Outlook 2003 shows two copies of same personal folder

[Jock]

I've just installed Office 2003 on a new computer. I
transferred the .pst file to the new computer, deleted
the Outlook.pst created when Outlook first started and
replaced it with the Outlook.pst file from the old
computer. That worked OK. But now the Personal folders
shows up twice in the folders' list, and I can't remove
one of them. If I make a change in one of them the change
is reflected in the other. This seems to cause problems
with favorite folders showing up twice (e.g. "Inbox"
and "Inbox in Personal Folders") and also under contacts,
it shows "Contacts" and "Contacts in Personal Folders".
These are identical. It also causes the address book not
to know which of these to use, and I get an error
message. Under both of them when I right-click "Close
personal folder" is greyed out.
Please can someone help me to resolve this problem. Thank
you.

Jock

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

You cannot configure Outlook that way. If you want it to use a different PST
file that one that has already been established, you must configure it to do
so.
Start over with a new profile and configure it correctly.
To use another PST file (such as one from an earlier installation) and set
it to be the default for your current installation of Outlook, you will
first need to know the location and name of the PST file you'd like to use
as your new default. Then use the following directions:

- Go to Tools > Options > Mail Setup > Data Files > Add...
- Add the PST you'd like as your new default, then Close > OK to exit the
Options dialog
- Go to Tools > E-mail Accounts > View or change existing e-mail accounts
- Select the PST you just added in the "Deliver New e-mail to the following
location" dropdown (it will most likely appear just below the current
default Personal Folders file) > Finish
- Exit and Restart Outlook
- You can now close the previous default PST (R-click on that pst folder
while in Folder View and select "Close <foldername> Folders"). If you have
any information in your former PST that you'd like to transfer to your new
default PST, you can drag and drop from one to the other before you close
the old one.

 

[Jock]

I tried starting over, but I can't get Outlook to start
clean, it keeps looking for the file I last used, even
when I completely uninstalled Office and then
reinstalled. There must be a settings file somewhere that
is telling Outlook where to look for the .pst file, or
perhaps it's in the registry?

Jock

-----Original Message-----
You cannot configure Outlook that way. If you want it to use a different PST
file that one that has already been established, you must configure it to do
so.
Start over with a new profile and configure it correctly.
To use another PST file (such as one from an earlier installation) and set
it to be the default for your current installation of Outlook, you will
first need to know the location and name of the PST file you'd like to use
as your new default. Then use the following directions:

- Go to Tools > Options > Mail Setup > Data Files > Add...
- Add the PST you'd like as your new default, then Close
OK to exit the
Options dialog
- Go to Tools > E-mail Accounts > View or change existing e-mail accounts
- Select the PST you just added in the "Deliver New e- mail to the following
location" dropdown (it will most likely appear just below the current
default Personal Folders file) > Finish
- Exit and Restart Outlook
- You can now close the previous default PST (R-click on that pst folder
while in Folder View and select "Close <foldername> Folders"). If you have
any information in your former PST that you'd like to transfer to your new
default PST, you can drag and drop from one to the other before you close
the old one.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I've just installed Office 2003 on a new computer. I
transferred the .pst file to the new computer, deleted
the Outlook.pst created when Outlook first started and
replaced it with the Outlook.pst file from the old
computer. That worked OK. But now the Personal folders
shows up twice in the folders' list, and I can't remove
one of them. If I make a change in one of them the change
is reflected in the other. This seems to cause problems
with favorite folders showing up twice (e.g. "Inbox"
and "Inbox in Personal Folders") and also under contacts,
it shows "Contacts" and "Contacts in Personal Folders".
These are identical. It also causes the address book not
to know which of these to use, and I get an error
message. Under both of them when I right-click "Close
personal folder" is greyed out.
Please can someone help me to resolve this problem. Thank
you.

Jock

.

 

[Jock]

OK, I will e-mail you, and if you hear of an answer
please e-mail me. Actually for me it is more than just an
annoyance because Outlook insists on trying the (non-
existent) contacts folder in the ghost personal folder.
So every time I click on address book or the "to" button
in an e-mail, it gives an error message. If I try to
remove it, it just says it doesn't exist and gives me
another error message. - Jock

-----Original Message-----
Jock: PLEASE email me if you get the right answer here.

I have the exact same problem. It is really only an
annoyance but it sure would be nice to get rid of it.
Russ' input is appreciated but does not relate to what
you and I are seeing. My public email is (e-mail address removed).
It always amazes me that I just NEVER seem to be able to
find MY problems in MicroSoft's help files. To their
credit though I do not have many occasions to use them....

