Outlook 2003 and 2007 compatibility and file storage

[Ken Springer]

I have a multi-boot CPU. One OS is XP Home, the other OS is Vista Ultimate.

I have Office 2003 installed with XP, and 2007 installed with Vista.

From reading earlier posts, I have one question answered, the .pst files are
compatible.

This is what I would like to accomplish:

I would like to have both vesions of Outlook read/write to the same Outlook
files, including rules, archives, everything, and have all of those files
kept on a different partition. In fact, the desired partition is on a
different physical drive.

My goal is to be able to use the same data files regardless of which version
of Outlook I am in.

Is this possible? How do I do it? Which files will I be looking for and
moving?


Ken

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Verify the following:
1. You will not be connecting to your Outlook data over a network at any
time.
2. You will never be trying to access your Outlook data with more than one
installation of Outlook at a time.

 

[DL]

Its the outlook data file, typically named outlook.pst, see data file
management for both location and name, or properties of Personal
Folders>Advanced

The data file would need to be located where both sys can access it. Only a
single instance of outlook can use a data file, Probably you would need to
create a new Outlook Profile, add this data file and the accounts (prompt
for Profile) - same for archives
(I would use a copy of the pst's rather than origonals, in case)

 

[Ken Springer]

Hi, Russ,

To answer your questions......

1. No. I'll stand by that for only tonight! Who knows what I'll want to
do next week. LOL!!!! I do have a home network, but the other computer is
Win98SE, with Office 97 Pro installed. I occasionally use Outlook there, but
that's because the multiboot computer is old, slow, and churning away on
something that's taking forever. I am aware the .pst files are not
compatible, and Outlook 97 is set to leave a copy of the mail on the server
so it's downloaded again when I log in on the multiboot computer. If I
should reply from the Win98SE computer, I bcc: myself so the reply gets
downloaded to the mulitboot machine.

2. No plans to access the same Outlook files with more than one copy of
Outlook at a time. I didn't think you could do this with Outlook anyway. So
out of curiosity, can it be done? I'd have to buy/build a new computer to
pull that off anyway, and that's not in the cards at the moment.

Verify the following:
1. You will not be connecting to your Outlook data over a network at any
time.
2. You will never be trying to access your Outlook data with more than one
installation of Outlook at a time.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I have a multi-boot CPU. One OS is XP Home, the other OS is Vista
Ultimate.

I have Office 2003 installed with XP, and 2007 installed with Vista.

From reading earlier posts, I have one question answered, the .pst files
are
compatible.

This is what I would like to accomplish:

I would like to have both vesions of Outlook read/write to the same
Outlook
files, including rules, archives, everything, and have all of those files
kept on a different partition. In fact, the desired partition is on a
different physical drive.

My goal is to be able to use the same data files regardless of which
version
of Outlook I am in.

Is this possible? How do I do it? Which files will I be looking for and
moving?


Ken

 

[Ken Springer]

Hi, DL,

I found out about the Advanced dialog from another post, but the option to
change the data file location is greyed out. So there's no changing it from
there.

I'm answering your post from an OS partition that has no MS Office software
installed, and I don't plan on installing any here. I use this partition to
"play" in, installing stuff I want to check out before installing in another
partition for permanent use.

I'll see if I have any editting options in my Outlook profile when I get
into the OS partitions that have Outlook installed.

Ken

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

While the file format is compatible between the 2 versions, please be aware
of the fact that Outlook 2007 indexes the files differently from previous
versions and using 2003 and 2007 alternatively on the same .pst file can
cause corruption in the .pst file.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.
ALWAYS post your Outlook version.
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375


After furious head scratching, Ken Springer asked:

| I have a multi-boot CPU. One OS is XP Home, the other OS is Vista
| Ultimate.
|
| I have Office 2003 installed with XP, and 2007 installed with Vista.
|
| From reading earlier posts, I have one question answered, the .pst
| files are compatible.
|
| This is what I would like to accomplish:
|
| I would like to have both vesions of Outlook read/write to the same
| Outlook files, including rules, archives, everything, and have all of
| those files kept on a different partition. In fact, the desired
| partition is on a different physical drive.
|
| My goal is to be able to use the same data files regardless of which
| version of Outlook I am in.
|
| Is this possible? How do I do it? Which files will I be looking for
| and moving?
|
|
| Ken

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Then you should be able to place your data file in a location that both
partitions can access and use it with both installations. Although the files
are compatible, you need to be aware that each version of Outlook varies in
how it uses and indexes PST files so you may see some differences in
behavior. I know of no reported incompatibilities, but this is Outlook.
Incompatibility is it's middle name.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hi, Russ,

To answer your questions......

