Sharing Outlook

[Linda RQ]

Hi Everyone,

I have been using outlook express for years. I don't know but I think
Outlook is similar to Lotus Notes (which is what we use at work) in that it
has scheduling features like pop up reminders etc...I would like to be able
to view the same e-mail and calendar file from 2 computers in my house. I
do have a home network setup using a Lynksys router and Microsoft Home
Networking. I can view the shared documents folder for each computer from
each computer. I have Windows XP Pro on both machines. Before I do a
bunch of reading and setting up, I want to know if this is possible with the
XP Pro SP-2 software I currently have along with my Office 2003 Pro.

Thanks,
Linda

 

[DL]

Its possible, you simply set outlook, on both PC's to use the same data
file; However - big gotcha - only a single instance of OL can use a data
file & MS doesnt support the use of OL data files (pst) over a network as it
can lead to corruption
You would also need two licences for Office / OL, which depending on your
specific Office version you may or may not have
There are other methods of syncing two seperate OL data files
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/sync.asp

 

[VanguardLH]

in message

I would like to be able to view the same e-mail and calendar file
from 2 computers in my house. ...
I want to know if this is possible with the XP Pro SP-2 software I
currently have along with my Office 2003 Pro.

Do you have 2 legit licenses of Office 2003 Pro so you have the
requisite number to install on your 2 hosts? Or did you install the
same license of Office on both hosts?

 

[Linda RQ]

I have office 2000 on one and 2003 on the other so I don't think it will
work. The only time I install on 2 machines is if it's licensed for 2 which
my 2000 version is so I may think about that.

 

[DL]

Outlook 2k cannot read the native format Outlook 2003 data file

 

[VanguardLH]

in message

...


I have office 2000 on one and 2003 on the other so I don't think it
will work. The only time I install on 2 machines is if it's licensed
for 2 which my 2000 version is so I may think about that.

As long as the Office 2003 is not an *upgrade* version (i.e., you
upgraded from Office 2000 to 2003). You don't get another license
with an upgrade. The license for the full version is the only one
that is legit through each subsequent upgrade version (i.e., all
upgrades chain back to a full version and that's your one license for
the full version and all the upgrades).

You probably have to make sure the PST file used by OL2003 is using
the older ANSI database format rather than the newer Unicode database
format that OL2002 cannot understand (since Unicode was introduced
after OL2002).

Microsoft does not recommend sharing a .pst file over a network.
There is no client-server relationship between Outlook on one host and
the file system on another host where is the .pst file. If there is a
network problem that causes a disconnect between Outlook and its open
..pst file, there is nothing on the other host with the .pst file to
gracefully close that file. Slamming files by disconnecting from
their host can result in corrupted files.

Some folks put the .pst file on a flash drive and tote it around. If
you don't want to do that, you could copy the .pst file between the
hosts depending on which one where you have Outlook open it. Outlook
demands write-access to the .pst file. That means it cannot be shared
across 2 instances of Outlook. You would have to close Outlook on one
host before you load Outlook on another host. PST files were not
designed for multiple concurrent access. You could use robocopy or
SyncToy to do an automatic copy of the .pst file across both hosts.

 

[Linda RQ]

in message news:[email protected]...

As long as the Office 2003 is not an *upgrade* version (i.e., you upgraded
from Office 2000 to 2003). You don't get another license with an upgrade.
The license for the full version is the only one that is legit through
each subsequent upgrade version (i.e., all upgrades chain back to a full
version and that's your one license for the full version and all the
upgrades).

You probably have to make sure the PST file used by OL2003 is using the
older ANSI database format rather than the newer Unicode database format
that OL2002 cannot understand (since Unicode was introduced after OL2002).

Microsoft does not recommend sharing a .pst file over a network. There is
no client-server relationship between Outlook on one host and the file
system on another host where is the .pst file. If there is a network
problem that causes a disconnect between Outlook and its open .pst file,
there is nothing on the other host with the .pst file to gracefully close
that file. Slamming files by disconnecting from their host can result in
corrupted files.

Some folks put the .pst file on a flash drive and tote it around. If you
don't want to do that, you could copy the .pst file between the hosts
depending on which one where you have Outlook open it. Outlook demands
write-access to the .pst file. That means it cannot be shared across 2
instances of Outlook. You would have to close Outlook on one host before
you load Outlook on another host. PST files were not designed for
multiple concurrent access. You could use robocopy or SyncToy to do an
automatic copy of the .pst file across both hosts.

Thanks

Linda