Moving from dead computer to new one

[Elbert]

My old computer is dead but the C-drive disk is OK, now connected to my new
computer via a USB adapter. I installed Outlook 2003 onto the new computer
from CD, and wanted to copy all stored emails etc. from the old disk.

I found that installation from CD put new outlook.pst and some other OL
files in c:\documents and settings\Elbert\local settings\application
data\microsoft\outlook. I deleted them and then copied the files from the
same place on the old disk drive.

It almost worked, except:

(1) when I try to compose a new email and click on the TO button, it says
"The address list could not be displayed. The contacts list associated with
this address list could not be opened; it may have been moved or deleted..."
But if I click on Contacts in the navigation bar, I see my contacts, and if I
right click on a contact, I can select "New Message to Contact";

(2) When I click on Personal Folders in the navigation bar, I see columns
with my calendar, tasks, and counts of messages of messages, just as I used
to, except that the tasks are shown reverse chronological order. If I
display tasks by clicking tasks in the navigation bar, I see them in
chronological order, but I can't figure out how to see them that way in
Personal Folders view.

(3) Something I read gave me the impression that I should have imported the
old outlook.pst into outlook.pst that was newly created when I installed OL.
I moved all OL related files I could find to a temporary folder, then
uninstalled OL and reinstalled it, figuring it would create a nice clean
outlook.pst and I'd try importing to it; this would give me the new file
structure, too, in place of the OL2002 structure. But no dice: When I try to
run the newly intsalled OL, it says it cannot find outlook.pst (it did not
create a new one) and it refuses to run.

I have a feeling that all of these are due to the simple-minded approach I
took to trying to move the old data. If anybody can tell me how to start
over and do it right, or how to fix things without starting over, I'd sure
appreciate it.

Elbert

 

[Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]]

In

My old computer is dead but the C-drive disk is OK, now connected to
my new computer via a USB adapter. I installed Outlook 2003 onto the
new computer from CD, and wanted to copy all stored emails etc. from
the old disk.

I found that installation from CD put new outlook.pst and some other
OL files in c:\documents and settings\Elbert\local
settings\application data\microsoft\outlook. I deleted them and then
copied the files from the same place on the old disk drive.

It almost worked, except:

(1) when I try to compose a new email and click on the TO button, it
says "The address list could not be displayed. The contacts list
associated with this address list could not be opened; it may have
been moved or deleted..." But if I click on Contacts in the
navigation bar, I see my contacts, and if I right click on a contact,
I can select "New Message to Contact";

This is a common occurrence when moving things around -- the association
between the Contacts folder and the Outlook Address Book gets broken. To
fix it, go to Tools | E-mail accounts, select "View or change existing
directories or address books", and click Next. If you don't see the OAB in
the Directories and Address Books list, click the Back button, then select
"Add a new directory or address book", then "Additional Address Books", and
add the OAB. Then keep clicking Back until you get back to the first dialog
box, and go back to the Directories and Address Books list as you did
earlier.

Once the OAB appears in the list, select it and then click Change to make
sure the Contacts folder(s) you want to display are listed. If any of them
aren't listed, you'll need to enable those Contacts folders as Outlook
Address Books by right clicking the folder, selecting Properties, clicking
the Outlook Address Book tab, and checking the "Show this folder as an
E-mail address book" box. Make sure you restart Outlook after making these
changes.

(2) When I click on Personal Folders in the navigation bar, I see
columns with my calendar, tasks, and counts of messages of messages,
just as I used to, except that the tasks are shown reverse
chronological order. If I display tasks by clicking tasks in the
navigation bar, I see them in chronological order, but I can't figure
out how to see them that way in Personal Folders view.

On the Outlook Today page, click Customize Outlook Today. You can change
the sort order of your tasks in Outlook Today there.

(3) Something I read gave me the impression that I should have
imported the old outlook.pst into outlook.pst that was newly created
when I installed OL. I moved all OL related files I could find to a
temporary folder, then uninstalled OL and reinstalled it, figuring it
would create a nice clean outlook.pst and I'd try importing to it;
this would give me the new file structure, too, in place of the
OL2002 structure. But no dice: When I try to run the newly intsalled
OL, it says it cannot find outlook.pst (it did not create a new one)
and it refuses to run.

The only thing I can see that you did "wrong" is to overwrite the new .PST
file with your old one, as you describe in the second paragraph of your
post. Doing this confuses Outlook. .PST files can be located anywhere on
your hard drive, so never overwrite one .PST with another -- just put your
desired .PST file where you want it and then point Outlook to it. If you
were using Outlook 2002 before and your old .PST file is in that format, you
probably do want to create a new .PST in the Outlook 2003 Unicode format,
open your old .PST in Outlook using File | Open | Outlook Data File, and
drag items from your old file to the new one. That way you get the benefits
of the new Unicode file format but you still have your old data. Don't
import and export, either -- that breaks things too.

I have a feeling that all of these are due to the simple-minded
approach I took to trying to move the old data. If anybody can tell
me how to start over and do it right, or how to fix things without
starting over, I'd sure appreciate it.

