moving outlook settings to another computer

[Robert]

i have about 50 users and i am replacing their computers for new computers, i
need to know is there a way to move or copy a users outlook settings menus
and tool bars from one computer to another computer. that have competely
customized their outlook and i see too much individual work ahead

 

[Roady [MVP]]

In what kind of environment?
If these are all domain computers running the same version of Windows and
Outlook and you have roaming profiles configured there is little that you
need to do. It probably might only be restricted to moving over any locally
saved pst-file and reconnecting it.

For individual computers I can highly recommend Outlook Backup. It also
deals very well with cross version upgrades (like saving it under Windows XP
with Outlook 2003 and then recovering it to Windows Vista with Outlook
2007).

http://addins.howto-outlook.com/abf_outlookbackup
If you decide to order use ABF-1HTJ8 to get a discount.

 

[Bo in Finland]

I have one private computer and am not willing to pay for a backup/transfer
solution for transferring ALL outlook date to the new pc.

You must have a list of useful outlook files to copy/transfer to a new pc.
The .pst file is quite obvious for most users but where are all email
contacts stored.
Outlook 2003 is pretty good at hiding email addresses for the user and
storing them somewhere in a secret place. There are other files in the same
directory as the .pst file so I can only guess that one of these binary
"non-editable" files story my last used email addresses.

Also, if you happen to mistype an email address it's stored somewhere and
impossible (?) to correct/remove.

Thanks for reveling your secrets!
Bo in Finland

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Nothing is hidden in the way that you describe it.
ALL your data is stored in the pst-file so also your contacts.

The rest of the files and registry entries making up the Outlook mail
profile basically contain only settings or cached settings/data.

If you want to move your data manually, basically you should consider only
to move the data files (pst-files) and reconfigure the rest as described in;
http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/backupandrestore.htm

Most of the other data cannot (easily) be moved because of the dependency of
the current location of the files and the installed addins. A level of
extraction is then required to create a backup and then level op dependency
needs to be created again at the time of the restore. A backup application
is then highly recommended because of this complexity and a single failure
could lead to a corrupt mail profile.

 

[Bo in Finland]

Thanks Robert,

Seems I've lost then.
Last time IM support helped me with my work pc and only moved the pst-file,
I lost the calendar settings, the email-addresses (those last typed that pop
up when you start typing it again) and the mail filtering rules.
I would expect MS do do things easier for us dumb users to keep all mail
settings when we update the system for one reason or the other. Outlook is
not exactly a new application.

In the past MS did a good job in making it possible to do the same task many
different ways suiting most users. Now I feel more and more hand-cuffed and
monitored. I don't even know how to copy paste the weblink in an outlook
mail. I have to click it and copy it in the browser.

Regards,
Bo

 

[Roady [MVP]]

The list of cached addresses are kept in an nk2-file. In most cases you can
simply replace that file with your old one if you started in a new
configuration.

To remove a single entry (I forgot to answer this in your previous post) you
can select the name with your arrow keys on your keyboard when the list
pops-up and then press Delete.

Rules can be backed-up too as per;
http://www.msoutlook.info/question/138

Only moving a pst-file on the same system shouldn't have the issues you
described if done properly.

Clicking a link still works in Outlook 2007 as well. Only when a message is
being received in the Junk Email Folder or when it has been marked as a
Phishing Email the links will be disabled. You'll be informed about this in
the Infobar sitting between the message header and the actual message on how
to reinstate it. If it doesn't work for any other email, it means you have
an issue with your computer configuration. Usually resetting your favorite
Internet Browser and reassigning it as the default in Windows will solve it.