How do I transfer Outlook contents to new computer?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sarah
  • Start date Start date
pshapiro said:
Brian:

Thanks for your helpful post. I need some further elaboration, as per my
post back to Russ Valentine. I can't tell if my latest post is visible to
you.

Here it is:

Forgive my lack of sophistication, but allow me to repeat this in simple
words. I should go back and copy the files (the ones that are ordinarily
"hidden" files, which I made visible) from within Outlook that are called
Outlook.pst and archive.pst. I will copy these to my external hard disk
(which I only use as a back-up, by the way). Do I need to remove the
"read-only" attribute when I copy them to the hard disk?

Then, once I have copies these files onto the hard disk, I will disconnect
it from the old laptop (XP SP3 running Outlook 2003 SP3), hook it up to the
new one (Vista Ultimate v 6.0 SP1, running Outlook 2007 SP1), and then do I
open it directly from the external hard disk, or do I copy it from the
external disk onto the internal hard disk before opening it. Also, how do I
"open" it. Just go to File/Open? I am already using the new laptop, so I
have some (but not many) Personal Folders and contents thereof on the new
laptop. Will these survive, and I can just reshuffle old emails, etc.,
within the various personal folders and delete ones I don't need after all is
done?

Just so I'm clear, my main need here is to bring in my old Outlook folders,
esp. the old Sent Items, archived folders, and old Personal Folders where
I've sorted various emails over the years. These are BIG folders, as I get
lots of emails with big attachments.

Thanks for all your help and patience.
Click to expand...
 
I attempted to import Outlook 2007 files from one computer to another. All
folders showed up but no contents (each folder is empty). How can I fix?
 
routlirh said:
I attempted to import Outlook 2007 files from one computer to another. All
folders showed up but no contents (each folder is empty). How can I fix?
Click to expand...


By not importing. This is posted in all the Outlook groups usually more than
once a day.
The correct method is to copy the pst file to your HDD, (in your Documents
folder is a good place), remove any read-only attribute (if set) then in
outlook do File-Open-Outlook Data File and navigate to where you put it.
 
pshapiro said:
Brian:

Thanks for your helpful post. I need some further elaboration, as per my
post back to Russ Valentine. I can't tell if my latest post is visible to
you.

Here it is:

Forgive my lack of sophistication, but allow me to repeat this in simple
words. I should go back and copy the files (the ones that are ordinarily
"hidden" files, which I made visible) from within Outlook that are called
Outlook.pst and archive.pst. I will copy these to my external hard disk
(which I only use as a back-up, by the way). Do I need to remove the
"read-only" attribute when I copy them to the hard disk?

Then, once I have copies these files onto the hard disk, I will disconnect
it from the old laptop (XP SP3 running Outlook 2003 SP3), hook it up to the
new one (Vista Ultimate v 6.0 SP1, running Outlook 2007 SP1), and then do I
open it directly from the external hard disk, or do I copy it from the
external disk onto the internal hard disk before opening it. Also, how do I
"open" it. Just go to File/Open? I am already using the new laptop, so I
have some (but not many) Personal Folders and contents thereof on the new
laptop. Will these survive, and I can just reshuffle old emails, etc.,
within the various personal folders and delete ones I don't need after all is
done?

Just so I'm clear, my main need here is to bring in my old Outlook folders,
esp. the old Sent Items, archived folders, and old Personal Folders where
I've sorted various emails over the years. These are BIG folders, as I get
lots of emails with big attachments.

Thanks for all your help and patience.
Click to expand...
 
pshapiro said:
Brian:

Thanks for your helpful post. I need some further elaboration, as per my
post back to Russ Valentine. I can't tell if my latest post is visible to
you.

Here it is:

Forgive my lack of sophistication, but allow me to repeat this in simple
words. I should go back and copy the files (the ones that are ordinarily
"hidden" files, which I made visible) from within Outlook that are called
Outlook.pst and archive.pst. I will copy these to my external hard disk
(which I only use as a back-up, by the way). Do I need to remove the
"read-only" attribute when I copy them to the hard disk?

Then, once I have copies these files onto the hard disk, I will disconnect
it from the old laptop (XP SP3 running Outlook 2003 SP3), hook it up to the
new one (Vista Ultimate v 6.0 SP1, running Outlook 2007 SP1), and then do I
open it directly from the external hard disk, or do I copy it from the
external disk onto the internal hard disk before opening it. Also, how do I
"open" it. Just go to File/Open? I am already using the new laptop, so I
have some (but not many) Personal Folders and contents thereof on the new
laptop. Will these survive, and I can just reshuffle old emails, etc.,
within the various personal folders and delete ones I don't need after all is
done?