Elbert

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please
reply only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***

 

[Elbert]

Many thanks for your reply. Please see what I wrote after items (1), (2),
and (3).

Elbert

In

This is a common occurrence when moving things around -- the association
between the Contacts folder and the Outlook Address Book gets broken. To
fix it, go to Tools | E-mail accounts, select "View or change existing
directories or address books", and click Next. If you don't see the OAB in
the Directories and Address Books list, click the Back button, then select
"Add a new directory or address book", then "Additional Address Books", and
add the OAB. Then keep clicking Back until you get back to the first dialog
box, and go back to the Directories and Address Books list as you did
earlier.

Once the OAB appears in the list, select it and then click Change to make
sure the Contacts folder(s) you want to display are listed. If any of them
aren't listed, you'll need to enable those Contacts folders as Outlook
Address Books by right clicking the folder, selecting Properties, clicking
the Outlook Address Book tab, and checking the "Show this folder as an
E-mail address book" box. Make sure you restart Outlook after making these
changes.

In the folders list, the personal folders tree appears twice. If I go to
properties|OL address book after right-clicking either instance of Contacts
in the tree, I find that "Show this folder as an E-mail address book" is
already checked. If I uncheck it using one instance of Contacts, it is then
shown as unchecked if I use the other instance of Contacts, so I figure the
same entry appears twice in the tree, not two separate personal folders. I
check "Show this folder..." again, click Apply, and OK.

I go to Tools | E-mail accounts, select "View or change existing directories
or address books", and click Next. OAB does appear in the list, so I select
it and click Change. Contacts: personal folders appears twice in the list of
Outlook address books. The only available options are to change the sort
order of the address book, or to remove it. I do neither and close the
window. I'm stumped at this point and stop before I make things worse. Any
further ideas you can give me will be appreciated.

On the Outlook Today page, click Customize Outlook Today. You can change
the sort order of your tasks in Outlook Today there.

Duh. Thanks.

The only thing I can see that you did "wrong" is to overwrite the new .PST
file with your old one, as you describe in the second paragraph of your
post. Doing this confuses Outlook. .PST files can be located anywhere on
your hard drive, so never overwrite one .PST with another -- just put your
desired .PST file where you want it and then point Outlook to it. If you
were using Outlook 2002 before and your old .PST file is in that format, you
probably do want to create a new .PST in the Outlook 2003 Unicode format,
open your old .PST in Outlook using File | Open | Outlook Data File, and
drag items from your old file to the new one. That way you get the benefits
of the new Unicode file format but you still have your old data. Don't
import and export, either -- that breaks things too.

I'll try that after I figure out how to fix number (1)--I'd like to have
things in good order before trying anything new. Thanks for warning me about
importing--I was going to try that.

 

[Mike]

I have had some of these problems, as well as the problem that I can't see
the data file from Outlook (my Personal Folders is not listed as a data file
on the list under data file management) so I can't compact it or change the
name - in fact I can't even hit the Advanced button after clicking Properties
- I get an error that the Object could not be found. When I look for the
data file using Windows explorer, I can see that it is there, and all of the
folders, calendar, etc are present when I open Outlook. (WinXP, Outlook
2003). Any suggestions?

I also have the error that OL can't see my contacts, but when I check (as
suggested below), the folder is there ( in fact 2 of them are there, I have
no idea where the other one is). Help!

 

[Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]]

I think you will have an easier time of it if you try (3) first and then go
back to (1). That way you'll only have one set of Personal Folders to worry
about. As long as you have that ghost .PST hanging around you really don't
have things in good order.

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please
reply only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***


In

 

[Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]]

Have you tried creating a new profile as I suggested to Elbert?

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please
reply only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***


In

 

[Mike]

I did, and things work great now. Thanks!
Mike

Have you tried creating a new profile as I suggested to Elbert?

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please
reply only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***


In

 

[Elbert]

Thanks for writing again. In OL, I did file|new|outlook data file. I told
OL to call it Personal Folders. OL created Personal Folders(1).pst in
c:\documents and settings\elbert\local settings\application
data\microsoft\outlook. The new data file appears in the OL navigation panel
as Personal Folders.

I now have three instances of Personal Folders in the navigation panel--the
one I just created and two that list the folders in the old files that I
moved from the dead computer. I can move some folders from the old Personal
Folders tree to the new one, but it will not let me move things like the
inbox and outbox. OL claims they are special files that cannot be moved. I
also cannot delete either the old Personal Folders or the newly created
Personal Folders from the navigation panel, so now I have three: two that
list the same thing and one I can't use to replace the old ones because it
won't let me move anything there.

Can you give me some more direction?

Thanks,
Elbert

 

[Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]]

OK, in that case you will need to create a new profile from scratch and only
tell it to use the one set of Personal Folders you want to use. If you need
to copy data from the other files before you create the new profile, you can
still use drag and drop -- but you can't drag entire folders if they are the
"special folders" like Inbox. You'd have to open the Inbox, select all
items and drag them as a group to the Inbox in the other set of Personal
Folders. For a folder like Calendar, switch to an unfiltered table view
like By Category and then you can select and drag all items from that view.