I tried starting over, but I can't get Outlook to start
clean, it keeps looking for the file I last used, even
when I completely uninstalled Office and then
reinstalled. There must be a settings file somewhere that
is telling Outlook where to look for the .pst file, or
perhaps it's in the registry?

Jock

-----Original Message-----
You cannot configure Outlook that way. If you want it

to
use a different PST

file that one that has already been established, you must configure it to do
so.
Start over with a new profile and configure it correctly.
To use another PST file (such as one from an earlier installation) and set
it to be the default for your current installation of Outlook, you will
first need to know the location and name of the PST

file
you'd like to use

as your new default. Then use the following directions:

- Go to Tools > Options > Mail Setup > Data Files > Add...
- Add the PST you'd like as your new default, then Close
OK to exit the
Options dialog
- Go to Tools > E-mail Accounts > View or change existing e-mail accounts
- Select the PST you just added in the "Deliver New e- mail to the following
location" dropdown (it will most likely appear just below the current
default Personal Folders file) > Finish
- Exit and Restart Outlook
- You can now close the previous default PST (R-click

on
that pst folder

while in Folder View and select "Close <foldername> Folders"). If you have
any information in your former PST that you'd like to transfer to your new
default PST, you can drag and drop from one to the

other
before you close

the old one.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
I've just installed Office 2003 on a new computer. I
transferred the .pst file to the new computer, deleted
the Outlook.pst created when Outlook first started and
replaced it with the Outlook.pst file from the old
computer. That worked OK. But now the Personal folders
shows up twice in the folders' list, and I can't remove
one of them. If I make a change in one of them the change
is reflected in the other. This seems to cause problems
with favorite folders showing up twice (e.g. "Inbox"
and "Inbox in Personal Folders") and also under contacts,
it shows "Contacts" and "Contacts in Personal Folders".
These are identical. It also causes the address

book
not

to know which of these to use, and I get an error
message. Under both of them when I right- click "Close
personal folder" is greyed out.
Please can someone help me to resolve this problem. Thank
you.

Jock


.

.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Yes, you can edit the registry if you want. It's just easier and safer to
create a new profile. The instructions I posted tell you how to switch from
Outlook's new default PST to your previous one. You obviously didn't follow
it.

To edit the registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows
Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\Outlook

Within the Outlook folder, there are a bunch of folders with long
hexadecimal values for names -- those are the ones you need to look in to
see if you can find the ghost .PST names. If you delete one of the keys and
it points to your real .PST file instead of one of the ghosts, it's not the
end of the world -- your data won't be gone. The worst you would have to do
is recreate your Outlook profile.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I tried starting over, but I can't get Outlook to start
clean, it keeps looking for the file I last used, even
when I completely uninstalled Office and then
reinstalled. There must be a settings file somewhere that
is telling Outlook where to look for the .pst file, or
perhaps it's in the registry?

Jock

-----Original Message-----
You cannot configure Outlook that way. If you want it to use a different PST
file that one that has already been established, you must configure it to do
so.
Start over with a new profile and configure it correctly.
To use another PST file (such as one from an earlier installation) and set
it to be the default for your current installation of Outlook, you will
first need to know the location and name of the PST file you'd like to use
as your new default. Then use the following directions:

- Go to Tools > Options > Mail Setup > Data Files > Add...
- Add the PST you'd like as your new default, then Close
OK to exit the
Options dialog
- Go to Tools > E-mail Accounts > View or change existing e-mail accounts
- Select the PST you just added in the "Deliver New e- mail to the following
location" dropdown (it will most likely appear just below the current
default Personal Folders file) > Finish
- Exit and Restart Outlook
- You can now close the previous default PST (R-click on that pst folder
while in Folder View and select "Close <foldername> Folders"). If you have
any information in your former PST that you'd like to transfer to your new
default PST, you can drag and drop from one to the other before you close
the old one.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

I've just installed Office 2003 on a new computer. I
transferred the .pst file to the new computer, deleted
the Outlook.pst created when Outlook first started and
replaced it with the Outlook.pst file from the old
computer. That worked OK. But now the Personal folders
shows up twice in the folders' list, and I can't remove
one of them. If I make a change in one of them the change
is reflected in the other. This seems to cause problems
with favorite folders showing up twice (e.g. "Inbox"
and "Inbox in Personal Folders") and also under contacts,
it shows "Contacts" and "Contacts in Personal Folders".
These are identical. It also causes the address book not
to know which of these to use, and I get an error
message. Under both of them when I right-click "Close
personal folder" is greyed out.
Please can someone help me to resolve this problem. Thank
you.

Jock

.