Just so I'm clear, my main need here is to bring in my old Outlook folders,
esp. the old Sent Items, archived folders, and old Personal Folders where
I've sorted various emails over the years. These are BIG folders, as I get
lots of emails with big attachments.

Thanks for all your help and patience.
Click to expand...

Dear Brian or whomever reads this.

I have been an office user for years but have always used outlook express.
Finally I have gone to a vista machine and want to use outlook.

I have many thousands of emails, multiple accounts, and a lot of message
rules.

My accounts are both http (hotmail plus) and pop3.

They work fine in outlook express

After about two days of work, I finally got outlook working on my current
machine, xp,and felt ready to transfer the emails and settings and messages
to outlook in my vista machine.

Big problems!

I read the ms posts on it, and other help guides.

but nothing worked properly.

I get my pop3 account windows, but not the actual account settings or
message rules. I can get one of the http hotmail accounts but not the other.

Surely MS has simple way to transfer all emails, accounts, settings and
message rules when one upgrades to a new computer??? !!!

Millions of people who use Outlook must have this issue or eventually have it.

So, here is my question.

Now, after many hours I have migrated to Outlook 2007 on old xp computer,
what is the simple step by step way to get exactly the same setup on my new
computer in Vista?

I read on one forum that this simple and important task
IS NOT POSSIBLE!

Is it possible. I am beginning to think that it is not possible unless you
go in and set all the rules, account info and other settings by hand again!

And if you back up everything. If you have a hard disk failure and you have
to take your backup outlook data, it will be a huge job to get it back into
the same condition.

Can you help

How can I transfer all emails, account info, message rules, settings from
one copy of Outlook in XP to another in Vista?

That's it.

It is a simple question really, one that probably millions have wanted the
answer but no clear answer has come forth to my knowledge.

thanks,

Dr. Rusky
 
maxrusky said:
Dear Brian or whomever reads this.

I have been an office user for years but have always used outlook express.
Finally I have gone to a vista machine and want to use outlook.

I have many thousands of emails, multiple accounts, and a lot of message
rules.

My accounts are both http (hotmail plus) and pop3.

They work fine in outlook express

After about two days of work, I finally got outlook working on my current
machine, xp,and felt ready to transfer the emails and settings and
messages
to outlook in my vista machine.

Big problems!

I read the ms posts on it, and other help guides.

but nothing worked properly.

I get my pop3 account windows, but not the actual account settings or
message rules. I can get one of the http hotmail accounts but not the
other.

Surely MS has simple way to transfer all emails, accounts, settings and
message rules when one upgrades to a new computer??? !!!

Millions of people who use Outlook must have this issue or eventually have
it.

So, here is my question.

Now, after many hours I have migrated to Outlook 2007 on old xp computer,
what is the simple step by step way to get exactly the same setup on my
new
computer in Vista?

I read on one forum that this simple and important task
IS NOT POSSIBLE!

Is it possible. I am beginning to think that it is not possible unless you
go in and set all the rules, account info and other settings by hand
again!

And if you back up everything. If you have a hard disk failure and you
have
to take your backup outlook data, it will be a huge job to get it back
into
the same condition.

Can you help

How can I transfer all emails, account info, message rules, settings from
one copy of Outlook in XP to another in Vista?

That's it.

It is a simple question really, one that probably millions have wanted the
answer but no clear answer has come forth to my knowledge.

thanks,

Dr. Rusky
Click to expand...

There's a free utility that can help you with the email account settings,
named MailPV.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/mailpv.html

It's not really well known and many anti-virus scanners (justifiably)
identify it as malware, because it detects and displays email account server
names, account IDs, and passwords, and can write this all out to a text
file.

It's extremely useful for migrating from one system to another, or for
documenting your system setup.

I've used it successfully on XP and Vista, but be aware that eventually your
A/V scanner may detect and quarantine the executable so you should run it as
soon as you download it, and store a copy OFF the PC.

HTH
-pk
 
I transferred my .pst file which IS read/write capable and everything
appeared fine on my new computer. However, I am unable to create and send
NEW emails now. Any ideas?

Thanks.
 
Shari said:
I transferred my .pst file which IS read/write capable and everything
appeared fine on my new computer. However, I am unable to create and send
NEW emails now. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Did you re-create your email account in the new instance of Outlook?
 
No. Didn't realize that I had to do that. So I create another account
identical to it? Do I have to keep them separate then and just use the old
one for reference? Or is there a way to merge them one I create the new one?

Thanks.
 
Shari said:
No. Didn't realize that I had to do that. So I create another account
identical to it? Do I have to keep them separate then and just use the
old
one for reference? Or is there a way to merge them one I create the new
one?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I think you are confused. Email accounts and Outlook data (emails, contacts
etc) are two entirely different things.
In Outlook do Tools-Account Settings and in the Email tab (which opens
first) do you see any email account set up?
 
