Duplicate Personal Folders

[donwb]

Outlook 2003 on Win XP

I had to reinstall Win XP and therefore MS Office.
Outlook now exhibits three identical instances of Personal Folders.
Each contains my original customization and extra folders.
How can I remove two of them?
If I right click one the <<Close Personal Folders>> option is greyed out.
If I go to tools/e-mail accounts/deliver new e-mails to the following
location,
and hit the drop down arrow, the 3 duplicated PFs are listed.
If I change the highlight to another one and exit, then close and re-open
Outlook,
I can then use Close Personal Folders to remove one PF instance, but that's
all.
If I repeat the process, Close Personal Folders remains greyed out.
Any help appreciated. Please ask any questions.
donwb

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

You must have corrupted your profile by transferring data incorrectly (like
by importing for example). You'll need to create a new Outlook profile from
scratch and connect it correctly to your data file: open the file in Outlook
and set it as your default. Then restart Outlook and close the original,
empty data file that the new profile created.

 

[donwb]

Hi Russ
Thanks for your quick response.
I half expected something like that, and yes, I have imported data in the
past.
But I'm not very conversant with Outlook and would greatly
appreciate some more detailed guidance on doing what you suggest.
donwb

You must have corrupted your profile by transferring data incorrectly
(like by importing for example). You'll need to create a new Outlook
profile from scratch and connect it correctly to your data file: open the
file in Outlook and set it as your default. Then restart Outlook and close
the original, empty data file that the new profile created.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Outlook 2003 on Win XP

I had to reinstall Win XP and therefore MS Office.
Outlook now exhibits three identical instances of Personal Folders.
Each contains my original customization and extra folders.
How can I remove two of them?
If I right click one the <<Close Personal Folders>> option is greyed out.
If I go to tools/e-mail accounts/deliver new e-mails to the following
location,
and hit the drop down arrow, the 3 duplicated PFs are listed.
If I change the highlight to another one and exit, then close and re-open
Outlook,
I can then use Close Personal Folders to remove one PF instance, but
that's all.
If I repeat the process, Close Personal Folders remains greyed out.
Any help appreciated. Please ask any questions.
donwb

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

OK. New Outlook profile creation is outlined here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;829918&Product=out2003

Migrating your data file correctly to a new profile is covered on these
pages:
http://www.slipstick.com/config/backup.htm
http://www.howto-outlook.com/Howto/backupandrestore.htm
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010771141033.aspx

BTW, the problem you have is not serious and is mostly cosmetic. Outlook
should still work fine. You may not need to do anything at all.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hi Russ
Thanks for your quick response.
I half expected something like that, and yes, I have imported data in the
past.
But I'm not very conversant with Outlook and would greatly
appreciate some more detailed guidance on doing what you suggest.
donwb

You must have corrupted your profile by transferring data incorrectly
(like by importing for example). You'll need to create a new Outlook
profile from scratch and connect it correctly to your data file: open the
file in Outlook and set it as your default. Then restart Outlook and
close the original, empty data file that the new profile created.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Outlook 2003 on Win XP

I had to reinstall Win XP and therefore MS Office.
Outlook now exhibits three identical instances of Personal Folders.
Each contains my original customization and extra folders.
How can I remove two of them?
If I right click one the <<Close Personal Folders>> option is greyed
out.
If I go to tools/e-mail accounts/deliver new e-mails to the following
location,
and hit the drop down arrow, the 3 duplicated PFs are listed.
If I change the highlight to another one and exit, then close and
re-open Outlook,
I can then use Close Personal Folders to remove one PF instance, but
that's all.
If I repeat the process, Close Personal Folders remains greyed out.
Any help appreciated. Please ask any questions.
donwb

 

[donwb]

Hi again Russ

The information you sent solved the problem.
I was able to create a new profile then associate my Outlook.pst
data file with it. Now only one Personal folder.
Many thanks
donwb

OK. New Outlook profile creation is outlined here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;829918&Product=out2003

Migrating your data file correctly to a new profile is covered on these
pages:
http://www.slipstick.com/config/backup.htm
http://www.howto-outlook.com/Howto/backupandrestore.htm
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010771141033.aspx

BTW, the problem you have is not serious and is mostly cosmetic. Outlook
should still work fine. You may not need to do anything at all.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hi Russ
Thanks for your quick response.
I half expected something like that, and yes, I have imported data in the
past.
But I'm not very conversant with Outlook and would greatly
appreciate some more detailed guidance on doing what you suggest.
donwb

You must have corrupted your profile by transferring data incorrectly
(like by importing for example). You'll need to create a new Outlook
profile from scratch and connect it correctly to your data file: open
the file in Outlook and set it as your default. Then restart Outlook and
close the original, empty data file that the new profile created.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Outlook 2003 on Win XP

I had to reinstall Win XP and therefore MS Office.
Outlook now exhibits three identical instances of Personal Folders.
Each contains my original customization and extra folders.
How can I remove two of them?
If I right click one the <<Close Personal Folders>> option is greyed
out.
If I go to tools/e-mail accounts/deliver new e-mails to the following
location,
and hit the drop down arrow, the 3 duplicated PFs are listed.
If I change the highlight to another one and exit, then close and
re-open Outlook,
I can then use Close Personal Folders to remove one PF instance, but
that's all.
If I repeat the process, Close Personal Folders remains greyed out.
Any help appreciated. Please ask any questions.
donwb