Reader Comments

What does PST actually stand for ? Personal Storage ? I'd like to know.

I believe PST stands for "Personal STore."

Each time I try to export a mailbox, I get an error message: The folder has been moved, or deleted or access is denied. I have pointed the export to the user's local HD and their personal home folder and a floppy, all with same result. Any thoughts would be great, thanks.

I've got some PST files from a time period covering 1996-1999. I would like to export the messages to a plain text file, like CSV or similar. Outlook allows me to do that.... but it doesn't export the dates! That's just crazy. If I import the PST file, it shows the dates. And if I then export it, the emails are in order. The tool doesn't give you the option of "date" as one of the fields! I want the date, so how do I get it?

Outlook 2000 running on Win Me is doing something I don't think it should and I'm hoping you may have a solution. Some, not all of my incoming e-mails are going straight to my delete box and not into my inbox. I'll see the small envelope in the bottom right hand corner of my task bar letting me know I have mail but there will be no new mail in my inbox and if I open my delete folder I will have an unopened e-mail in there and when I close the delete folder and reopen my inbox the small envelope will dissappear. I have run the scanpst.exe and outlook.exe /cleanpst and reinstalled Outlook and redirected Outlook to use mailbox.pst which I moved out of the default store to and newly created PST backup folder to no avail the problem still persists. Regards,

I've been running Outlook 2000 on Win2K and did not know of the 2GB limit; trying to file the pst file to a CD to load on my laptop and nada - so I am going to try to get the exe from MS - therefore, I think PST means "pretty stupid technology". No warning is really bad.

I just wanted to say "Thanks!" for the Common .pst File Questions article. I couldn't figure out (from the "precise" (NOT) error messages I was getting) that my pst was Read Only after copying from a CDR. I knew it would be, but forgot. Thanks again for the cranial jump-start!

PST = Personal Storage Table

I am having failed backups because it says a fountain.pst file is corrupt. This is in a WinBeep32 application that came with the DELL server we purchased last spring. Could someone help me? Can I delete this file? It is under a server data folder under this application. Am I getting a corrupt file message because I do not have outlook running on my server? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

I was wondering if anyone knows how to update the AutoArchive location for Outlook 2000 users who are using Exchange mailboxes. I need a method to update a few thousand users quickly. I need to change the location from the default profile path to say a network drive.

How do I get rid of a bad .pst file? Somehow during an attempt to have a portable (notebook) version of my outlook files, I imported another copy, and ended up with two pst folders. The main (correct) one "Outlook Today" [Notebook] is fine, but how do I get rid of the other one "Personal Folders", with unwanted items; Calendar, Contacts, etc. Hopefully merge them? I can't close it; if I try to close it, I get the error; "The operation failed, the object could not be found". I get the same message if I open it's properties, I and select "advanced". If I try to close the [notebook] folder, I get: "You cannot close the personal folders file that contains your mailbox, …". I ran scanpst (??), and it did (claim to) repair a few problems, but to no avail. I do notice that they have different icons, the personal folders (broken) one has a folder icon, the other (working) one, has the "today" Icon …

When I search for .pst's, I get several, and all get dated with the same time, time of last run of Outlook: outlook.pst c:/winnt 4,784 notebook.pst d:/data/myname 6,176 mail.mum.edu.002 c:/winnt/profiles… outlook.pst d:/data/outlook 5,472 I notice that if I export my main pst folder from outlook (guthrie), it saves on disk as 10,057 a) why is the save so much larger? b) why do I have so many pst's?

How do you delete a .pst file? (eg. backup.pst)

Hi, I don't use Microsoft Exchange. I'm using Outlook 2000 on Win9x/Win2k. Is there a way I can allow multiple users to open and modify a PST file?

I moved my .pst file to a home share on our network & password protected it. I have forgotten the password. How can I remove this password. My pst file contains much needed folders. Thanks!

