.pst file is showing no name; how do I import?

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Guest

Had to do a format/reinstall of XP Pro. Backed up my Outlook 2003 email
doing an Export to a .pst file and put it on an external HD. I just tried to
import it and all that is there is the 2003 Outlook icon and 62 MEG of
emails. There is no name to this file.

I lost my Favorites that I had backed up as well. Do these things just
disappear? I'm not concerned about the Favorites right now - I need to
import the .pst file so I can access LEGAL, sensitive email buried in that
..pst file.

Help, please - this is extremely important.
 
Hi Russ,

Thanks for the reply but it wasn't exactly what I needed to do. After I
posted I did a copy/paste of the .pst file to another partition. I could see
the Outlook 2003 icon and 62 megs of emails but there was no
filename........I found that strange because when I did the export I named it
"email Backup".

On the copied file I named it EMail, went through the Import process and all
the emails came into my Outlook 2003. If I'm not mistaken, when I loaded
Outlook last week (after working on this disaster for 10 days) I set certain
files to be encrypted. I am thinking that I may have encrypted my Outlook
folders and just giving that file any old name seemed to work to bring all
the email into Outlook just now.

I was "cleaning house" when your notice came in that you had responded here.
I've used .pst files for some time now (even on W2K) with absolutely no
problems. This is the first time I ever lost the filename itself and it can
only be the encryption I may have turned on somewhere.

All is fine and thanks again for your input!



Russ Valentine said:
Exporting is not backing up.
Copying a PST file is how you back it up.
Just open a copy of your original PST file and configure Outlook to use it
as its information store. Instructions have always been readily available:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010771141033.aspx

--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
MultimediaLady said:
Had to do a format/reinstall of XP Pro. Backed up my Outlook 2003 email
doing an Export to a .pst file and put it on an external HD. I just tried
to
import it and all that is there is the 2003 Outlook icon and 62 MEG of
emails. There is no name to this file.

I lost my Favorites that I had backed up as well. Do these things just
disappear? I'm not concerned about the Favorites right now - I need to
import the .pst file so I can access LEGAL, sensitive email buried in that
.pst file.

Help, please - this is extremely important.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
MultimediaLady said:
Thanks for the reply but it wasn't exactly what I needed to do.
After I posted I did a copy/paste of the .pst file to another
partition. I could see the Outlook 2003 icon and 62 megs of emails
but there was no filename.......
Click to expand...

So, rename it and give it a name.
I found that strange because when I
did the export I named it "email Backup".
Click to expand...

Always avoid exporting/importing PSTs whenever possible. You can lose
information that way. When transferring from Outlook to Outlook, just copy
the PST.
 
Hi Brian,

I've used .pst files since my first contact with Outlook and have had no
problems at all with them. For some reason Outlook 2003 removed the name of
the file. When I viewed the .pst file in Windows Explorer I could see the
2003 Office icon, a space, the size of the file, the type of file, the date
it was made, but when I clicked on it I got an error message that the file
was unknown to any application I had on my computer.

I knew it was the .pst file - just couldn't import it. Once I gave it a
name (and I have no idea where the name went when I did my backup before the
format) is when I was able to import perfectly into Outlook 2003.

With the amount of legal email I deal with I need a quick way to back them
up and outside of sending each one individually to my backup hard drive I do
either an individual folder .pst file or a complete "Personal Folders" .pst
file. That's why this one was 62 megs in size - it had every email and
folder in it.

This is the first time I've had an occasion where the file name disappeared
- it was not there at all !

Thanks for the reply.
 
MultimediaLady said:
For some reason Outlook 2003 removed
the name of the file.
Click to expand...

Something you did may have incorrectly named the file, but Outlook 2003 did
not "remove" the name.
I knew it was the .pst file - just couldn't import it. Once I gave
it a name (and I have no idea where the name went when I did my
backup before the format) is when I was able to import perfectly into
Outlook 2003.
Click to expand...

Never import a PST. Use File>Open>Outlook Data File
With the amount of legal email I deal with I need a quick way to back
them up and outside of sending each one individually to my backup
hard drive I do either an individual folder .pst file or a complete
"Personal Folders" .pst file.
Click to expand...

The easiest (and safest) way is to close Outlook and copy the PST somewhere
else. Exporting/importing can sometimes lose data.
 
MultimediaLady said:
I did a PrintScreen of what I see when I go to that file. This was
Exported from Outlook 2003 to a back-up Iomega HD I have.
Click to expand...

That's move likely the point where you accidentally removed the name.
Outlook 2003 did not do it.
When I did
my format/reinstall of XP Pro I also reinstalled Office 2003,
naturally with Outlook 2003 as well. The first thing I did was to
Import the .pst file I had exported to the Iomega Drive. This was
not possible - as I explained in my original post - and nothing I
tried enabled me to import that 62 meg file.
Click to expand...

NEVER import a PST when it's completely unnecessary. I hope I've stated
that enough times by now that you know I mean it. All you had to do at this
point was to rename the unnamed file and give it a name. Your problem would
have vanished.
 
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