save XP pst file to Office 2003

[Guest]

I operate Windows XP professional at home and in the office. The home
computer has Office 2002 (XP) while the office computer has Office 2003. I
have saved backup files on my firelite external hard-drive to recreate my
office environment at home. The only file that seems to be problematic is
the Outlook .pst file. All fiels are same size, and seem uncorrupted. The
outlook .pst file was simply saved over the existing file on the Office 2002
computer. When I open Outlook, it explains an error message along the lines
"... the <filepath> is not compatible with this version of Outlook. Contact
administrator." What can I do to correct, and how do I avoid in future, to
allow back-ups as intended with external hard drive?

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Two things:
1. Never overwrite a PST file. You can open another PST file in Outlook, but
never ever overwrite an existing file.
2. Outlook 2003's files are not compatible with earlier versions. You must
first create a PST file in "Outlook 97-2002" format while in Outlook 2003
and copy the data you want to transfer into that file.