1. No. I'll stand by that for only tonight! Who knows what I'll want to
do next week. LOL!!!! I do have a home network, but the other computer
is
Win98SE, with Office 97 Pro installed. I occasionally use Outlook there,
but
that's because the multiboot computer is old, slow, and churning away on
something that's taking forever. I am aware the .pst files are not
compatible, and Outlook 97 is set to leave a copy of the mail on the
server
so it's downloaded again when I log in on the multiboot computer. If I
should reply from the Win98SE computer, I bcc: myself so the reply gets
downloaded to the mulitboot machine.

2. No plans to access the same Outlook files with more than one copy of
Outlook at a time. I didn't think you could do this with Outlook anyway.
So
out of curiosity, can it be done? I'd have to buy/build a new computer to
pull that off anyway, and that's not in the cards at the moment.

Verify the following:
1. You will not be connecting to your Outlook data over a network at any
time.
2. You will never be trying to access your Outlook data with more than
one
installation of Outlook at a time.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I have a multi-boot CPU. One OS is XP Home, the other OS is Vista
Ultimate.

I have Office 2003 installed with XP, and 2007 installed with Vista.

From reading earlier posts, I have one question answered, the .pst
files
are
compatible.

This is what I would like to accomplish:

I would like to have both vesions of Outlook read/write to the same
Outlook
files, including rules, archives, everything, and have all of those
files
kept on a different partition. In fact, the desired partition is on a
different physical drive.

My goal is to be able to use the same data files regardless of which
version
of Outlook I am in.

Is this possible? How do I do it? Which files will I be looking for
and
moving?


Ken

 

[Ken Springer]

Thanks, Milly.

I guess. LOL Just another thing of many I've had over the years I
wanted to do with the computer at hand that I can't. :-( It's always been
that way, I'm always wanting a computer to do something it can't until a year
or two down the road.

I wonder why MS didn't think people might want to use the same storage file
with both programs, and give the user the opportunity.

Ken

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

I wonder why MS didn't think people might want to use the same storage
file
with both programs, and give the user the opportunity.

If you use the same version of Outlook in each instance of the operating
system there shouldn't be any problems.

 

[Ken Springer]

Hi, Brian,

I knew I could do it that way, but it didn't meet "the greater goal".

I'm enrolled in an information technology course that ultimately will
require Vista and Office 2007 Pro. But I also didn't want to buy a new
computer unless I absolutely had to. The one I have is old and
sloooooooooooooooooooow when it comes to Outlook 2007 which I had previously
purchased separately.

Logic says, the fewer programs installed with any operating system, the
fewer things available to load up the CPU, so the faster it will run. The
plan is to simply use the Vista/Office 2007 partition solely for school,
nothing else. And boot into XP for everything else.

So far, the logic is working, Vista's not running too bad on this old clunker.

Since Office 2007 Pro includes Outlook 2007, I thought it would be really
convenient to be able to keep tabs on my email while in Vista, and still have
everything available in XP/2003 where I would be most of the time.

Alas and alack, it doesn't sound like it's going to be possible.


Ken

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

In theory, there is no reason it shouldn't work. A lot would depend on how
you use Outlook. I do know that Outlook 2007 is much harder on PST files
than Outlook 2003. It fails to disconnect from them in a quick and clean
fashion and creates errors in them much more often, possibly because of its
indexing feature. I use a dual boot WinXP/Office 2003 and Vista/Office 2007
but keep my PST files separate because I have a healthy respect for how
nasty a program Outlook is when running against a PST file.
You could always give it a try and see how it works. Just make sure you keep
a good backup of your PST file so you can bail if you run into trouble. If
you try it, report back and let us know what happens.

 

[Ken Springer]

Hi, Russ,

Since the software itself can screw up the files, I'm not even going to take
the risk. Truth be known, if it was for wanting to sync with my cell phones
and the college requirement, I wouldn't be even be using Outlook. I really
don't care for it. I've always like Eudora, but Qualcomm has more or less
abandoned it, although they say they are working on an open source/free
version.

