Outlook Question

[dscanbs]

I am trying to transfer all of my address' and Inbox folders and the messages in the folders.

Is there a file that I can save and transfer?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[sdibias]

Outlook uses the .pst extension, look for these files.

 

[dscanbs]

Is there a way to pinpoint which files I need for the address book and Inbox files or should I take all .pst files and copy and paste them?

 

[dscanbs]

I have located the pst files that I want to move, they are on the computer that I want to move them to.

Where do I put the files?

 

[RazerBack]

Try this program

http://office.microsoft.com/Downloads/2002/pfbackup.aspx

 

[jawshoouh]

if you don't want to use the Personal Folders Backup add-in from Microsoft (for whatever reason) and you want to do it manually, in Outlook, do this:

1) File menu
2) Import and Export... selection
3) a window pops up
4) select "Export to a file" and hit the Next button
5) then select "Personal Folder File (.pst)" and hit the Next button
6) your folder listing will come up in a tree-view; if you want to back-up everything, select "Personal Folders" at the top ("Inbox" will probably be highlighted as a default)
7) make sure you check the "Include subfolders" checkbox before you click on the Next button
8) you'll be prompted for a name and location of the PST file you want to save; easiest thing to do is hit the Browse button and browse to your desktop, and type in a filename that you like (mybackups.pst or 2003jan29mail.pst, etc.), and make sure you select the "Allow duplicate items to be created" radio button before you hit Finish
9) close Outlook, and you can burn the PST file that's on your desktop to a CD, save it to a zip disk, or email it to yourself, etc.

 

[SysProg]

In addition to jawshoouh's recommendation, the Address Book used by Outlook Express (OE) has a file extension of .wab. I'm not at an XP system so I can't tell you where to find this file. It should be in /Documents and Settings/logonid (where logonid is the one you get into XP with. You can check this by clicking on the Start button. The id is at the top of the Start window). Use the search feature to locate the .wab file.

I recently rebuilt my system (format and re-install) and I manually copied the files to another disk before I formatted. I use Outlook Express and it's files all have an extension of .dbx (if I remember correctly). There is one .dbx file per mail box listed in OE (there will be an Inbox.dbx, a Sent Items.dbx, etc). Once I finished rebuilding the system, I brought up OE to make sure that it was functioning. Then I shut it down and copied the saved .dbx files to the directory where the new OE files are located.

One caveat is that if you created any personal folders, .pst files, you have to recreate the files (entire directory structure as viewed in OE) prior to copying these files from the backup set.

For example, I have a 'Things to keep' .pst file which has a sub-folder called 'SISNA'. Prior to copying 'Things to keep.pst' and 'SISNA.pst' from the backup set:
- Use OE to create a 'Things to keep' folder (make sure that you spell the folder name the exact same way as the file you backed up - including capitalizations)
- Select 'Things to keep'
- Create a new folder called 'SISNA'
- Exit OE
- Copy 'Things to keep.pst' and 'SISNA.pst' from your backup set, replacing the files OE created.
- Start OE. All your saved emails should now be available.

 

[ironguy]

Outlook Address book

The Outlook address book has an extension of .pab. The .pst is for personal folders. Don't forget to take your addresses with you! If you don't have a zillion addresses, just email it to yourself!