We are trying to import hundreds of rogue PST files back into onto the servers. One method is to request the user to simply open the PST file and move the folders back to their main on-line store. However, there does not seem to be a way to select all the folders and move them in one go. You have to move each folder one-by-one. I know that we could do this with the Exchange client but our users are now using Outlook 98. With Exchange client, you had the ability to display the folders on the right side of the screen where the messages are displayed and you could then select them all and then right-click move. How can this be done in Outlook? Thanks

I am using Outlook 2000 running on Win2K. I believe I have a bad email in the Inbox that causes Outlook to generate an error "OUTLOOK.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program. An error log is being created." I have tried renaming the outlook.pst file, reopening Outlook with a new pst file, turned off Inboxe's "Preview Pane", closed Outlook, renamed outlook.pst back again, and reopenned Outlook, but to no avail. The old outlook.pst seems to always cause Outlook to open to the Inbox with the offending email in the Preview Pain :^). Is there another way to get rid of the offending email? Is there a pst file editor that I can remove the offending email? Thanks in advance.

I am familiar with limiting email attachements within Exchange Administrator. I am looking for a way to allow certain users to be able to send out attachments over the limits on occassion. Does anyone know a way to setup a way I can allow certain users to "bypass" the limits setup in Exchange Administrator Thanks

I know there is an issue with accessing psts from CD-Rs. Do you have any insight on accessing them from a CD-RW with a CD burner installed, using the HP DirectCD technology?

I have Outlook Express v6. When I use Word 97's Insert Address Button, the "Show Names from:" is Outlook Address Book and "No entries in this Address Book" is in the display box. If I use the arrow down for the "Show Names from" to select Contacts I get a program error in winword. Any idea how I can get my addresses. My address book works good in Outlook.

i have created a .pst file from Outlook 2000 and am now trying to import it into Outlook 2002. I get a message saying that I do not have sufficient permissions to open the file. The file is read-only.

Hello. On my PC I have Outlook 2K SR-1, English. Yesterday, while Outlook was normally working, I accidentally ran it again, but as soon as I realized that I immediately closed the second instance. From that time on, it was no more possible for me to move messages from the "outlook.pst" standard folders and my Personal folders (a 590MB file located on a network drive). When I try to do so, Outlook hangs. Other features such as mail sending and receiving still work, so I think that's a problem with that PST file. I tried to run Outlook with options /safe and /CleanViews, to remove outcmd.dat and extend.dat. I ran ScanPst.exe, but no errors were found in that big PST file. I also tried to install Office SP2, but nothing has changed from this point of view. Now I'd like to know how to proceed, considering that this PST file can't be removed, because it's my work mail archive. Thanks and best regards,

Are there any (third party) viewers for PST files? We need to make PSTs available in a read-only format and don't want to use Outlook (R/W required).

I had my IMD people burn a copy of all of my files I wanted to keep and take with me to my next job. The pst.files had been opened with excell and now everything is in an excell spred sheet and most of the text in the body of all of my e-mails innot there. Only the first few lines are there. I did import the files back to outlook but still only the first few lines are there in the text body. How can I recover the information that I lost? Can it be recovered? Thank you.

I tried to open my Personal folder (which is linked to a pst file) and i got a corrupted message. I checked the size of the pst file and it was 500MB. I restarted my computer and when i checked the size again of the pst file, i found it to be zerokb. is there any solution to get my emails back? I tried using the Inbox Repair Tool but it returns a message saying the file is to small to contain any usful data?!? Any support is highly appreciated.

