Sharing .PST files between Outlook 2000 and 2003

[Elliott Cowton]

Hi

Grateful for some guidance. I have a home network with a mix of a Win98SE
machine running Outlook 2000 and 3 XP machines running my 3 Education User
licences for Outlook 2003. I don't have anything like Exchange or other
internal mail server software running.

Between us, the family have a total of 9 POP3 accounts with various ISPs.

I would like to make it so that anyone can log on at any machine and get
their mail.

The questions:
1. Are their any issues associated with having .PST files opened by both
the 2000 and 2003 versions of Outlook?
2. Is there a simple way to share a .PST file so that one machine could
be left logged onto the internet to collect the mail and other machines then
share the .PST files to read it?
3. Having worked in corporate IT, I remember that there was once a scheme
that allowed me to buy licences for Word 97 but actually install Word 6 on
WFW3.11 machines until we managed to catch up on the upgrade programme. If
there is no way to share files between 2000 and 2003, does the Education
Licence for 2003 allow this "backwards compatibility"? i.e. Can I hold 3
licences for 2003 but actually install 2000 in its place?

Thanks in advance

Elliott

 

[Vince Averello [MVP-Outlook]]

PST files can't be opened by more than one machine at a time so you can't
collect on one machine and read on another if you're going to keep Outlook
running on the collection machine. Also, MS doesn't recommend opening/using
PST files over a network. I've done it but it's a bit on the pokey side (my
home net is all 10/100 with switches so it's not the net that's slow) and
makes PSTs more subject to corruption.

 

[Elliott Cowton]

Also, MS doesn't recommend opening/using PST files over a network. I've
done it but it's a bit on the pokey side (my home net is all 10/100 with
switches so it's not the net that's slow) and makes PSTs more subject to
corruption.

Thanks for the reply, however I am very surprised by the part included
above.

I worked for some years as a user on a worldwide corporate LAN which relied
on doing just this to provide me with the same desktop wherever I was in the
world - it worked and not once in all the many thousands of users we had did
I encounter one who had had their .PST file corrupted by opening it across a
network.

And before you ask, the PST was not downloaded to the local machine as part
of the roaming profile, it remained very firmly on the server AND I believe
it was Microsoft who helped us set it up.

Please could you answer the first question I asked: Are there any known
issues with having both 2000 and 2003 open the same PST? I suppose the $64k
part of the question is "Does 2003 update the file structure in any way that
will prevent 2000 subsequently opening the same file"?

thanks

Elliott

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

If you use the Ansi format for the 2003 .pst file (silly since the 2003
unicode format allows for a 32 terabyte .pst file), you "may" not have
issues. However, opening any .pst file between versions is not recommended.

As for the networked .pst files, if you ever have a problem and apply to
Microsoft for assistance, they will firmly tell you - it is not a supported
configuration.


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Elliott Cowton asked:

| || Also, MS doesn't recommend opening/using PST files over a network.
|| I've done it but it's a bit on the pokey side (my home net is all
|| 10/100 with switches so it's not the net that's slow) and makes PSTs
|| more subject to corruption.
||
|
| Thanks for the reply, however I am very surprised by the part included
| above.
|
| I worked for some years as a user on a worldwide corporate LAN which
| relied on doing just this to provide me with the same desktop
| wherever I was in the world - it worked and not once in all the many
| thousands of users we had did I encounter one who had had their .PST
| file corrupted by opening it across a network.
|
| And before you ask, the PST was not downloaded to the local machine
| as part of the roaming profile, it remained very firmly on the server
| AND I believe it was Microsoft who helped us set it up.
|
| Please could you answer the first question I asked: Are there any
| known issues with having both 2000 and 2003 open the same PST? I
| suppose the $64k part of the question is "Does 2003 update the file
| structure in any way that will prevent 2000 subsequently opening the
| same file"?
|
| thanks
|
| Elliott