Cannot view contents of pst file

[Guest]

Hi all,

I have an Outlook 2003 pst file that has not been used for a few months. It
is small - about 8MB and was an archive file. When I bring it back into
Outlook, via Data File Management or Importing, none of the contents can be
seen.

Scanpst reports no errors but does list the number of folders and items, so
they are there. Also Outlook generates no errors when trying to view the
contents. If I import the file into an empty folder, the pst file for that
folder does increase to the same size.

Any ideas? Are there any utilities outside of Outlook that could extract
the pst contents?

 

[Brian Tillman]

I have an Outlook 2003 pst file that has not been used for a few
months. It is small - about 8MB and was an archive file. When I
bring it back into Outlook, via Data File Management or Importing,
none of the contents can be seen.

Does the same thing happen if you open it with File>Open>Outlook Data File?

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply,
Windows recognizes it as an "Office Data File", but the "Open With" options
don't list any compatable programs to use, not even Outlook.

 

[Gordon]

Thanks for the reply,
Windows recognizes it as an "Office Data File", but the "Open With"
options don't list any compatable programs to use, not even Outlook.

That's correct. You can only open a pst file from WITHIN Outlook AFAIK.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Windows recognizes it as an "Office Data File", but the "Open With"
options don't list any compatable programs to use, not even Outlook.

You shouldn't be trying to open a PST from Windows Explorer. Open it in
Outlook with FIle>Open>Outlook Data File.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the advice.
I tried it, but there is nothing to view, as though the file is empty.
I think it may have been damaged by trying to view the Outlook 2k3 file in
Outlook XP. This was done without first converting it to the older format.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I tried it, but there is nothing to view, as though the file is empty.
I think it may have been damaged by trying to view the Outlook 2k3
file in Outlook XP. This was done without first converting it to the
older format.

Trying to open a Unicode-format PST with Outlook 2002 will not damage it.
It would be helpful to know if that PST has always been on the disk where it
now resides or if it was transferred to the current machine from elsewhere.
There are some methods of transfer that can damage a PST.

 

[Guest]

The file is not being accessed from its original location. It was originally
on a different workstation. It was a 2k box with Office 2k3. I'm trying to
open the pst file on an XP box with Office 2k3. All have latest sp's and
patches. Also the network user on each is different, therefore different
email accounts for outlook.

No errors are generated when opening the file on the second box under the
different user (me). The original box has died and the original user is now
using Office XP on WinXP. I also renamed the file, to make it more
recognizable than the original generic 'archive.pst'.

Does a pst file have some security built in, to prevent access by other
users? I have assumed that a pst file is a pretty plain old vanilla variety
that can be copied, moved, renamed, etc without any affect to it.

 

[Brian Tillman]

The file is not being accessed from its original location. It was
originally on a different workstation. It was a 2k box with Office
2k3.

How was it transported from there to where it is now?

No errors are generated when opening the file on the second box under
the different user (me). The original box has died and the original
user is now using Office XP on WinXP. I also renamed the file, to
make it more recognizable than the original generic 'archive.pst'.

If you're trying to open a Unicode PST with Outlook 2002, there's no way to
do it. You must use Outlook 2003 to create an ANSI PST, then copy the data
from the Unicode PST to the new one. When Outlook is closed, this new PST
can be copied to the other PC, any read-only attribute removed, and the file
opened in Outlook with File>Open>Outlook Data File. It's the only way.

 

[Guest]

First off, thanks for your thoughts on this!

Transported: The file was copied from the original workstation hard drive to
a network location where it was not used for some time. It was then copied
from the network location to my workstation, where I have been trying to view
the contents.

I am aware of the Unicode to ANSI conversion needed, but none of its
contents is viewable when I first open it in my Outlook 2003, to convert it.
In Outlook 2k3 I did create an ANSI pst file and exported the Unicode file to
it. The contents do export because the ANSI file grows in size to that of
the Unicode file. But the end result is still the same - emails, contacts,
etc are not seen (in Outlook 2k3).

 

[Brian Tillman]

Transported: The file was copied from the original workstation hard
drive to a network location where it was not used for some time. It
was then copied from the network location to my workstation, where I
have been trying to view the contents.

What Outlook closed when the file was copied? If not, that certainly can
explain what you see.

I am aware of the Unicode to ANSI conversion needed, but none of its
contents is viewable when I first open it in my Outlook 2003, to
convert it. In Outlook 2k3 I did create an ANSI pst file and exported
the Unicode file to it. The contents do export because the ANSI file
grows in size to that of the Unicode file. But the end result is
still the same - emails, contacts, etc are not seen (in Outlook 2k3).

Exporting loses data. Copy to the ANSI PST from within Outlook.