Hello, Great Article! Do you happen to know of anyways to store messages both on the exchange server and on a .pst? I believe this would help redundancy, or do you have any suggestions on ensuring redundant messages stores? Thanks,

I recently purchased XP and run Outlook 2000. I followed instructions to archive all my old mail in the Sent and Deleted folders. The files are now in a .pst folder. When I try to access it, I get a message saying that there is no program associated with this file and do I want to search the Internet for the correct software. I did that and down loaded software update from Microsoft. Now, when I try to open the .pst file I just get a "new mail" screen with the .pst fole in the subject matter. Please help, I need to retrieve information. Thanks in advance

Hi, Love the article, but have a curly one for you.. I ran a backup of a PST while it was in use & have deleted the original. Have run Scanpst.exe but no messages were recovered, any ideas apart from Pst2gb would be really helpful Thanks

I am using Outlook 2000 without Exchange on a Windows 2000 Pro computer and my main .pst (the one for Outlook Today) is on a network share. I always have Outlook open on my desktop for the entire day. Recently after I had upgraded my Windows 2000 Pro to SP3 and applied a few hotfixes, Outlook started to complain that my main .pst could not be accessed. I had to close Outlook and reopen it to get access again. I ran SCANPST but found no errors. The size of the .pst is less than 70MB. Outlook did not complain about the other 6 .pst files that I have opened also. Have you heard of this problem?

How can i retrieve the files on my back up I backed up my eml as below before doing a reformat method i used i now know is wrong but here goes In outlook office xp I Archived the whole off my personel folder I was given the path to where it was located Appdata/microsoft/outlook . I copied the whole thing from (appdata) to the files in the (outlook) folder. these are the files i am trying to acces The properties of the folder inform me they are .fav.files. However trying to access them through various apps, in word i can see that the pst files are in there and can make out some addresses etc.Please tell me there is a way to access these files.Have tried various ways, direct import through outlook doesnt work,have tried renaming new and pasting old in then renaming new still no joy awaiting your reply with hope Thanks

I have been trying to open a .pst that I saved for months...thanks to your advice I just recovered very important info. Thanks.

Are there any utilities that can read a .PST file directly and return its contents or are there any VB6 tools that let you read these files instead of them having to be included in Outlook?

I received several emails yesterday, the last of which was spam. My Outlook is configured to preview whatever email is highlighted, and whenever I download new emails, the last email is always automatically highlighted. Unfortunately, Outlook seems to be choking on this piece of spam -- I'm getting a permanent sandclock. It looks to me like I need to access my .pst file through some editor that will allow me to delete that particular piece of spam. Do you know of any such .pst file editor, or of any way to delete an Outlook email without launching Outlook?

I was tring to get a better understanding what a .pst file was and I tried to open one. I never had a program associated with this type of file so it asked me what I wanted to open it with. I chose "WORD" thinking it may be displyed in text format etc. and obviously it never worked. Since then I noticed all my .pst files have the "word" icon displyed in front of them. What should it be and how can I change it? I went to the control panel then to folder options then to file types but I don't even see the .pst file type listed there? I tried to right click on a .pst file then "open with" but I never knew what to use. Outlook was not listed there so I chose "other" browsed to Office then to an Outlook Icon. Thats where I am at now. It displyes the Outlook icon in front of the .pst fils but won't open and I am sure that it was not an Outlook icon when I started to meess around. Ideas?

How about a nice method for merging pst files without manually copying folders and e-mails??

Is there any tool to export the old mails in a legacy system ? The legacy mail system, the mails are stored as .msg files Or any tool to convert the .msg files to .pst format

I have a hard drive that was a primary, bootable, XP drive that was installed on a motherboard that went south. I replaced the motherboard which necessitated making that drive a secondary drive accessable from a new primary drive. My Outlook mail is on that old drive *somewhere*. How can I recover the email that resides on that drive? I have no clue where the files are. They do not show up if I search .pst files. Thanks for your help. Bob

I am using Outlook 2002. Two days ago I cannot access into it. First, saying .fav file error and suggesting to run repair tool which I did and after that I found that it didn't recovered rather the file size went down from 3.5Mb to 16Kb now it says that its not a personal folder. I have lost all my data that I started saving in .pst file for three months. Any solution will be very much appreciated. Thanks.

