Import messages and contacts from Outlook PST file?

[Richard Stauch]

I am moving from an old, slow laptop to a new one. However, I can't afford
the full version of Office. I had to get the Home and Student version, which
does not include Outlook. I am using Windows mail, and it works fine.
Nevertheless, I need to import the old mail and contacts from my Outlook
file (*.pst). When I try it from Windows Mail, it says there are no MAPI
client profiles set up on this computer. Well, of course not, I don't have
Outlook installed.
If I did, I suppose I wouldn't be concerned with Windows Mail. Would I?
Is anyone aware of a tool Microsoft has available to bridge this gap?

 

[Dave]

Outlook is the only program that can use the .pst file.
If you had Outlook installed on your old computer, why not install it on the
new one? Versions 2003 and newer work fine, 2000 & 2002 work with some
problems.

Or, you could download and install the trial version of Office 2007 to
perform the import into Windows Mail.
http://us1.trymicrosoftoffice.com/default.aspx?re_ms=oo&culture=en-US

Or, if you still have the old computer, import the Outlook messages into
Outlook Express, copy the .dbx files to the Vista computer, and import into
WM. And export the Outlook contacts to a .CSV file, and import that into
WM.

 

[Richard Stauch]

Dave,

Thanks for that very thourough reply. Wow, three options, and all within a
couple of hours of my post. That's great!

I think the last option is the best for me. I don't want to install a trial
version of Office when I already have a purchased version on the machine. Nor
do I want to install an older verion together with a newer one (I've
previously had problems trying to do that). The third option is more
laborious, but safer overall.

Thanks again!