messages and contacts from Windows Mail on an old Vista PC to a new W8 PC using W8 Mail (or perhaps something else?). If some of you would like to share your thoughts as to accomplishing this (in the least painful manner) that would be great.

Wendi

 

Hi Wendi,

I'm not familiar with W8, but I had Vista on an older PC and when I got my new W7 laptop I had a similar concern about migrating my Windows (Vista) Mail. After much research I concluded that the easiest (if not the best) solution was to use Windows Live Mail, which made importing Vista's Windows Mail (accounts, messages and contacts) pretty much automatic (albeit time-consuming)! So unless Windows 8 presents some kind of obstacle in using Windows Live Mail (which is inconceivable to me), I would highly recommend this solution.

Cruise

 

Mozilla Thunderbird is another alternative which can easily accommodate that need. It's free, and I have found it to be one of the best and most versatile email clients out there!

Ps. Here and here is how that migration is done.

 

Thanks guys - for those workable (and free) solutions. I'll be sure to pass them on to my students.

Wendi

 

Wendi,

As a follow-up to my post (above) I wanted to mention that one of my associates just told me that Windows Essentials (with Windows Live Mail) is working perfectly on his W8 system.

Cruise

 

It can also connect to GMail and others; any email you keep on the server (what you can see when you log in to the webmail interface) will automatically sync.

Windows 8 then uses the "People" app for contacts, and that can sync with Windows Live, Google (GMail), Facebook, and more.

The Windows 8 mail app is really just another email client; there are plenty to choose from. The popularity of webmail has also made "migrating" much easier, since it's all kept on the server.

 

Thanks the additional info - re migrating to Windows (Live) Mail on W8.

Wendi