I just downloaded an e-mail with a 1.3mb attachment. It crashed Outlook. Now, every time i try to open Outlook, because I have the preview pane open, and that message is the first one in my Inbox, Outlook crashes. I can only use webmail now - it's terrible. I don't think the attachments have viruses - I opened Outlook Express and used it to import all my inbox messages from Outlook. Outlook Express has no problem viewing the message or the attachments, so I'm guessing this has to do with some bug in Outlook (2000). Is there anyway to delete the message from the .pst file? Do you have any ideas how I might get Outlook to work again? Thanks - your help is much appreciated!

I have a huge .pst file that is archived from a listserve. Is it possible to export the .pst file to an Access database?

I am a computer technician and I recently found that one of my customers WinXP profile was corrupted so I copied his entire profile to another location as to not lose any important data and then I deleted and recreated his profile. My problem is that I am unable to locate his stored emails from his personal folders in Outlook 2002. I've looked for pst files and I haven't been able to find them. I am wondering if WinXP stores these emails anywhere else perhaps in the System Directory. If you can help, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

I have forgoten my .pst password, is there a way around this to reset the password.

Hi, I use Windows millenium and office 2000. If I take a copy of the outlook.pst file will I be backing the Contacts, ie: email addresses. I copied the file but when I looked for similar file on an XP machine, to test the restore, I couldn`t find the *.pst file. System files are not hidden. I copied my pst file to the path outlook shows but nothing new happened! Do you know what could be happening? Thanks

Hi, I copied the pst file to a CDR, in order to format the hd. When I copied it back (removing the readonly tag) I can't open it. "Properties of the information service need to be defined", and after that: "No access rights". Inbox repair doesn't work.

Hi, I exported my outlook personal files into D:\Outlook Archives\29Jan03. Then I needed to re-intsall Windows XP and I forgot the useraname upon re-installation. I simply give another one. Now, I couldn't open that outlook file. Actually, I don't know if it is related to the re-installation or the possibly different login name. I simply couldn't open it. The error message is this: File access is denied. You do not have the permission required to access the file D:\Outlook Archives\29Jan03. Can you tell me how to open this? Thanks!

Hello, I work as support for a company and we use OfficeXP with Exchange 5.5 (though I dont think that matters in this question). I have a user who gets an error when moving a message to his pst. The error is as follows... Can't move the items. The file c:\...\saved.pst could not be accessed. Data error (cyclic redundancy check). I can read and copy the message from within the pst. I cannot delete or move anything. This has happened twice before and we just copied all the messages/folders to a new pst. I am looking for a a more solid what, why and how problem this is. Any help would be highly appreaciated.

We have some people doing some archiving and it looks like it pulls items based on modification date? A message modifies but just forward/reply? Any other tips

Hello, I have a serious problem. While trying a generate more space in my Outlook 2000 inbox, I auto archived or at least I thought I did. I only wanted to archive one particular folder but ended 'losing' all my emails, even my address book was swiped completely. I only have one .pst file on my computer. I checked with slipstick.com, downloaded recovery software read all the common .pst questions, checked usergroups but all to no avail. Any suggestions?

Is there anyway or any software that can notify me that my .pst has reached a certain limit? I'm trying to avoid manually checking the file. thanks,

Is there any way to extract just the Contacts from a pst file if you can't restore the whole pst file? or, is there any separate file that contains all of my "contact" information?

HELP! I seem to have emptied my PERSONAL FOLDER contents to the deleted items box, and then EMPTIED IT... is there a way I can recover the contents?

how do you export the email along with attachment out of pst and into the appropriate windows file---word/excel/text

I have a problem with my pst file (corrupt) I tried to copy but can't and used Scanpst but still failed and try to scandisk and defrag then I found error on the pst. the file can not be defraged my pst size : 733 Mb and OS Xp...please help me to solve this problem....

I had saved the e mails on a CD-R.Now I have copied to the hard disk and I have cleared the read only setting in the properties. But still I am unable to open the file and when I do try to open a message comes that it is not a personal pst file.Pl help me to solve the problem.

Unable to open archive.pst, I am receiving the following error: The file archive.pst is in use and could not be accessed. The archive size is on a network drive and I have read/write permissions. The size is 850 mb and the file is not being accessed by another user or systems process.

