Merging Outlook Folders, Files and Contacts

J

John A

Our family network has 5 Computers (3 with Outlook 2002
and 2 with 2000). Each has its own e-mail addresses,
personal folders and contacts. After almost 10 years, the
total amount of data, because of attachments etc., must
be huge and we are all spending too much time filing and
organizing. Is there any way we can merge the Outlook
files & folders from all of them into one master set
(without duplications) and then copy it back to each in
turn. The wireless network is not stable enough to
transfer large amounts of data but we have just acquired
a 250GB portable hard drive backup, which could prove
useful to do the merging and the initial and subsequent
transfers/updates.
We are not experts and cannot make sense of the
import/export wizard. Where are the pst files actually
located?
Many thanks in advance.
 
M

Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

It will be a long and complicated process but here goes:

Download a Duplicate Items checker from the Internet - there is a list of
them here:
http://www.slipstick.com/addins/mail.htm#dupes

Then, use Windows search (enable searching hidden/system folders) and locate
the .pst files for each computer. Burn it to a CD-RW when you find them and
then load them all onto one computer. Copy them from the CD to the hard
drive, remove the read-only tick mark from their property pages, and use
File->Open to open each .pst file in one copy of Outlook.

Use drag and drop to consolidate the calendar, contacts, tasks, and whatever
else you need to consolidate for just a master list. Once you have done so
(and if the .pst file is not too big, check often), then run the duplicate
checker against the folders in the combined .pst file you created.

Once that process is complete, you can either copy the .pst file or use
export to get just the folders that you need and put it on a CD and sneaker
net it to all the machines. Copy the .pst file to thier hard drives, remove
the read-only check mark, use File->open to open the .pst file, etc.


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.

While thinking hard, John A <[email protected]>
queried:
| Our family network has 5 Computers (3 with Outlook 2002
| and 2 with 2000). Each has its own e-mail addresses,
| personal folders and contacts. After almost 10 years, the
| total amount of data, because of attachments etc., must
| be huge and we are all spending too much time filing and
| organizing. Is there any way we can merge the Outlook
| files & folders from all of them into one master set
| (without duplications) and then copy it back to each in
| turn. The wireless network is not stable enough to
| transfer large amounts of data but we have just acquired
| a 250GB portable hard drive backup, which could prove
| useful to do the merging and the initial and subsequent
| transfers/updates.
| We are not experts and cannot make sense of the
| import/export wizard. Where are the pst files actually
| located?
| Many thanks in advance.
 
J

John A

Dear Milly, Many many thanks...it worked just great and
not at all so long and complicated as suspected. However,
had to use the external hard drive because some of the
individual pst files and the master/merged pst files were
far too large for burning on a CD-RW....you have 5 new
grateful fans!
-----Original Message-----
It will be a long and complicated process but here goes:

Download a Duplicate Items checker from the Internet - there is a list of
them here:
http://www.slipstick.com/addins/mail.htm#dupes

Then, use Windows search (enable searching hidden/system folders) and locate
the .pst files for each computer. Burn it to a CD-RW when you find them and
then load them all onto one computer. Copy them from the CD to the hard
drive, remove the read-only tick mark from their property pages, and use
File->Open to open each .pst file in one copy of Outlook.

Use drag and drop to consolidate the calendar, contacts, tasks, and whatever
else you need to consolidate for just a master list. Once you have done so
(and if the .pst file is not too big, check often), then run the duplicate
checker against the folders in the combined .pst file you created.

Once that process is complete, you can either copy the .pst file or use
export to get just the folders that you need and put it on a CD and sneaker
net it to all the machines. Copy the .pst file to thier hard drives, remove
the read-only check mark, use File->open to open the .pst file, etc.


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.

While thinking hard, John A
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