And in one of my boot partitions, not XP Home or Vista, I'm trying out new
email programs to see if I can find one that does what *I* want, not what a
programmer wants.

Obviously, MS must know about the problem, why do they spend the time and
effort to fix it before coming out with a still newer version.

Backups are a secondary reason for the idea. I only want to back up one
file instead of two. The ultimate goal is to get all files created by a
user's use of the computer on a hard drive partition *other* than the
partition with the OS('s) on them. Then I only need to back up that
partition rather than more than one. But it looks like that is becoming a
fantasy. The reasoning for that philosopy is it would be much easier and
lose much less data when the need to replace exisiting partition that is
somehow messed up with a disk image file.

Ken

In theory, there is no reason it shouldn't work. A lot would depend on how
you use Outlook. I do know that Outlook 2007 is much harder on PST files
than Outlook 2003. It fails to disconnect from them in a quick and clean
fashion and creates errors in them much more often, possibly because of its
indexing feature. I use a dual boot WinXP/Office 2003 and Vista/Office 2007
but keep my PST files separate because I have a healthy respect for how
nasty a program Outlook is when running against a PST file.
You could always give it a try and see how it works. Just make sure you keep
a good backup of your PST file so you can bail if you run into trouble. If
you try it, report back and let us know what happens.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hi, Brian,

I knew I could do it that way, but it didn't meet "the greater goal".


I'm enrolled in an information technology course that ultimately will
require Vista and Office 2007 Pro. But I also didn't want to buy a new
computer unless I absolutely had to. The one I have is old and
sloooooooooooooooooooow when it comes to Outlook 2007 which I had
previously
purchased separately.

Logic says, the fewer programs installed with any operating system, the
fewer things available to load up the CPU, so the faster it will run. The
plan is to simply use the Vista/Office 2007 partition solely for school,
nothing else. And boot into XP for everything else.

So far, the logic is working, Vista's not running too bad on this old
clunker.

Since Office 2007 Pro includes Outlook 2007, I thought it would be really
convenient to be able to keep tabs on my email while in Vista, and still
have
everything available in XP/2003 where I would be most of the time.

Alas and alack, it doesn't sound like it's going to be possible.


Ken

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Chicken. You seemed adventurous. We're always looking for guinea pigs.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hi, Russ,

Since the software itself can screw up the files, I'm not even going to
take
the risk. Truth be known, if it was for wanting to sync with my cell
phones
and the college requirement, I wouldn't be even be using Outlook. I
really
don't care for it. I've always like Eudora, but Qualcomm has more or less
abandoned it, although they say they are working on an open source/free
version.

And in one of my boot partitions, not XP Home or Vista, I'm trying out new
email programs to see if I can find one that does what *I* want, not what
a
programmer wants.

Obviously, MS must know about the problem, why do they spend the time and
effort to fix it before coming out with a still newer version.

Backups are a secondary reason for the idea. I only want to back up one
file instead of two. The ultimate goal is to get all files created by a
user's use of the computer on a hard drive partition *other* than the
partition with the OS('s) on them. Then I only need to back up that
partition rather than more than one. But it looks like that is becoming a
fantasy. The reasoning for that philosopy is it would be much easier and
lose much less data when the need to replace exisiting partition that is
somehow messed up with a disk image file.

Ken

In theory, there is no reason it shouldn't work. A lot would depend on
how
you use Outlook. I do know that Outlook 2007 is much harder on PST files
than Outlook 2003. It fails to disconnect from them in a quick and clean
fashion and creates errors in them much more often, possibly because of
its
indexing feature. I use a dual boot WinXP/Office 2003 and Vista/Office
2007
but keep my PST files separate because I have a healthy respect for how
nasty a program Outlook is when running against a PST file.
You could always give it a try and see how it works. Just make sure you
keep
a good backup of your PST file so you can bail if you run into trouble.
If
you try it, report back and let us know what happens.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hi, Brian,

I knew I could do it that way, but it didn't meet "the greater goal".


I'm enrolled in an information technology course that ultimately will
require Vista and Office 2007 Pro. But I also didn't want to buy a new
computer unless I absolutely had to. The one I have is old and
sloooooooooooooooooooow when it comes to Outlook 2007 which I had
previously
purchased separately.