Left office place, IT guy emailed me a PST file of my personal email contacts from Outlook Express to my home computer hotmail account. Unable to open pst file. What program must I download to open file to retrive email contacts?

I have just switched to WinXPpro from WinMe and am trying to write either the outlook.pst file or the outlook backup.pst file onto my cd writer, but the process stalls about 1/3 the way through. Seems as if the file might be corrupt or something, .. and the writer program (direct cd) locks up.

Is there any way to open a pst file and read it other than with Outlook? Outlook is not bringing in all of my emails (inbox repair tool did not work) and there is only 1 email that I really need. I tried to open in Word but it was encrypted. Thanks for any input

we have on our local hard drive a PST file, whose size is 2.1 GB. Because of size outlook cannot open this archive. do you know a way to open it in MS outlook or any other software capable of opening or splitting the PST file? thanks a lot

We seem to be having a very strange problem with a user of ours. We run XP on our clients, exchange 6 on an enterprise server. A user has a pst file that is 150 megs size on the disk, but when it is opened by Outlook (2000) all folders are empty. The size outlook indicates is 0 bytes, and there are no filters. Scanpst does recognize some folders though. We cannot seem to find a solution, does anyone here have an idea?

My shortcut for outlook 2000 does not work, when I try to execute it the splash screen locks up and goes no further. The task manager shows Outlook(r) 2000(r). I can run outlook through Start:Run outlook.exe /safe. Some functions will not work in this version, how can I correct this problem. Thanks for your time.

Dear Mr. Mosher, I have Windows 2000 on my machine and I use outlook to download and read my local server mails. This morning while opening Outlook it threw up a message saying that the folder used to send message, receive message, fix appointments, open address book etc is corrput and cannot be opened. It further asked me if I wish to create another personal folder. Not knowing what to do, I said yes and it created a folder called Personal Folders[1]. Now the next time I opened Outlook it showed the different folders like Inbox, Sent mails etc etc all blank !! Simultaneously an error message appeared which said that the file C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\outlook.pst is corrupt and cannot be opened. It seems I might be able to get back my data if I am able to repair the said file. I tried locating Scanpst.exe on my computer but didn't find it. Any tips on this would be very useful. Considering that I don't have the mails on the server, I would be doomed in case I do not get the mails back :( Please oblige by answering the query (if possible to my mail address). Regards.

Dear Sue, I'm trying to set up two different pst files when I open my outlook. The idea is to have my email from two different accounts going to their own separate pst file. I have set it up, however, when getting new email messages they all go into the default pst file...which is exactly what I do not want. Could you inform me how to proceed? Thanks in advance for your comments,

Eldon, you can export any folder, including Contacts, to another .pst file. You will need to exit Outlook before you can copy or move it, however.

Rene, I'd run Scandisk.exe or other disk took alternating with Scanpst.exe 3-4 times. You may have some underlying disk error that is affecting the PST file.

Jessica, you will need Outlook, not Outlook Express, to open a PST file. Start Outlook, then use the File | Open command.

What's the best way to transfer a pst file ( inbox, sent items calendar, contacts etc) from one machine to another? this must hapen every day when people buy a new computer but it's far from intuitive how best to do it. Is there a recognised "best way"?

I don't use outlook at home , is there anyway i can still read this file by using any other program. Thanks,

Outlook will not open due to a .pst error. I suspect the .pst is too large. what can I do to compress the .pst file now to retrieve neccessary save items? Thanks,

I have two partitions on my hard disk. C and D. C has the operating system. D has the pst file with contacts in it. I use hotmail as my email. When I setup new account on outlook right from the start I go to data management and specify the pst file from the drive D to be used. I get all the contacts, calender appts etc. but how do I get back my hotmail emails? I have specified the drive D pst file as the delivery location for the emails but there are just no emails that I see on this pst. I again created new profiles went in data file mgt and gave the path of drive D I get back all the contacts etc but there are no emails? Pls help. I use a partition Drive D so that I do not have to take a back up incase my Drive C crashes. Thanks,

