copying email accounts from one computer to another?

[peter]

I have a dozen or so pop3 email accounts set up in outlook 2003. How do I
transfer those email accounts setting to a laptop running a newly installed
copy of outlook 2003?

What file are the email accounts setup stored?

I copied mailbox.pst, outcmd.dat. However, I'm not sure how to tell the new
copy of outlook to use those files. At first I thought I could locate and
delete the mailbox.pst and outcmd.dat created by the new copy of outlook,
and overwrite them with the copies from my desktop. However, after running
the new outlook once, it did not create any .pst file or outcmd.dat file, so
I'm stumped.

I'm sure the answer is buried somewhere in the web. Could someone please
give a pointer so I can quickly locate it?

 

[Sam Crawford]

I have a dozen or so pop3 email accounts set up in outlook 2003. How do I
transfer those email accounts setting to a laptop running a newly
installed
copy of outlook 2003?

What I do is as follows:

Open Outlook on old computer and let it download all emails. Mark all as
"read". Close Outlook.

Copy old "pst" files to a temporary place on new computer. They are in your
C:\Documents and Settings\YOURUSERNAME\Local Settings\Application
Data\Microsoft\Outlook folder. I think you must have folder options set to
show hidden files to see them.

On new computer, start Outlook and create accounts for all of your email
accounts. Be sure to set the options to leave messages on server.

After the accounts are set up, close Outlook and log off of your account.
This will close any Outlook processes running in the background. Log back
on.

Copy your old "PST" from old computer to your C:\Documents and
Settings\YOURUSERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
folder on your new computer. Copy over the pst you just created when you
opened your new Outlook and set up your accounts. Outlook by default names
the pst "Outlook.pst". Make sure the old pst is renamed to this before
copying.

Reopen Outlook and it will download your emails again. They will show up as
"unread mail" You can go to the "Unread Mail" folder and delete these as
they will be duplicates.

Hope this helps.

 

[peter]

On new computer, start Outlook and create accounts for all of your email
accounts. Be sure to set the options to leave messages on server.

Is it possible to copy email settings (email server, user name, password,
etc) over to the new computer? I have more than a dozen email accounts and
it gets tiring.

 

[Guest]

Look here for all the information you need on backup and restoration of
Outlook data:

http://www.slipstick.com/config/backup.htm
http://www.howto-outlook.com/Howto/backupandrestore.htm

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please reply
only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***

 

[Sam Crawford]

Jocelyn,

Thanks. I've been using Outlook since forever and I never knew about
backing up and restoring. I wonder how many years of my life I've wasted
doing it the hard way. LOL.

 

[peter]

"Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]"

Look here for all the information you need on backup and restoration of
Outlook data:

http://www.slipstick.com/config/backup.htm
http://www.howto-outlook.com/Howto/backupandrestore.htm

Thanks. The reason I could not find the new outlook.pst file was because I
used windows explorer to search for it and it was in a hidden folder..

Anyway, I found it, replaced it with my old pst file.

I still had to manually re-customize the views, and re-enter the email
accounts setup (host name, user name, password, etc).

I see I'm not the only person who ask this question. Perhaps microsoft
should consider making it more obvious and easier to transfer outlook
data/settings from one computer to another.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I have a dozen or so pop3 email accounts set up in outlook 2003. How
do I transfer those email accounts setting to a laptop running a
newly installed copy of outlook 2003?

The Microsoft Office Save My Settings Wizard (Start>All Programs>Microsoft
Office Tools) can transfer account information from one instance of Outlook
2003 to another. Otherwise, it's not really possible.

What file are the email accounts setup stored?

They're not stored in a file. They're in the registry.

I copied mailbox.pst, outcmd.dat. However, I'm not sure how to tell
the new copy of outlook to use those files. At first I thought I
could locate and delete the mailbox.pst and outcmd.dat created by the
new copy of outlook, and overwrite them with the copies from my
desktop. However, after running the new outlook once, it did not
create any .pst file or outcmd.dat file, so I'm stumped.

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

 

[Brian Tillman]

Thanks. The reason I could not find the new outlook.pst file was
because I used windows explorer to search for it and it was in a
hidden folder..
Anyway, I found it, replaced it with my old pst file.

Wrong thing to do. This will corrupt your mail profile. The advice in the
web pages cited in Jocelyn's post do not tell you to do that.