contacts, pab's and pst file locking

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Guest

I have a few questions regarding Outlook and the way it stores and handles pst's and contacts/pab's

(these questions are all in regards to Outlook 2000

1. Is there any way to get outlook (configured in internet mode) to open if it cannot access a pst file? I have a client configured to use IMAP but if Outlook cannot find the pst (e.g. it's an a file server that is not accessible) it simply does not open

2. What happened to .pab files? It seems that in Outlook 2000 (and above) the address book (which is now called contacts) is now embedded in the .pst file. Again, this is configured in internet mode so as to use IMAP

3. Is there any way possible to have 2 Outlook sessions be able to read the same .pst? For example, a PC in the office and a PC at home need to access the same .pst at the same time

4. Any idea why I cannot set up a .pst as an offline file? I get an error message that says that this type of file cannot be used in offline mode (or something to that extent)

Thanks in advance.
 
1) No.

2) .pab files are still supported for backwards compatibility, but are
redundant since their functionality is available in the Contacts folder.

3) No.

4) You mean a Windows offline file? That's a Windows limitation, probably
because .pst files are so big that they could swamp the network connection.
A good alternative is to use the Windows Briefcase.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers



AndyD said:
I have a few questions regarding Outlook and the way it stores and handles pst's and contacts/pab's:

(these questions are all in regards to Outlook 2000)

1. Is there any way to get outlook (configured in internet mode) to open
Click to expand...
if it cannot access a pst file? I have a client configured to use IMAP but
if Outlook cannot find the pst (e.g. it's an a file server that is not
accessible) it simply does not open.
2. What happened to .pab files? It seems that in Outlook 2000 (and above)
Click to expand...
the address book (which is now called contacts) is now embedded in the .pst
file. Again, this is configured in internet mode so as to use IMAP.
3. Is there any way possible to have 2 Outlook sessions be able to read
Click to expand...
the same .pst? For example, a PC in the office and a PC at home need to
access the same .pst at the same time.
4. Any idea why I cannot set up a .pst as an offline file? I get an error
Click to expand...
message that says that this type of file cannot be used in offline mode (or
something to that extent).
 
You can't. You must store addresses in your Contacts folder in IMO mode.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers



AndyD said:
Thanks Sue.

How do I set up a .pab in Outlook 2000 configured in internet mode? Used
Click to expand...
to be able to do this from the services option, but that does not exist in
internet mode. The only feature I need from the .pst is the address book or
contacts, so if I could configure a seperate .pab for this, then I could
create a dummy .pst on each local machine for this user. This way Outlook
always opens but the .pab can be stored centrally on a server. In the case
where the user cannot access the file share, Outlook will still open and the
user will be able to send and receive email via the IMAP server running on
Solaris.
 
I would like to know if it possible to put a contacts file (i.e. WAB) on
the server and allow network users to access it for add, edit and delet
contacts.

I am using Exchange Server 5.5 on server and Outlook XP on clients.
 
Outlook does not use a .wab file. That's a file used by Outlook Express. I
doubt that it's shareable, but you'd be better off asking in an OE forum.

Why do you need it anyway? Since you have Exchange, you can use an Exchange
public folder as a shared contact repository.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers




I would like to know if it possible to put a contacts file (i.e. WAB) on
the server and allow network users to access it for add, edit and delet
contacts.

I am using Exchange Server 5.5 on server and Outlook XP on clients.
 
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