Why is when I transfer my pst files from one outlook to another, everything comes up fine execpt the calendar. Example: outlook "a" the canlendar reads "October 8 2003, dinner with mother. When I transfer the pst file from calendar "a" to calendar "b" the information in the calendar will say "dinner with mother" 10/8/03, 10/9/03, 10/10/03. Thank you and have a great day! ;)

I want to reorg my pst file. Delete a lot of old stuff out of it and reduce its size. It is currently 94 meg. How do I do that

I want to reorg my pst file. Delete a lot of old stuff out of it and reduce its size. It is currently 94 meg. How do I do that

I'd like to open .pst file (if possible) and program calendar items (adding/deleting/modifying). My preferred progamming tool is VB6. How can I do that? Thanks in advance.

I don't have Outlook installed, but I want to access my e/mails from my old harddrive which I have installed along with a new harddrive on my PC. I am running windows xp pro. Or how do I copy the pst file to my new Outlook express inbox.

outlook 97 - i am worried that when i archive my calendar it will automatically overwrite the previously archived calendar - how can i ensure that it will be preserved?

I added a new HDD to my system and decided to keep the old drive as a slave. I did not backup my pst file(s) on what's now the slave because I thought my files would stay intact. I can't find my pst file(s), is it still there?

Hello, I backed up my pst files and reimaged my computer. I reloaded Office XP and when I import my outlook.pst, everything works correctly except for the calendar. All of my 'All Day Events' are extended to the day before and set with a timer. Any hints on how to get them to appear correctly? Thanks!

I want to delete the prompt when I first open Outlook that asks for my password for personal folders. i belive I have deleted the folder already, but it keeps asking for the password, i need this info ASAP

I am trying to move files from "Sent Items" folder in the mailbox from the exchange server (close to 36MB) to a "Sent Items" folder in a 1 GB .pst on the hard disk. I am getting an error when sending multiple emails that says: "SOME ITEMS COULD NOT BE MOVED. THEY WERE EITHER ALREADY MOVED OR DELETED, OR ACCESS WAS DENIED." I can move one or two at a time, but moving all of them or more than 2 will give this error. Is this just something I will have to deal with? Or, can I do something to allow me to move all of the emails at one time to the .pst folder?

I have been banging my head trying to backup pst files onto a CD. I get permission errors or is not a valid pst file. I've searched newsgroups the only tip they say is to turn off read only, but it still doesn't work.

Hi, I have been archiving regularly my mails using Outlook 2000 running on a notebook with XP professional. The company use an Exchange server. Working from home (disconnected from the network) I moved my ARCHIVE.PST to a directory called C:\My Archives. I reopened Outlook and after readdressing the path to c:\My Archives everything was working fine. I compacted the archive and then I changed the password that for some reasons now can not let me open the archive.pst anymore. I am always asked for it although I am sure that it is the right one. I have found on the web similarissues where a different profile can not recognise the password of the archive in outlook. Can you help? My Archive have sensitive data and it is 45 Mb Big. Thanks Regards,

Sue, I work for a church and use the Calendar and task modules repeatedly to keep up with everything I have to do as the Business Administrator. The one thing I have wanted to do and coan find anyone to tell me how to do it is to be able to date/time stamp entries into the information boxes under my contacts, calendars or task. I have been doing it manually but there must be a macro or someother ready made method to insert the date and/ or time from the system into one of these areas. I like to put the date in every time I talk with a vendor or committee person, etc along with my coments about what was said so I can do a good job of followup. Can you help me find a solution with this? Thank You,

This article is superb..concise, succinct and bears the hallmark of someone who really knows in practical terms the kind of situations the ordinary user finds. Thank you very much.

