Outlook migration from OE

[Juan I. Guardia]

First, some background info.  I have a client who uses email heavily as a
way to conduct his business.  He receives, on average, about 1,000 emails a
month and uses Outlook Express.  His biggest problem (and mine for that
matter) is that he refuses to completely erase anything, even spam (Note:
spam is not the problem here).  Yes, he moves messages to the Deleted items
folder, but then leaves them there.  It then gets to a point where that
folder is so full that he can't move anything else to it.  Then he calls me
in and I need to reorganize his folders so that I can make some room by
moving some messages around.  The same thing happens with the Sent items
folder.  This has led to some of his folders containing over 10,000 emails
and so everytime he wants to search for some message his PC hangs for hours
and he can't conduct any more work on it until the search finishes.

So my conclusion is that he has outgrown OE and I have decided to migrate
him to Outlook.  I therefore proceeded to install it and import his OE
settings and messages.  The problem is that some messages are not getting
imported.  When the process is done (after several hours) only about half
of the 50,000 messages or so make it.  I tried creating a new profile in
Outlook thinking that the current profile might be corrupt and got the same
results.  I also attempted to export one folder at a time from OE, but the
messages wouldn't show up in Outlook.  I am beginning to suspect that his
OE store is somehow corrupted even though I can read the messages in
Outlook Express.

My alternatives are running out so I am turning to this newsgroup for help.
Has any of you had a similar experience?  How did you get through it?  Am I
correct in assuming that his OE message store is corrupted?  What do you
suggest I do to fix it if it is?  Is there a recommended procedure for
importing large amounts of emails into Outlook?

Your suggestions and/or assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Juan I. Guardia

 

[Roady [MVP]]

First mae sure the OE store isn't corrupted. I bet people in the OE
newsgroup can help you with that.
Here is the link for the right forum
http://communities.microsoft.com/newsgroups/default.asp?icp=InternetExplorer

As an alternative you can create a new OE folder and move (batches of) the
messages to that folder first and then export it to Outlook.

If the store is healthy and you still don't get it to work feel free to
check by again ;-)

--
Roady [MVP]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Creating Signatures
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3

 

[Roady [MVP]]

First make sure the OE store isn't corrupted. I bet people in the OE
newsgroup can help you with that.
Here is the link for the right forum
http://communities.microsoft.com/newsgroups/default.asp?icp=InternetExplorer

As an alternative you can create a new OE folder and move (batches of) the
messages to that folder first and then export it to Outlook.

If the store is healthy and you still don't get it to work feel free to
check by again ;-)

--
Roady [MVP]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-Creating Signatures
-Create an Office XP CD slipstreamed with Service Pack 3

 

[DL]

Once hes started using OL sounds like a problem waiting to happen, perhaps
you should be on a monthly retainer to organise his OL - since he refuses to
do so - I sincerely hope you have instigated a backup regime for him

 

[Brian Tillman]

First, some background info. I have a client who uses email heavily
as a way to conduct his business. He receives, on average, about
1,000 emails a month and uses Outlook Express. His biggest problem
(and mine for that matter) is that he refuses to completely erase
anything, even spam (Note: spam is not the problem here). Yes, he
moves messages to the Deleted items folder, but then leaves them
there. It then gets to a point where that folder is so full that he
can't move anything else to it. Then he calls me in and I need to
reorganize his folders so that I can make some room by moving some
messages around.

At least you have a steady source of income. Thank goodness for stupid
people.

The same thing happens with the Sent items folder.
This has led to some of his folders containing over 10,000 emails and
so everytime he wants to search for some message his PC hangs for
hours and he can't conduct any more work on it until the search
finishes.

So my conclusion is that he has outgrown OE and I have decided to
migrate him to Outlook. I therefore proceeded to install it and
import his OE settings and messages. The problem is that some
messages are not getting imported. When the process is done (after
several hours) only about half of the 50,000 messages or so make it.

What version of Outlook?

I tried creating a new profile in Outlook thinking that the current
profile might be corrupt and got the same results. I also attempted
to export one folder at a time from OE, but the messages wouldn't
show up in Outlook. I am beginning to suspect that his OE store is
somehow corrupted even though I can read the messages in Outlook
Express.

If you're using OL 2002 or earlier, you could be reaching the PST size limit
of 1.8 Gb per PST (Personal Folders file)

My alternatives are running out so I am turning to this newsgroup for
help. Has any of you had a similar experience? How did you get
through it? Am I correct in assuming that his OE message store is
corrupted?

If OE can read it, it's not corrupt.

What do you suggest I do to fix it if it is? Is there a
recommended procedure for importing large amounts of emails into
Outlook?

Let's start with the version of Outlook you installed.

