Outlook folders, mail storage, calendar are a mess

[wizard_chef]

I cannot seem to get my Outlook folders straightened out following
copying over my .pst files from my old computer into my new one.

Here are the issues:
-I currently show three Personal Folders, one that seems to be the
default one with Inbox, Drafts, etc., but nothing in any subfolder, one
with my personal saved mail from the old machine (no Inbox, Draft,
etc., subfolders), and a third where my mail is currently delivered to
a subfolder Inbox.
- Sent Items always goes to the default Sent Items (shows up under
Favorite Folders at the top of the Mail list) instead of the Sent Items
in the folder containing the Inbox where my mail is delivered. I cannot
seem to change this.
- My task alerts do not show up on the screen because my Calendar is
showing up not in the default calendar folder, but in a Calendar in
Personal Folders.

How can I get this mess straightened out? I want the following:

- all mail to show up in the default boxes so that the calendar and the
tasks show up like they should and task alerts will work
- I want my personal saved mail in that personal folder to remain.

Any help appreciated. Is there a site that explains in detail how
Outlook is storing things, and what options one has to control which
folder has what in it?

wizard_chef

 

[Vince Averello [MVP-Outlook]]

Are you connected to an Exchange Server? Just making sure that there's not
another factor to take into account.

What version of Outlook are you using?

I'd think the best thing to do, if you're not using Exchange, is to create a
fresh PST, set it as the default message store then copy (drag/drop)
everything into it that you need.

 

[wizard_chef]

No, I am connecting to mailblocks.com using an IMAP connection.

Using Outlook 2003. I migrated from Outlook 2002 on a box running 2000
Pro.

 

[wizard_chef]

I have a new .pst folder defined, but how do I make it the "default"
folder so the calendar shows up and my tasks alerts will pop up
properly???

 

[Vince Averello [MVP-Outlook]]

Go into the Control Panel's Mail applet, click Email accounts, View/Change
existing accounts, click Next
Change the entry in the "Deliver new email to the following location"
dropdown

 

[wizard_chef]

I had done that when I set up the new pst file. Still have the same
problems.

a) The mail does not get delivered to the new pst folder Inbox, it
still is being delivered to my old .pst personal folder.

b) When I try to set a task it says the reminder won't appear because
my task folder is not in the calendar folder (or some such)
c) Now I have 3 calendars that appear.

How can I make everything show up in the same folder?????

 

[Vince Averello [MVP-Outlook]]

Very odd... setting the default delivery location where I mentioned should
get mail delivered there and reminders generated there by default. Just for
curiosity's sake, did you give the PSTs different 'Friendly' names so you
can tell them apart in the dialog I mentioned?

Also, you're getting your mail from a POP server or some other server type?

 

[wizard_chef]

The new pst folder has a unique name, but there are two other, older
pst folders with the same name (?).

I am getting mail from mailblocks using an IMAP connection.

 

[Vince Averello [MVP-Outlook]]

OK, IMAP servers always have their own PSTs where their Inbox & other
folders live. You can't merge that with the standard Outlook folder list
(Calendar, Inbox, Tasks, etc). So, in your case you'll always have at least
two folder sets (if not three, including archives)

 

[wizard_chef]

OK, but this begs the question of why I can no longer see my calendar
alerts. Also, why do the names created by File -> Open -> Outlook Data
Files bear no resemblence to the .pst folder names??? It seems to have
created Outlook(1), Outlook(2), etc. Are these embedded inside the
physical file?

Also, I ran scanpst on my .pst files and found errors in all of them,
for which I selected "fix".

 

[wizard_chef]

Vince, after fiddling with my pst's and running scanpst, etc., etc., I
now have everything sort of back to normal. I can't say there was one
single thing I did that brought things into order.

Weirdnesses remain. In my Personal Folders where I store sorted mail I
now have an Inbox (which has nothing in it) and a Sent box which
receives a copy of all of my sent mail. My main folder that contains
the mailboxes for the IMAP mail from mailblocks also has an Inbox which
has all of the incoming mail in it (correct as specified), but the Sent
box has nothing and receives nothing. I lost all of my contacts in this
process and had to export them from my old computer and reinstall them.

The calendar now shows up in the right place and the task alerts works
now.

Any idea why the sent mail is going to the wrong place? I think I still
have some screwed up pst files that for now I will just leave as is.
Have many, many more transfer problems to tackle. The installation of a
new computer just should not be this difficult!! It has been a
nightmare from the beginning getting old software moved over!

 

[Brian Tillman]

I had done that when I set up the new pst file. Still have the same
problems.

a) The mail does not get delivered to the new pst folder Inbox, it
still is being delivered to my old .pst personal folder.

Did you stop and restart Outlook?

b) When I try to set a task it says the reminder won't appear because
my task folder is not in the calendar folder (or some such)
c) Now I have 3 calendars that appear.

How can I make everything show up in the same folder?????

With an IMAP account, you will always have two Inboxes, one in the delivery
location PST and one on the IMAP server, but that shouldn't affect the
calendar. It sounds like you still have a screwed-up mail profile.

 

[Brian Tillman]

OK, but this begs the question of why I can no longer see my calendar
alerts. Also, why do the names created by File -> Open -> Outlook Data
Files bear no resemblence to the .pst folder names??? It seems to have
created Outlook(1), Outlook(2), etc. Are these embedded inside the
physical file?

The Windows file name of a PST has no connection to the display name Outlook
will show you in the folder list. The latter is a value stored in the file.
The "Outlook(x)" names are file system (physical file) names.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Weirdnesses remain. In my Personal Folders where I store sorted mail I
now have an Inbox (which has nothing in it) and a Sent box which
receives a copy of all of my sent mail. My main folder that contains
the mailboxes for the IMAP mail from mailblocks also has an Inbox
which has all of the incoming mail in it (correct as specified), but
the Sent box has nothing and receives nothing.

This is normal. The delivery location Sent Items folder will receive any
sent message. The IMAP Sent Items folder will receive messages only if you
explicitly create a rule that places them there when they're sent.

I lost all of my
contacts in this process and had to export them from my old computer
and reinstall them.

They're probably still on one of the PSTs you created, but as long as you
have them back, it's probably moot.

 

[wizard_chef]

I'm back at it again. Whatever contacts/address book I imported did not
have a complete list of what was on my old computer. So, I went back to
the old machine, re-exported the contacts file now labelled
"backup1.pst", finally got permission correct so the new machine will
read it, and stored it on the desktop.

When I got to the import function (file->import and export-> etc.), I
do not get a window that allows me to choose the source file! It jumps
directly to a browse window for where I want to store the contact info!

Any help appreciated.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I'm back at it again. Whatever contacts/address book I imported did
not have a complete list of what was on my old computer. So, I went
back to the old machine, re-exported the contacts file now labelled
"backup1.pst", finally got permission correct so the new machine will
read it, and stored it on the desktop.

Never export or import a PST. There's never a reason to do so. Just copy
the original PST from the old PC to the new, make sure it's not read-only,
and open it in Outlook with FIle>Open>Outlook Data File. You'll then have
access to everything that original PST contains and can move things around
to suit yourself.