Just a quick question: I created a CD with a PST file for an ex-employee that no longer works here. He is telling me that he can not open the pst file from his home computer. Is this something that can not be done? If so, what will be the best approach for cases like this one? Thanks for all your help.

am in charge of a 100 man shop (Win2K servers and desktops - 30 of the users work in remote offices). On the desktop we are just migrating to Outlook 2002. In the past we were using Netscape 4.72. Our POP and SMTP mail server is offsite handled by a 3rd party company that scans all incoming and outgoing mail for viruses and also for SPAM. We want the 3rd party as it is much more secure for us (they are more redundant and disaster resilient than our office plus they have a webmail component). With POP mail the mail is on the client PC. So how to back this mail up ? Previously with Netscape the backup of mail was done via scheduled tasks with the Windows backup program where the backup would only happen when the PC was idle for 20 minutes (this would mean the user was in a meeting or at lunch or something). I don’t want to continue this form of backup with the Outlook .PST files. However I cannot find any alternatives (except for a program called BOS Outlook Shadow http://www.bos.co.il/bos/outlook.htm which is still in beta status.) Microsoft's only solution is the Personal Folders Backup utility which backs up the entire .PST file after Outlook is closed. Some of our users have 500mb or more of mail and this would be too much to wait to backup everyday especially if half the company left at 5:00pm. Have you got any recommendations or hints ? Thank you.

I upgraded form Office 2002 Pro Edition to Office 2003 Student and Teachers. After doing this I downloaded the backup program to two computers that are networked. The backup program will not work afte rempeated attempts. Also, I tried to import the .pst file from one computer to another and it fails to recognize the .pst file even after the read only box is unchecked. I tried to run scanpst.exe and it also says it is not a .pst. file. I also tried copying to a CD and copying to the hard drive of the other computer and it still says it is not a .pst file. I am at my wits end. I see this same question in many newsgroups and no one can give a solution including Microsoft. Any help will be appreciated as I have over 1,700 important contacts I need to backup. Thanks for any help you can give.

I have to urgent need to be able to save important attachments into Outlook Today (specific sub file) for recovery and reuse to email to others as needed. How can I take an attachment received via email and store in a saved file under outlook today? Is this something you can advise on?

I liked your article. Is this where I ask another question? If so, I need to know if you've heard of any problems related to people manually moving other Outlook items into their AutoArchive file, like from their Inbox? Is it better to create a separate Personal Folder File in which to store manually moved items, or does it matter? I look forward to your reply. Thank you!

I have a .pst file of about 400mb and an archive file. I could probably use a tool to get rid of some attachments. I like to keep old email for tracking purposes. When I close Outlook and try to shut down, I get a message about the WMS Idle program closing, then another that it is not responding. This seems to be associated with Outlook, since it doesn't happen when I don't run Outlook. When viewing my task manager after closing Outlook, I still see a process for Outlook running. If I end that process, the WMS Idle message does not appear. Sometimes it is a different program other than WMS idle, but that is the most common. I can't find anything on this in the Microsoft database. I hibernate or close on my notebook twice a day to move it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I can't believe that others don't have this problem. Thanks,

I have a user who reaches the 2gig limit every 6 months. He wants to recreate an empty set of the ~100 subfolders created in his personal folder. [the subfolders run A - Z with different projects, people referenced alphabetically. He will be supervising over 200 people eventually, but currently is a one-man show here.] For his last job description I had manually created a personal folder including his subfolders, but the continuing addition of new subfolders has made this a marginally acceptable solution. Ideally, every 6 months he would like to empty the subfolders of their contents, rename the personal folder and GO with this "new" "empty" set of subfolders. Of course, in the ideal world, this would be a two keystroke operation. Any suggestions?

wile upgrading one of my m/c from win98 to win 2000 I took the back up of mails as .pst files after installation (of win2000) I should have imported these file to microsoft outlook (by export/import option). BUT accedentally I double clicked on a .pst file it shown the list of programs to open with, I selected note pade and opened with it. now all pst file in the directory has changed to .txt file, now I am unable to import these files to my personal folder of microsoft out look (as it appeares like funney charecters). now I want to get these files to .pst how to do it can you please guide me. thanks,

Sue, I do agree with your comments on PSTs. Our corporate rules for OL are to ask the software to download mails to personal folders. It worked until recent times. Unfortuantely, several PST corruption issues occured in the last weeks compared to absolutely nothing in the past. I try to find reasons about corruption (of course, we check the limits - 2GB, 16383/65635 elements...). The problem issues after we recently upgrade the E2K clustered servers running NAI Groupshield and patched MSOffice 2K with the SP3. Do you know things that can corrupt PSTs such as viruses, behaviour or other? I'm stuck. Thank you.