 

[Juan I. Guardia]

<posted & mailed>

First, some background info.  I have a client who uses email heavily as a
way to conduct his business.  He receives, on average, about 1,000 emails
a month and uses Outlook Express.  His biggest problem (and mine for that
matter) is that he refuses to completely erase anything, even spam (Note:
spam is not the problem here).  Yes, he moves messages to the Deleted
items folder, but then leaves them there.  It then gets to a point where
that folder is so full that he can't move anything else to it.  Then he
calls me in and I need to reorganize his folders so that I can make some
room by moving some messages around.  The same thing happens with the Sent
items folder.  This has led to some of his folders containing over 10,000
emails and so everytime he wants to search for some message his PC hangs
for hours and he can't conduct any more work on it until the search
finishes.

So my conclusion is that he has outgrown OE and I have decided to migrate
him to Outlook.  I therefore proceeded to install it and import his OE
settings and messages.  The problem is that some messages are not getting
imported.  When the process is done (after several hours) only about half
of the 50,000 messages or so make it.  I tried creating a new profile in
Outlook thinking that the current profile might be corrupt and got the
same results.  I also attempted to export one folder at a time from OE,
but the messages wouldn't show up in Outlook.  I am beginning to suspect
that his OE store is somehow corrupted even though I can read the messages
in Outlook Express.

My alternatives are running out so I am turning to this newsgroup for
help. Has any of you had a similar experience?  How did you get through
it?  Am I correct in assuming that his OE message store is corrupted? 
What do you suggest I do to fix it if it is?  Is there a recommended
procedure for importing large amounts of emails into Outlook?

Your suggestions and/or assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Juan I. Guardia

No comments? Like I said I am running out of alternatives. So can you at
least tell me if this is the correct newsgroup to post this kind of
inquiry, or point me to the right place?

Thanks,

J.I.G.

 

[SgtRich]

Firstly, I would back up all of the messages that he already has in Outlook
Express so that they are not lost and, if necessary, can be imported. In
Outlook, choose the option to delete messages from the Deleted Items folder
when closing Outlook. Then look at Outlook Help and read up on how archiving
works and set up his folders to auto-archive messages that are ___ days old.
That way, the messages are still available but no longer in the primary
message store (.pst).

Hope this helps.
--
<<<SgtRich>>>

Email Client: Microsoft Outlook 2002
News Client (Text): Forté Agent 2.0 www.forteinc.com
News Client (Binaries): News Rover 9.2 www.newsrover.com

 

[Juan I. Guardia]

Thanks Brian for responding and sorry for not replying earlier, but I
temporarily lost Internet connection.

What version of Outlook?

He's using Outlook 2002.

If you're using OL 2002 or earlier, you could be reaching the PST size limit
of 1.8 Gb per PST (Personal Folders file)

I am afraid that's what has happened, but like I mentioned he doesn't like
to delete anything. I read somewhere on MS's site that there was a patch to
address the 1.8 GB issue. Found it, and applied it, but still get the same
behavior.

If OE can read it, it's not corrupt.

I thought so.

Let's start with the version of Outlook you installed.

Again thaks for trying to help. I could try to create another identity in
OE and move all his messages over to that and then try to import, but then
again he has so many messages that the whole process could take me several
hours if not days and my meter is running (good for me, but bad for him when
he sees my bill). Even if I do this I have no guarantee it will work. What
do you suggest?

Juan I. Guardia.

 

[Brian Tillman]

I am afraid that's what has happened, but like I mentioned he
doesn't like to delete anything.

A PST that exceeds 1.8 Gb *will* become corrupt and lose items. If he
doesn't wish to lose anything, he'll need to use multiple PSTs. Once person
where I work has one PST for each year, with folders in those PSTs
referencing each month. Another person has PSTs whose folders are named for
the individual from whom the messages came. Whatever organizational scheme
he wishes to employ, he'll still need to employ one. Personally, I believe
OE can hold more messages in its default message store than Outlook can
handle in a single PST and your importing experience supports that.

What I would do, if I were in your shoes, would be to create a PST in
Outlook and make it the default delivery location, then choose one or more
of the folders in Outlook Express to export, but keeping the total size
under 1 Gb, export that, then repeat the process with another PST until all
messages have been exported to Outlook. You can then rearrange in Outlook
as desired. You might even decide that, for the initial transfer, that
creating one PST in Outlook for each of the folders in Outlook Express is
the most direct route. PSTs can have messages at the top level (i.e., not
in any folder) so that, once the messages are in Outlook, the PSTs each
appear to be a folder containing messages, with the same strucure the OE
folders contained (if any of the OE folders contained subfolders).

I read somewhere on MS's site that
there was a patch to address the 1.8 GB issue. Found it, and applied
it, but still get the same behavior.

I can't imagine what patch you mean. 1.8 Gb is a hard limit, unless you
upgrade to Outlook 2003, where the limit jumps to 20 Tb.