.pst upgrade from Outlook 97 to Outlook 2007

[raschulmanxx]

Does Outlook 2007 come with a conversion program that will permit me
to upgrade my Outlook 97 outlook.pst file? Are there any other files
that will have to be upgraded? Will the conversion software do that
too?

Note: I don't use Outlook's email and messaging facilities -- just the
calendar, contact, and task functions.

Richard

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

What makes you think you need to upgrade your file? You're not going to
exceed any size limits with only Contacts and Calendar.

 

[raschulmanxx]

What makes you think you need to upgrade your file? You're not going to
exceed any size limits with only Contacts and Calendar.

Thanks for your reply.

It's true that my *.pst file size is relatively small, but there's a
different concern. Although the data in my Contacts and Calendar are
presently ascii-only, in word processing I mostly work with Unicode.
It's my understanding that Outlook 97 *.pst files are pre-Unicode. It
seems to me it would make sense for me to go all-Unicode where
possible.

I'm not sure what the advantage, if any, would be in sticking with an
out-of-version file format.

Down the road it's possible that I might decide to use Outlook 2007
for mail, for example if my present mail/news reader becomes orphaned
as my previous non-Microsoft Contact/Calendar software did.

- Richard

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

If you want to use Unicode, you just create a new PST file in Outlook 2007
and copy the data from your old one into it. There is no such thing as
"converting" an ascii file to Unicode.

 

[raschulmanxx]

If you want to use Unicode, you just create a new PST file in Outlook 2007
and copy the data from your old one into it. There is no such thing as
"converting" an ascii file to Unicode.

Thanks for this information. In reading of changes introduced in
Outlook 2003 vis-a-vis Outlook 97, I seem to have gotten the
impression that a file conversion was necessary.

Richard

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

File format changed, but there is no utility to convert an ascii PST file to
Unicode.

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

it's not required, but I think you'll have a better experience if you use
the new pst format. you can either import it or open the old pst using file,
open and drag/copy the items to the new pst.

 

[Z Man]

I will be upgrading my Office 2003 version of Outlook to MS Office Pro 2007.
What will happen to the current contents of my .pst file? I have emails,
4,000 contacts (with heavy attachments), etc. My business depends on my
having continuous access to my .pst data. Will it be converted to whatever
is used in Office 2007, or will I have to manually convert/import it? If the
latter is the case, how do I go about doing it?

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

did you make the pst new when you started using outlook? if so, it should be
the new format and you won't need to do anything. You can check the format
by right clicking on the top level and choosing properties - if it says
outlook 97-2002 format, it's not the new format.

I will be upgrading my Office 2003 version of Outlook to MS Office Pro
2007. What will happen to the current contents of my .pst file? I have
emails, 4,000 contacts (with heavy attachments), etc. My business depends
on my having continuous access to my .pst data. Will it be converted to
whatever is used in Office 2007, or will I have to manually convert/import
it? If the latter is the case, how do I go about doing it?

it's not required, but I think you'll have a better experience if you use
the new pst format. you can either import it or open the old pst using
file, open and drag/copy the items to the new pst.

On Sun, 11 Feb 2007 07:30:20 -0500, "Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]"

If you want to use Unicode, you just create a new PST file in Outlook
2007
and copy the data from your old one into it. There is no such thing as
"converting" an ascii file to Unicode.

Thanks for this information. In reading of changes introduced in
Outlook 2003 vis-a-vis Outlook 97, I seem to have gotten the
impression that a file conversion was necessary.

Richard

 

[raschulmanxx]

it's not required, but I think you'll have a better experience if you use
the new pst format. you can either import it or open the old pst using file,
open and drag/copy the items to the new pst.

Thanks. Will do.

Richard

 

[Brian Tillman]

File format changed, but there is no utility to convert an ascii PST
file to Unicode.

Well, this may work: http://www.maclean.com/upstart/

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

that doesn't really 'convert' it either - it imports everything into a new
pst.