Where are my windows live mail contacts stored

A blast from the past!

Windows Live Mail (WLM) was a popular email client, but it's no longer supported by Microsoft. However, I can help you find the location of your contacts.

Before we begin:

  1. Make sure you have backed up your WLM data, as we'll be accessing the files manually.
  2. If you're using a newer version of Windows, you might not find the exact same location as described below.

Contact storage locations:

WLM stores contacts in a few different locations, depending on the version and configuration. Here are the most common locations:

Windows Live Mail 2011 and earlier:

  1. Contacts folder: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\Contacts.wab
    • %USERPROFILE% is usually C:\Users\<YourUsername>\
  2. Windows Address Book (WAB) file: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail\Windows Address Book.wab

Windows Live Mail 2012 and later:

  1. Contacts folder: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsLiveMail_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\Contacts.wab
  2. Windows Address Book (WAB) file: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsLiveMail_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\Windows Address Book.wab

Note: If you're using a 64-bit version of Windows, the AppData folder might be located in %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming instead of %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local.

Accessing the contacts:

  1. Open File Explorer (Windows Explorer) and navigate to the specified location.
  2. Look for the Contacts.wab or Windows Address Book.wab file.
  3. Double-click the file to open it in the Windows Address Book (WAB) viewer.
  4. You can then export your contacts to a CSV file or import them into another email client or contact manager.

Remember to be cautious when accessing and modifying files in the AppData folder, as it's a sensitive area of your system.