How to properly transfer an outlook.pst file?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hapkido
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Hapkido

For years I have struggled with "transferring" Outlook's .pst file, e.g.,
when doing a complete re-install of Windows or when a client buys a new PC
and wants their Outlook data transferred from their backup files. Invariably
something gets botched up and this usually means I have to spend hours
trying to resolve the mess created. I am assuming there must be a proper way
to do this and obviously I'm not doing it. What I'm hoping for is that
someone will provide a step-by-step procedure that WORKS.

My general practice has been to install Office, open Outlook and create a
new account when prompted. I then simply copy the backup copy of the
"outlook.pst" file into "C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local
Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook" and overwrite the newly created
..pst file. That just doesn't work. Most often this results in the Address
Book not being associated with the Contacts, etc. So again, what I'm wanting
to do is to use the backup "outlook.pst" file as the one and only .pst file
for a new installation of Outlook..... let's narrow it down to Outlook 2003.
 
Copy the .pst file to anyplace EXCEPT the default location - My Documents is a good place as it tends to be backed up. Then "open" the file in Outlook. Another method that seems to work is to do the copying, then rename the .pst file that Outlook creates to .old, open Outlook and when it whines about no .pst file, point it to the one in My Documents.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Hapkido asked:

| For years I have struggled with "transferring" Outlook's .pst file,
| e.g., when doing a complete re-install of Windows or when a client
| buys a new PC and wants their Outlook data transferred from their
| backup files. Invariably something gets botched up and this usually
| means I have to spend hours trying to resolve the mess created. I am
| assuming there must be a proper way to do this and obviously I'm not
| doing it. What I'm hoping for is that someone will provide a
| step-by-step procedure that WORKS.
|
| My general practice has been to install Office, open Outlook and
| create a new account when prompted. I then simply copy the backup
| copy of the "outlook.pst" file into "C:\Documents and
| Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook"
| and overwrite the newly created .pst file. That just doesn't work.
| Most often this results in the Address Book not being associated with
| the Contacts, etc. So again, what I'm wanting to do is to use the
| backup "outlook.pst" file as the one and only .pst file for a new
| installation of Outlook..... let's narrow it down to Outlook 2003.
 
Is there a problem with putting it in the default location (apart from the fact that it will not get
backed up unless I make a conscious effort to back it up)?

Copy the .pst file to anyplace EXCEPT the default location - My Documents is a good place as it
tends to be backed up. Then "open" the file in Outlook. Another method that seems to work is to do
the copying, then rename the .pst file that Outlook creates to .old, open Outlook and when it whines
about no .pst file, point it to the one in My Documents.
 
Since Outlook almost always has created another PST file in that location,
you will very likely overwrite another PST file and corrupt your profile.
 
"Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]"
Copy the .pst file to anyplace EXCEPT the default location - My Documents is
a good place as it tends to be backed up. Then "open" the file in Outlook.
Another method that seems to work is to do the copying, then rename the .pst
file that Outlook creates to .old, open Outlook and when it whines about no
..pst file, point it to the one in My Documents.

--

I have been able to transfer all my folders and POP3 mail across to a new
installation of Vista and Office 2007 without any problems, apart from my
Hotmail and IMAP accounts.

I have the .pst files from the old installation (same OS and Office 2007)
but I can't seem to be able to add them in Account Settings.

As they are Hotmail and IMAP accounts, I can always download the actual
messages again with a problem. The only hassle is having to type in all the
account and server information again.

I have all the files from the old OS installation, and I can even access the
registry hives using a stand alone registry editor - so is there a way to
extract this information from the old installation and inject it to my new
one somehow?

Cheers

ss.
 
Hapkido said:
For years I have struggled with "transferring" Outlook's .pst file, e.g.,
when doing a complete re-install of Windows or when a client buys a new PC
and wants their Outlook data transferred from their backup files. Invariably
something gets botched up and this usually means I have to spend hours
trying to resolve the mess created. I am assuming there must be a proper way
to do this and obviously I'm not doing it. What I'm hoping for is that
someone will provide a step-by-step procedure that WORKS.
Click to expand...