Logic says, the fewer programs installed with any operating system,
the
fewer things available to load up the CPU, so the faster it will run.
The
plan is to simply use the Vista/Office 2007 partition solely for
school,
nothing else. And boot into XP for everything else.

So far, the logic is working, Vista's not running too bad on this old
clunker.

Since Office 2007 Pro includes Outlook 2007, I thought it would be
really
convenient to be able to keep tabs on my email while in Vista, and
still
have
everything available in XP/2003 where I would be most of the time.

Alas and alack, it doesn't sound like it's going to be possible.


Ken




:


I wonder why MS didn't think people might want to use the same
storage
file
with both programs, and give the user the opportunity.

If you use the same version of Outlook in each instance of the
operating
system there shouldn't be any problems.

 

[Ken Springer]

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!

To be honest, when I first got into computers in the '80's, I would try and
do just about anything. Never was a code hacker or anything like that, but
everything almost always worked. It was not a MS operating system too.

But I have neither the time nor the money to do this anymore. And it's no
longer as much fun as it used to be. :-(

But these days, I'm so tired of fighting all the little nagging things that
seem to come, as part of the default settings, of an MS operating system, I
truly fear upgrading anything any more. :-(

As I've mentioned in other newsgroup posts, if I had the money, I'd have
bought a top end Mac yesterday or the day before. I'm sure there are issues
there too, but I can't imagine it could be any worse.

Ken

Chicken. You seemed adventurous. We're always looking for guinea pigs.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

Hi, Russ,

Since the software itself can screw up the files, I'm not even going to
take
the risk. Truth be known, if it was for wanting to sync with my cell
phones
and the college requirement, I wouldn't be even be using Outlook. I
really
don't care for it. I've always like Eudora, but Qualcomm has more or less
abandoned it, although they say they are working on an open source/free
version.

And in one of my boot partitions, not XP Home or Vista, I'm trying out new
email programs to see if I can find one that does what *I* want, not what
a
programmer wants.

Obviously, MS must know about the problem, why do they spend the time and
effort to fix it before coming out with a still newer version.

Backups are a secondary reason for the idea. I only want to back up one
file instead of two. The ultimate goal is to get all files created by a
user's use of the computer on a hard drive partition *other* than the
partition with the OS('s) on them. Then I only need to back up that
partition rather than more than one. But it looks like that is becoming a
fantasy. The reasoning for that philosopy is it would be much easier and
lose much less data when the need to replace exisiting partition that is
somehow messed up with a disk image file.

Ken

In theory, there is no reason it shouldn't work. A lot would depend on
how
you use Outlook. I do know that Outlook 2007 is much harder on PST files
than Outlook 2003. It fails to disconnect from them in a quick and clean
fashion and creates errors in them much more often, possibly because of
its
indexing feature. I use a dual boot WinXP/Office 2003 and Vista/Office
2007
but keep my PST files separate because I have a healthy respect for how
nasty a program Outlook is when running against a PST file.
You could always give it a try and see how it works. Just make sure you
keep
a good backup of your PST file so you can bail if you run into trouble.
If
you try it, report back and let us know what happens.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
Hi, Brian,

I knew I could do it that way, but it didn't meet "the greater goal".


I'm enrolled in an information technology course that ultimately will
require Vista and Office 2007 Pro. But I also didn't want to buy a new
computer unless I absolutely had to. The one I have is old and
sloooooooooooooooooooow when it comes to Outlook 2007 which I had
previously
purchased separately.

Logic says, the fewer programs installed with any operating system,
the
fewer things available to load up the CPU, so the faster it will run.
The
plan is to simply use the Vista/Office 2007 partition solely for
school,
nothing else. And boot into XP for everything else.

So far, the logic is working, Vista's not running too bad on this old
clunker.

Since Office 2007 Pro includes Outlook 2007, I thought it would be
really
convenient to be able to keep tabs on my email while in Vista, and
still
have
everything available in XP/2003 where I would be most of the time.

Alas and alack, it doesn't sound like it's going to be possible.


Ken




:


I wonder why MS didn't think people might want to use the same
storage
file
with both programs, and give the user the opportunity.

If you use the same version of Outlook in each instance of the
operating
system there shouldn't be any problems.