Thanks. I had done that already. When I went in today everything was fine.
I appreciate your help though.
 
wrba said:
I have the same problem as Sarah - I knew how to import - but when I get
to
that place it tells me I do not have permission to preform the task - i am
the only user - the owner - ???? Who do I get permission?
Click to expand...

You don't. DO NOT IMPORT.
Copy the pst file to your HDD. Somewhere in your Documents folder is best.
Right-click on the file. Choose Properties and make sure the Read-Only
attribute is not checked.
Then in Outlook do File-Open-Outlook Data File and navigate to where you put
it.
 
You need to find and copy the *.pst file. I believe in Outlook 2003 it was
called outlook.pst

In Outlook 2007 it is called Personal Folders(1).pst

Also, it is possible if you copy that file to a CD and then transfer that
file, the file in question might have its properties changed to being Read
Only. You'll need to uncheck that once you have that file in place it needs
to be. I had that happen to me.

So, first do a Search for that *.pst file on your old computer. If all of
this seems a bit too much for you, have a friend who knows more about
computers help you through this. This stuff is not exactly intuitive ...
though it is doable.

.... just trying to help, DH


wrba said:
I have the same problem as Sarah - I knew how to import - but when I get to
that place it tells me I do not have permission to preform the task - i am
the only user - the owner - ???? Who do I get permission?
Click to expand...
 
You need to find and copy the *.pst file. I believe in Outlook 2003 it was
called outlook.pst

In Outlook 2007 it is called Personal Folders(1).pst
Click to expand...

The name of a PST isn't fixed. It can be named anything the person creating
it wants.
 
Russ
I have copied the pst file from my old xp/outlook 2007 to a cd and loaded it
onto my new win7 computer running outlook 2007 also. But when I tried to
take the read only attribute away, I got a message that I did not have
administrative rights to do so. Ever run into this? Note, neither outlook
is from an administrative account, and I was unable to get access even when I
tried to change the read only status from my admin account.


Russ Valentine said:
Two things:
1. You forgot to remove the read only attribute the files acquired from
being on a CD
2. You imported. Never import Outlook data. Just open the file.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
pshapiro said:
I followed the link, copied the files from my old computer (with Outlook
2003) called backup.pst (that I created by exporting in the old Outlook)
and
archive.pst -- I copied them onto an external hard disk, then hooked up
the
hard disk to my new computer. When I tried to import them into Outlook
(2007) on the new computer (Vista), I got a message saying "File access
denied. You do not have permission required to access the file
F:\backup.pst". I also tried just to follow the "Open" command in
Outlook,
and I got the same message. Same message also appeared when I tried to
open
the archive.pst alone.

What am I doing wrong?

Diane Poremsky said:
It can be used but we recommended upgrading to the new pst format.
See http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ansi-to-unicode.asp

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Need Help with Common Tasks? http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/
Outlook 2007: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/



EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
(e-mail address removed)




You can access this newsgroup by visiting
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your
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I have read the How To link several times and it seems to address
moving
data
from same version to same version. I want to move all data from
Outlook
2002
SP3 to Outlook 2007 (new laptop). I assume (#*!) that the 2002 pst
file
has
changed structure and can not be used in 2007. What is the proper
procedure
to get my data safely and completely transferred?

:

For the record: you never import Outlook data unless you want to
change
it
or lose it. Use the instructions in the link, not the one from mrb.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I used this to transfer between outlook 2003 and 2007 (copy the pst
on
the
old machine / version and import it like a restore and it worked
fine.

:

See if this helps
http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/backupandrestore.htm

Hi,
I have a new computer and need to transfer my outlook over from
my
laptop.
Am using 2003, which is installed on my new computer also. I've
been
searching these q&a's, and see that I will need to "copy to a pst
file"?
What
is this, where do I find it, and how to I execute it??? And if
any
of
you
clever people choose to help me, you will have to talk
r-e-a-l-l-y
s-l-o-w-l-y, as I'm very sorry, but I don't speak your language.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
howdgold said:
Russ
I have copied the pst file from my old xp/outlook 2007 to a cd and loaded
it
onto my new win7 computer running outlook 2007 also. But when I tried to
take the read only attribute away, I got a message that I did not have
administrative rights to do so. Ever run into this? Note, neither
outlook
is from an administrative account, and I was unable to get access even
when I
tried to change the read only status from my admin account.
Click to expand...

So where did you copy this pst file TO on the Windows 7 computer? You need
to copy it to where your User account has FULL read/write privileges - like
your Documents folder.
 
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