Multiple Identical Personal Folders

[Henry Falkl]

I did a clean install of Outlook 2003 after replacing my
hard drive and wanted to use the pst file from my old
Outlook 2000 version. Instead of importing it into the
new version, I simply copied the old pst file into the
folder where Outlook expected it to be.

When I opened Outlook, it had two "Personal Folders" that
contained identical information and everytime I updated
the contents of one Personal Folder, the contents of the
other one updated as well.

To try and correct this, I moved the pst folder and
started Outlook, creating a new 2003 version pst file. I
then imported the folders from the old one and now when I
open Outlook I have THREE identical Personal Folders.

I've tried deleting the extra Personal Folders (but
there's no option to do that and the delete key doesn't
work), uninstalling and reinstalling Outlook, running the
Inbox Repair Tool and compacting the pst file, but
nothing helps.

I'm stumped. What can I do?

 

[Robert Findlay [MSFT]]

Try creating a new Profile with a new .pst file and test. If everything
works fine then try importing the old .pst file. If the problem returns
then the problem is most likely with the .pst data and that data should not
be imported after creating a new .pst file.

I hope this information is helpful.

Robert Findlay
Partner Technical Lead -- Outlook/Office Setup
Microsoft Technical Support for Platforms and Business Applications


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[Brian Tillman]

I did a clean install of Outlook 2003 after replacing my
hard drive and wanted to use the pst file from my old
Outlook 2000 version. Instead of importing it into the
new version, I simply copied the old pst file into the
folder where Outlook expected it to be.

That's the wrong approach. It results in multiple, identical Personal
Folders entries. Just File>Open

 

[Henry]

That makes sense, but now that I have multiple Personal
Folders inside my pst file, how do I get rid of them?

 

[Brian Tillman]

That makes sense, but now that I have multiple Personal
Folders inside my pst file, how do I get rid of them?

The easiest way ot to create a new mail profile from within Control Panel.

 

[Mark Poole]

Brian,
This was the answer I've been looking for now for several days. I went to
"Mail" in the Control Panel as you instructed then "Data Files" At this
point I could see the duplicate personal folders and could delete one of the
entries. Can you find this same screen anywhere in Outlook?

Thanks for the help,

Mark Poole

 

[Brian Tillman]

Can you find this same screen anywhere in Outlook?

Tools>E-mail Accounts>View or change existing directories or address books.

 

[Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]]

"Data File Management" should appear on the File menu in Outlook 2002 and
2003.

--
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. ***


In

 

[Henry Falk]

Brian,

That was very helpful, thanks! I copied my pst file to
another folder, deleted my old profile and created a new
one. After opening Outlook, I opened my old pst file and
moved over all the email folders I wanted to keep. I
wasn't sure how to move over the calendar, to do and
contact info., but fortunately I could do this easily by
synchronizing my Palm.

Now everything is back the way it should be. Thanks
again!

Henry

 

[Brian Tillman]

That was very helpful, thanks! I copied my pst file to
another folder, deleted my old profile and created a new
one. After opening Outlook, I opened my old pst file and
moved over all the email folders I wanted to keep. I
wasn't sure how to move over the calendar, to do and
contact info., but fortunately I could do this easily by
synchronizing my Palm.

Personally, I would have simply used the old PST as the delivery location.
That way, nothing would have had to be moved anywhere. But, I'm glad things
are working for you.