The process that "invariably gets botched up" - is it the
Import/Export function? That's what I use, and it usually
works OK.

1. Set up the new computer's copy of Outlook as if it were a
new user.

2. Transfer the old PST file to a subdirectory of the new setup's
default location, I usually call it OldOutlook, I'll retain it for
a little while as a backup.

3. In Outlook, click File\Import and Export. Choose Import from
another program or file. Select file type Personal Folder (.pst).

4. Choose the old PST file. Since the new PST file is empty,
it shouldn't matter which radio button you select for importing
dupicate items, but I tell it not to import duplicates just in
case.

5. On the Import Personal Folders window that comes up, choose
the old PST file's main folder to import from, make sure the
Include subfolders checkbox is checked, and select the radio
button to Import items into the same folder in:. From the drop
down list, choose the main folder of the new PST file. Click
Finish.

This should move all emails, calendar items, tasks, contacts, etc.
Check to make sure, and you can open the old PST file and
manually copy anything that didn't make it. This way the new
profile will be clean and properly set up for address book and
everything.

Sometimes when I'm doing this I manually copy things, especially
if the user doesn't need all his old emails. If doing so manually,
make sure that you don't just click and drag things like the Inbox,
it'll just make a seperate Inbox1 folder in the new PST - you've got
to move emails and subfolders individually (or with Edit/Select All
for emails) when moving things manually.
 
The process that "invariably gets botched up" - is it the
Import/Export function? That's what I use, and it usually
works OK.
Click to expand...

Never export to or import from a PST. You will lose information and you do
run the risk of messing up the mail profile.
This should move all emails, calendar items, tasks, contacts, etc.
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but it doesn't transfer Distribution Lists well (if at all), it
breaks associations between contacts and other items, and changes item
dates, amoung other things.
 
Brian said:
Never export to or import from a PST. You will lose information and you do
run the risk of messing up the mail profile.
Click to expand...

I never do it from the only copy of a PST, and I never do it
to a PST that's got anything important in it.
Perhaps, but it doesn't transfer Distribution Lists well (if at all), it
breaks associations between contacts and other items, and changes item
dates, amoung other things.
Click to expand...

Interesting - I haven't seen any of those issues come up,
and I've been doing it with PST's running from a couple of MB
to the GB size regularly with Office 2003 in an XP Pro SP2
environment. I didn't do it as often with Office 2000 and Office XP,
as I recall having some unreliability issues with those. Is your
environment similar? Do the item date changes show up in mail
messages, calendar items, or what?
 
Interesting - I haven't seen any of those issues come up,
and I've been doing it with PST's running from a couple of MB
to the GB size regularly with Office 2003 in an XP Pro SP2
environment. I didn't do it as often with Office 2000 and Office XP,
as I recall having some unreliability issues with those. Is your
environment similar? Do the item date changes show up in mail
messages, calendar items, or what?
Click to expand...

The data that doesn't survive exporting and importing has been listed here
numerous times.
 
Brian said:
The data that doesn't survive exporting and importing has been listed here
numerous times.
Click to expand...

Guess I'll have to do some more searching - a few passes
through this newsgroup with a search engine have come
up with nothing besides you and another saying "Don't
use import/export, ever".
 
Posted here countless times, exporting and importing PST's will lose:
1. Custom Forms
2. Custom Views
3. Connections between contacts and activities
4. Received dates on mail
5. Birthdays and anniversaries in calendar
6. Journal connections
7. Distribution Lists

Also, attempting to export and import an entire PST file will corrupt an
Outlook profile by creating a duplicate set of Personal Folders.
That is why we do not advise people to export and import a native file into
Outlook. You can certainly do so if you wish if none of these issues will
affect you.
 
@Milly: Thanks, but all that does is "Open" a new/second "Personal Folders".
I was wanting to "replace" the new one with the backup .pst file.