To create a new profile, go to Control Panel | Mail | Show Profiles, and
click Add. Once you have the new profile up and running you can go back and
delete the old one.

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please
reply only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***


In

 

[Elbert]

I'm not sure how to characterize your last bit of advice, but the word
genious does come to mind! It was tedious, but everything now seems to be
working.

I wasn't sure how to recover the archived stuff. Immediately after I
created the new profile, I archived. Of course there was nothing to archive,
but it created a new version of Archive Folders. I then opened the old
archive data file and copied everything to the new Archive Folders. I hope
when I next archive OL will add newly archived data to what's already there.

Many thanks for your help.

Elbert

 

[Elbert]

Good grief. I meant to type "...the word genius does come to mind." Would
genious be the adjectival form of genius? If so, it applies, too--it was a
genious bit of advice you gave me.

Anyhow, thanks again.

Elbert

 

[Bob Griendling]

I tried to use this thread to figure out how to transfer my Outlook
messages, folders and settings to the Outlook on my new computer. But I
can't find ANY .pst files on my new computer, even though I've set up my
mail account on it and even downloaded a message in to my inbox. I can find
the .pst file on my old computer, and I figure I can use the file transfer
wizard to move it but where to? And how do I do my address book, calendar,
tasks, etc?

Bob

 

[Bob Griendling]

I figure out one problem -- Operator error using XP. I found the pst. file.
In Jocelyn's original reply she says put the pst file from the old computer
"anywhere" then "point" Outlook to it. How do you "point" Outlook to it?

And does the pst file contain all my calendar and task files, too?

 

[Elbert]

Bob,

I'm anything but an MVP, but I'll try to help. Put the old outlook.pst file
anywhere on the new computer--on the desktop, for example. Then in OL, do
file|open|outlook data file, and browse to the one you just put on the
desktop or wherever. Open it.

You'll then see another Personal Folders at the bottom of the OL navigation
pane--it's now open in addition to the new one on the new computer. If in
the old one there are any folders you created, you can just move or copy the
folder up to the new personal folders tree--just grab it with the right mouse
button and move it up until it's on top of Personal Folders at the top of the
pane, then select copy or move. (I'm inclined to copy so I still have the
original if I screw something up.)

You can't move special folders like inbox and deleted items etc. as entire
folders. You have to open each one of the old folders, select all items in
the folder, and copy the items to the new version of the folder.

Calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes are a bit trickier. Select calendar in
the navigation pane. Under My Calendars, you'll see the old one and the new
one listed. Click the old one, then do view|arrange by|current view|by
category. This will give you a big list of your calendar items. Select all
of them and copy them to the new calendar under my calendars. Do the same
for contacts, tasks, notes.

When you're finished, you can close the old Personal Folders by right
clicking it and selecting close.

I'm explaining some of this from memory--I know I just did it this morning,
but at my age that's long term memory--but I think I got it right. Good luck.

Elbert

 

[Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]]

<g> You're welcome!

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please reply
only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***

 

[Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]]

Elbert hit the nail on the head in his reply to you The other way to
do it is to make the old .PST file your default once it's loaded into
Outlook -- how to do that depends on your Outlook version.

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please reply
only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***

 

[Bob Griendling]

It's Outlook 2000 version 9.0.0.6627

Elbert hit the nail on the head in his reply to you The other way to
do it is to make the old .PST file your default once it's loaded into
Outlook -- how to do that depends on your Outlook version.

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please
reply only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***

 

[Bob Griendling]

Thanks, Elbert. I've still got a little problem.

Using the file transfer wizard I transferred my old pst file from the old
computer to my new one. When I opened Outlook on the new computer, it
opened to my old Inbox, which is my usual preference, I then hit file open,
found the old outlook file that had transferred over and opened it.

So far, so good. But now when I open Outlook, it opens to the new inbox.
When I try to close that new Outlook Today with the few folders that are
default I get a message that I can't close the files that contain calendar,
etc.

I also noticed the transfer didn't include my other email accounts. Which
is OK as they're easy to set up.

But how do I get Outlook to open my old inbox, which I want of course to be
the default and get my email to come into that Inbox, not the new one?
Jocelyn said making the old pst file my default depends on the Outlook
version I have. I have Outlook 2000 Version 9.0.0.6627.

Thanks.

Bob

Thanks,

Bob

and all my old Outlook files were right above it

 

[Bob Griendling]

Through copying and renaming a couple of files, I've got most of my Outlook
working. But what didn't transfer were my accounts settings, my junk mail
directory, my rules or my signatures. I've replicated my accounts OK. Any
ideas of how to get rules, signatures and junk directory -- and come to
think of it, the custom spelling dictionary? Thanks.

Bob

 

[Bob Griendling]

Thanks, all. I figured it out. Much appreciated.

One thing I haven't though. In my old address book, second and third emails
were listed in address book as separate lines. Now it appears as only one
entry. How can I get it back to multiple email line entries for one name?

Bob