address book saved as .pst file, can't import into Outlook 2003

[Guest]

I saved my contacts from windows 2000 outlook 2003(old computer) in a .pst
file.
New computer with win XP, now unable to import the file into outlook 2003 as
message says this is not a .pst file.
Any suggestions?

 

[Brian Tillman]

I saved my contacts from windows 2000 outlook 2003(old computer) in a
.pst file.
New computer with win XP, now unable to import the file into outlook
2003 as message says this is not a .pst file.
Any suggestions?

Whatever method you used to create that PST or transfer it to the new PC has
corru[pted it in such a manner as to render it unusable. The primary cause
is improper copying to the transfer medium. If you exported your contacts,
that didn't help, either. Go back to the original machine if you can and
with Outlook closed, just copy the original PST to a transfer medium, put it
on the new PC, copy it to the hard drive and remove the read-only attribute,
and then open it in the new Outlook with File>Open>Outlook Data File. Open
the contacts folder in that PST, select all the items with CTRL-A, then
click Edit>Copy to Folder, specifying your new Contacts folder as the
destination.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Brian for the info, it semms I have lost the data. Peculiarly, the
other data I saved is OK and loaded fine, and the files are shown as office
data files.

 

[Tecknomage]

Brian forgot something. DO NOT overwrite your pst file in your new PC (which
may be too late in your case).

On the old system, copy the pst to some media. But RENAME it.

Old = Outlook.pst, rename to Outlook1.pst (for example)

Copy to your new PC and Open Outlook1.pst, now you can use this.

You can close the Outlook.pst on your new system then delete the file if you
wish.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Be careful with this advice. Renaming a PST file outside of Outlook can have
some unintended consequences. It is usually not necessary to do so. As long
as you copy said file to any location other than Outlook's default location,
you won't be overwriting any files.