@Walt: Thanks..... that is EXACTLY what I was looking for and it worked
perfectly. Both you and Milly recommended copying the backup .pst file to
another folder which seemed to be the trick. Importing the backup .pst file
after that was easy. The only other thing I have to do is to re-create my
other Accounts because only my default Account was carried over. That's not
such a big deal. If there is a way to include ALL the Accounts I would
appreciate knowing how to do that too. :~)
 
Russ,

Although I didn't experience any of the problems listed below, since you
hold the imprimatur of "MVP-Outlook" what is YOUR recommendation if the
import/export utility is unacceptable? I've tried other methods and as I
stated before, most always there are issues which take lots of hoop-jumping
to resolve, e.g., duplicate "Personal Folders", disassociation between
Contacts and the Address Book, etc. Milly's suggestion is a good example,
which was to put the backup .pst file in another location other than the
default folder and use "File/Open". Yes, this allows access to the backup
..pst file but it also creates an additional "Personal Folder" which is also
unacceptable.

THANKS!!
 
Not if you take my advice and rename the new .pst file to .old and then browse to the new one when Outlook barfs upon opening.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Hapkido asked:

<snip>
| Milly's suggestion is a good example, which was to put the backup
| .pst file in another location other than the default folder and use
| "File/Open". Yes, this allows access to the backup .pst file but it
| also creates an additional "Personal Folder" which is also
| unacceptable.
|
| THANKS!!
|
| || Posted here countless times, exporting and importing PST's will lose:
|| 1. Custom Forms
|| 2. Custom Views
|| 3. Connections between contacts and activities
|| 4. Received dates on mail
|| 5. Birthdays and anniversaries in calendar
|| 6. Journal connections
|| 7. Distribution Lists
||
|| Also, attempting to export and import an entire PST file will
|| corrupt an Outlook profile by creating a duplicate set of Personal
|| Folders.
|| That is why we do not advise people to export and import a native
|| file into Outlook. You can certainly do so if you wish if none of
|| these issues will affect you.
 
Hi,

Just to share for what seems to be working fine for me.

After the new installation, I'll just open Outlook and let it create a new
PST file.

Then copy and paste the old PST file to the default location to replace the
new file (and if file names are different, change the file name first), and
when I reopened Outlook, it seems to be "fooled" by the new PST file.



"Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]"
Copy the .pst file to anyplace EXCEPT the default location - My Documents is
a good place as it tends to be backed up. Then "open" the file in Outlook.
Another method that seems to work is to do the copying, then rename the .pst
file that Outlook creates to .old, open Outlook and when it whines about no
..pst file, point it to the one in My Documents.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Hapkido asked:

| For years I have struggled with "transferring" Outlook's .pst file,
| e.g., when doing a complete re-install of Windows or when a client
| buys a new PC and wants their Outlook data transferred from their
| backup files. Invariably something gets botched up and this usually
| means I have to spend hours trying to resolve the mess created. I am
| assuming there must be a proper way to do this and obviously I'm not
| doing it. What I'm hoping for is that someone will provide a
| step-by-step procedure that WORKS.
|
| My general practice has been to install Office, open Outlook and
| create a new account when prompted. I then simply copy the backup
| copy of the "outlook.pst" file into "C:\Documents and
| Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook"
| and overwrite the newly created .pst file. That just doesn't work.
| Most often this results in the Address Book not being associated with
| the Contacts, etc. So again, what I'm wanting to do is to use the
| backup "outlook.pst" file as the one and only .pst file for a new
| installation of Outlook..... let's narrow it down to Outlook 2003.
 
Microsoft has posted the only supported method in its Help files. Simply
open the other PST file in Outlook, set it to be the default PST file,
restart Outlook, then R click and close the original PST file created by
Outlook.
 
Could I re-name the existing PST in it's default location, then put the old PST into this default
location, but with a different name so that Outlook still prompts me for the PST file?

Since Outlook almost always has created another PST file in that location,
you will very likely overwrite another PST file and corrupt your profile.
 
Jay said:
Could I re-name the existing PST in it's default location, then put
the old PST into this default location, but with a different name so
that Outlook still prompts me for the PST file?
Click to expand...

That will work.
 
xfile said:
After the new installation, I'll just open Outlook and let it create
a new PST file.

Then copy and paste the old PST file to the default location to
replace the new file (and if file names are different, change the
file name first), and when I reopened Outlook, it seems to be
"fooled" by the new PST file.
Click to expand...

An excellent recipe for corrupting your mail profile.
 
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