PST Files

[mitch]

Hi,
We have an Exchange 2000 server. I am using windows XP
with Outlook 2003 on my desktop. In outlook, I created a
personal folder to archive one of our users email. I
loaded her email on my machine due to her being in a
remote location. I dragged the data from the inbox into a
new folder on the archived personal folder I created. It
worked fine. I then copied the PST file to a CD and sent
it to the user. When she reinserted into her outlook, it
did not recognize the PST file and rejected it. The user
has a Windows XP with outlook 2000. Is there an issue
with inserting a PST file created in outlook 2003 to a
system with outlook 2002? Thanks.

Mitch

 

[Brian Tillman]

I then copied the PST file to a CD and sent
it to the user. When she reinserted into her outlook, it
did not recognize the PST file and rejected it. The user
has a Windows XP with outlook 2000. Is there an issue
with inserting a PST file created in outlook 2003 to a
system with outlook 2002? Thanks.

There are two issues here. The biggest is that, unless you create an
ANSI-format PST, the user of Outlook 2002 or earlier can't read it.
Outlook, by default, creates Unicode PSTs, which are not backward
compatible. Create an ANSI PST with File>New>Outlook Data File>Outlook
97-2002 Personal Folders File (.pst). Then you can place messages in it and
OL2000 or 2002 will be able to read them.

The second issue is the CD. In order to open a PST, Outlook needs exclusive
read-write access and files on CD are read-only. The person should copy the
PST to hard drive and remove the read-only attribute. Remind her NOT to
import the PST, but just used File>Open to open it.