Get rid of or consolidate folders

[Damon Ostrander]

In Outlook 2000 my PST file got corrupted, so instead of
opening it Outlook created a new set of folders, including
Contacts, Calendar, Inbox, Drafts, ... the works.

THE PROBLEM:

Fortunately I managed to recover the PST file using the
scanpst.exe utility. But when I loaded the recovered PST
file Outlook loaded it as a set of "Personal Folders"
distinct from the newly created set of folders. As as
result I have two Inboxes, two Contacts folders, two
Calendars, etc.

QUESTION:

How do I get rid of the newly created folders?

Alternatively, how do I merge the two sets together or
copy from the old to the new. I have lots and lots of
stuff in my old folders (contacts, calendar meetings,
Inbox sub-folders, etc.), so copying the items one at a
time would be prohibitively tedious.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Ben M. Schorr, MVP-OneNote]

In Outlook 2000 my PST file got corrupted, so instead of opening it
Outlook created a new set of folders, including Contacts, Calendar,
Inbox, Drafts, ... the works.

THE PROBLEM:

Fortunately I managed to recover the PST file using the scanpst.exe
utility. But when I loaded the recovered PST file Outlook loaded it as
a set of "Personal Folders"
distinct from the newly created set of folders. As as result I have two
Inboxes, two Contacts folders, two Calendars, etc.

QUESTION:

How do I get rid of the newly created folders?

Alternatively, how do I merge the two sets together or copy from the
old to the new. I have lots and lots of stuff in my old folders
(contacts, calendar meetings, Inbox sub-folders, etc.), so copying the
items one at a time would be prohibitively tedious.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

If you right-click the new folder root you should have the option to Close
it. Do you have much data in the new folders?

 

[Damon Ostrander]

Hi Ben,

Thank you for responding to my question.

I tried deleting the folders, and the delete option seemed
to be enabled in the menu list, but I got the following
message:

"you cannot close the personal folders file that contains
your calendar, contacts, and POP mailbox."

Any other ideas?

Damon

 

[Ben M. Schorr, MVP-OneNote]

Hi Ben,

Thank you for responding to my question.

I tried deleting the folders, and the delete option seemed to be
enabled in the menu list, but I got the following
message:

"you cannot close the personal folders file that contains your
calendar, contacts, and POP mailbox."

Any other ideas?

Damon

Sounds like you were trying to close the folder set that is your default
data store. You don't actually want to DELETE the folders, you just want
to close them. But you don't want to close your default data store. Check
under Tools | Services (if I recall correctly) and make sure that you have
the "Deliver New Messages to" field set to the proper file. You should
be able to CLOSE the other one, or even delete it if you wish. If you
want to delete it I would do so from the Tools | Options side, rather than
trying to right-click | Delete the folders from the Folder List.

 

[Brian Tillman]

THE PROBLEM:

Fortunately I managed to recover the PST file using the
scanpst.exe utility. But when I loaded the recovered PST
file Outlook loaded it as a set of "Personal Folders"
distinct from the newly created set of folders. As as
result I have two Inboxes, two Contacts folders, two
Calendars, etc.

QUESTION:

How do I get rid of the newly created folders?

First, you have to change your default delivery location to the old folders.
Tools>Services. Highlight your account, click Properties, and select the
Delivery tab. You can then delete the new folders. However, PSTs don't
just get corrupted for the heck of it (even though, at times, it seems that
way). If your old PST is very large (over 1 Gb), consider keeping the new
folders as your default delivery location.

Alternatively, how do I merge the two sets together or
copy from the old to the new.

Open the old folders, one at a time, select all the items (you may have to
click View>By Category) and drag them to the corresponding new folder.

I have lots and lots of
stuff in my old folders (contacts, calendar meetings,
Inbox sub-folders, etc.), so copying the items one at a
time would be prohibitively tedious.

If you keep the new folders, just copy the contents of the old Calendar,
Contacts, Notes, and Tasks. Leave the old mail items in the old PST. After
moving what you need, compact the old PST to reduce its size to the minimum
it needs to hold the old data. You can then either keep the folders in your
folder list or remove it by right-clicking the folder root and clicking
Close. The data will remain in the PST and you can open it at any point in
the future if you need to reference it.