How to properly transfer an outlook.pst file?

[Jay]

Doesn't your first method result in two PST files always being open in Outlook, with two sets of
inboxes, sent items, etc?

Copy the .pst file to anyplace EXCEPT the default location - My Documents is a good place as it
tends to be backed up. Then "open" the file in Outlook. Another method that seems to work is to do
the copying, then rename the .pst file that Outlook creates to .old, open Outlook and when it whines
about no .pst file, point it to the one in My Documents.

 

[firelock_ny]

Posted here countless times, exporting and importing PST's will lose:
1. Custom Forms
2. Custom Views
3. Connections between contacts and activities
4. Received dates on mail
5. Birthdays and anniversaries in calendar
6. Journal connections
7. Distribution Lists

Also, attempting to export and import an entire PST file will corrupt an
Outlook profile by creating a duplicate set of Personal Folders.
That is why we do not advise people to export and import a native file into
Outlook. You can certainly do so if you wish if none of these issues will
affect you.

Ah-hah, as the saying goes. In my location, we generally use
server-side calendars and contacts, and no-one uses Journal, so
that's why I haven't seen most of the list above. Odd that I haven't
seen the loss of Recieved dates on emails, though...and you'd
think they'd have patched the Import/Export function by now.

 

[Brian Tillman]

Doesn't your first method result in two PST files always being open
in Outlook, with two sets of inboxes, sent items, etc?

Sure, but then you change the delivery location and close the other PST

 

[xfile]

Like I said, it works for me. I have never experienced any corrupted files
from that method for 3 personal systems at home and 2 at work.

You have shared the recipe for corrupting your profile.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hi,

Just to share for what seems to be working fine for me.

After the new installation, I'll just open Outlook and let it create a
new PST file.

Then copy and paste the old PST file to the default location to replace
the new file (and if file names are different, change the file name
first), and when I reopened Outlook, it seems to be "fooled" by the new
PST file.



"Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]"
Copy the .pst file to anyplace EXCEPT the default location - My Documents
is a good place as it tends to be backed up. Then "open" the file in
Outlook. Another method that seems to work is to do the copying, then
rename the .pst file that Outlook creates to .old, open Outlook and when
it whines about no .pst file, point it to the one in My Documents.

--
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, Hapkido asked:

| For years I have struggled with "transferring" Outlook's .pst file,
| e.g., when doing a complete re-install of Windows or when a client
| buys a new PC and wants their Outlook data transferred from their
| backup files. Invariably something gets botched up and this usually
| means I have to spend hours trying to resolve the mess created. I am
| assuming there must be a proper way to do this and obviously I'm not
| doing it. What I'm hoping for is that someone will provide a
| step-by-step procedure that WORKS.
|
| My general practice has been to install Office, open Outlook and
| create a new account when prompted. I then simply copy the backup
| copy of the "outlook.pst" file into "C:\Documents and
| Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook"
| and overwrite the newly created .pst file. That just doesn't work.
| Most often this results in the Address Book not being associated with
| the Contacts, etc. So again, what I'm wanting to do is to use the
| backup "outlook.pst" file as the one and only .pst file for a new
| installation of Outlook..... let's narrow it down to Outlook 2003.

 

[Jay]

I must admit that I've done this before (ie closed outlook and copied over the .PST file) and
everything seemed to be OK. It could just be that I don't use all the facilities in Outlook, so
haven't noticed a problem.

Where is the profile stored? Is it in a file or is it in the registry?

You have shared the recipe for corrupting your profile.

 

[xfile]

Hi,

Refer to this MS article for profile: Description of user profiles and
information services in Outlook
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289467

And I quote from the article: "You can copy an existing user profile, rename
it, and then modify it as needed to create your profile. "

For personal address book: How to copy your Personal Address Book to another
computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/829919

I must admit that I've done this before (ie closed outlook and copied over
the .PST file) and
everything seemed to be OK. It could just be that I don't use all the
facilities in Outlook, so
haven't noticed a problem.

Where is the profile stored? Is it in a file or is it in the registry?

You have shared the recipe for corrupting your profile.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hi,

Just to share for what seems to be working fine for me.

After the new installation, I'll just open Outlook and let it create a
new
PST file.

Then copy and paste the old PST file to the default location to replace
the new file (and if file names are different, change the file name
first), and when I reopened Outlook, it seems to be "fooled" by the new
PST file.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

I never said anything about corrupted files. I said corrupted profile.
Overwriting a PST file is the most common cause for duplicate (aka "ghost")
Personal Folders in a profile.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Like I said, it works for me. I have never experienced any corrupted files
from that method for 3 personal systems at home and 2 at work.

You have shared the recipe for corrupting your profile.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hi,

Just to share for what seems to be working fine for me.

After the new installation, I'll just open Outlook and let it create a
new PST file.

Then copy and paste the old PST file to the default location to replace
the new file (and if file names are different, change the file name
first), and when I reopened Outlook, it seems to be "fooled" by the new
PST file.



"Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]"
Copy the .pst file to anyplace EXCEPT the default location - My
Documents is a good place as it tends to be backed up. Then "open" the
file in Outlook. Another method that seems to work is to do the copying,
then rename the .pst file that Outlook creates to .old, open Outlook and
when it whines about no .pst file, point it to the one in My Documents.

--
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, Hapkido asked:

| For years I have struggled with "transferring" Outlook's .pst file,
| e.g., when doing a complete re-install of Windows or when a client
| buys a new PC and wants their Outlook data transferred from their
| backup files. Invariably something gets botched up and this usually
| means I have to spend hours trying to resolve the mess created. I am
| assuming there must be a proper way to do this and obviously I'm not
| doing it. What I'm hoping for is that someone will provide a
| step-by-step procedure that WORKS.
|
| My general practice has been to install Office, open Outlook and
| create a new account when prompted. I then simply copy the backup
| copy of the "outlook.pst" file into "C:\Documents and
| Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook"
| and overwrite the newly created .pst file. That just doesn't work.
| Most often this results in the Address Book not being associated with
| the Contacts, etc. So again, what I'm wanting to do is to use the
| backup "outlook.pst" file as the one and only .pst file for a new
| installation of Outlook..... let's narrow it down to Outlook 2003.

 

[xfile]

Typo but never happened.

I never said anything about corrupted files. I said corrupted profile.
Overwriting a PST file is the most common cause for duplicate (aka "ghost")
Personal Folders in a profile.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Like I said, it works for me. I have never experienced any corrupted
files from that method for 3 personal systems at home and 2 at work.

You have shared the recipe for corrupting your profile.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Hi,

Just to share for what seems to be working fine for me.

After the new installation, I'll just open Outlook and let it create a
new PST file.

Then copy and paste the old PST file to the default location to replace
the new file (and if file names are different, change the file name
first), and when I reopened Outlook, it seems to be "fooled" by the new
PST file.



"Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]"
Copy the .pst file to anyplace EXCEPT the default location - My
Documents is a good place as it tends to be backed up. Then "open" the
file in Outlook. Another method that seems to work is to do the
copying, then rename the .pst file that Outlook creates to .old, open
Outlook and when it whines about no .pst file, point it to the one in
My Documents.

--
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, Hapkido asked:

| For years I have struggled with "transferring" Outlook's .pst file,
| e.g., when doing a complete re-install of Windows or when a client
| buys a new PC and wants their Outlook data transferred from their
| backup files. Invariably something gets botched up and this usually
| means I have to spend hours trying to resolve the mess created. I am
| assuming there must be a proper way to do this and obviously I'm not
| doing it. What I'm hoping for is that someone will provide a
| step-by-step procedure that WORKS.
|
| My general practice has been to install Office, open Outlook and
| create a new account when prompted. I then simply copy the backup
| copy of the "outlook.pst" file into "C:\Documents and
| Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook"
| and overwrite the newly created .pst file. That just doesn't work.
| Most often this results in the Address Book not being associated with
| the Contacts, etc. So again, what I'm wanting to do is to use the
| backup "outlook.pst" file as the one and only .pst file for a new
| installation of Outlook..... let's narrow it down to Outlook 2003.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Then be aware that it does for most users. The later the version, the more
apt it is to happen.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Typo but never happened.

I never said anything about corrupted files. I said corrupted profile.
Overwriting a PST file is the most common cause for duplicate (aka
"ghost") Personal Folders in a profile.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Like I said, it works for me. I have never experienced any corrupted
files from that method for 3 personal systems at home and 2 at work.




You have shared the recipe for corrupting your profile.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Hi,

Just to share for what seems to be working fine for me.

After the new installation, I'll just open Outlook and let it create a
new PST file.

Then copy and paste the old PST file to the default location to
replace the new file (and if file names are different, change the file
name first), and when I reopened Outlook, it seems to be "fooled" by
the new PST file.



"Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]"
Copy the .pst file to anyplace EXCEPT the default location - My
Documents is a good place as it tends to be backed up. Then "open"
the file in Outlook. Another method that seems to work is to do the
copying, then rename the .pst file that Outlook creates to .old, open
Outlook and when it whines about no .pst file, point it to the one in
My Documents.

--
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, Hapkido asked:

| For years I have struggled with "transferring" Outlook's .pst file,
| e.g., when doing a complete re-install of Windows or when a client
| buys a new PC and wants their Outlook data transferred from their
| backup files. Invariably something gets botched up and this usually
| means I have to spend hours trying to resolve the mess created. I am
| assuming there must be a proper way to do this and obviously I'm not
| doing it. What I'm hoping for is that someone will provide a
| step-by-step procedure that WORKS.
|
| My general practice has been to install Office, open Outlook and
| create a new account when prompted. I then simply copy the backup
| copy of the "outlook.pst" file into "C:\Documents and
| Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook"
| and overwrite the newly created .pst file. That just doesn't work.
| Most often this results in the Address Book not being associated
with
| the Contacts, etc. So again, what I'm wanting to do is to use the
| backup "outlook.pst" file as the one and only .pst file for a new
| installation of Outlook..... let's narrow it down to Outlook 2003.