Duplicate files in Outlook 2003 -------------------------------------------- I am using Windows XP and was using Outlook XP successfully for several years. I recently upgraded to Office 2003 which includes the much improved Outlook 2003. However I faced some problems when converting my PST files from the old format (97-2002) to the new format of OL2003. I am now stuck with a number of Outlook Personal folders which appear in my "Folders List" and refuse to be deleted or closed. These were Personal Folders originally linked to actual PST files. Those Physical PST files got deleted first, without removing (or closing) the items from the Folder list in Outlook. Now there is no way to delete or close these Personnel Folders in Outlook, trying to do so results in an error message : "The Operation Failed. An object could not be found" I have tried to create dummy PST files using the same names as those existed: that works fine to open these dummy folders in outlook, but still refuses to close or delete any of these folders. The files do not show up in the Data files list within "Data File Management..." nor do they show up in the profile data file list in "Control Panel" - "Mail" I have also reinstalling office 2003 totally, but Outlook still somehow remembers the existing files Is there another file hidden somewhere that I need to get rid of to make outlook really forget those once-existed PST files ? Best Regards,

I recently deleted my outlook.pst file. With a recovery programm i could recover it (80Mb), but could not import it in outlook. After using a outlookrecovery program, i could import it in outlook 2000 but all the files are empty (total just 700kb). How can i get my emails and contacts back? Please help.

My pst file somehow duplicated itself! Now I have two inboxes, and two of everything (Calendars, contacts), etc. I think it happened one day when I accidentally double clicked on Outlook twice to open it, it tried to open twice and then freaked out. Some little window popped up asking if I wanted to open up another pst file and I must have said yes. Since then, this extra set of Outlook files has come about. How do I turn it back into a single set without deleting files (some emails go to the inbox in one set; other emails go to another folder in the other set)! Thanks

Can I recover a pst file if I accidently deleted it. I was messing with folders within Outlook and it appears I deleted a large archive folder (everything from 2003). The pst file is no longer on my hard drive in my documents\outlook so I can't really use the inbox repair tool. What can I do to recover the folder and all those emails?

Hello, I have a client that allowed their ol2002 OST (offline folders) file exceed the 2 GB limit. As per your recommendations we will perform periodic maintanence to prevent this from occuring in the future. However, in order to mitigate her current problem I was thinking of strategically moving some of her items to the archive area and deleting some other items. Once her exchange mailbox was below the 2 GB limit, then i would re-build her offline folders file. Questions: Is this a safe route to take and If not what do you recommend? Since her OST file exceeds the 2GB limit she can no longer synchronize with her Exchange mailbox. Once I disconnect from the existing OST file, and create a new file, will I ever be able to go back to it? Thanks,

Nice.... The part about the recovering messages from the pst file was excellent. :) Keep it up

We have a user community with about 1000 desktops and we need a means of backing up the users local pst files. Microsoft doesn't recommend accessing pst files stored on a server. We can't have each user running pfbackup.exe. Some pst files are in the neighborhood of 2 gbs. What are your recommendations? Thanks!

Can you help me with the following: Let me know how (or if) you can transfer an Exchange Mail Store to another storage device (or server) while maintaining only pointers (not making multiple copies of files). I don’t know if you heard the conversation yesterday, but there were those who seemed certain that when the mail store was “migrated” that the pointers are lost…i.e. each person with an attachment in their mailbox gets a copy of the attachment as opposed to a pointer to a single copy of the attachment. · Can PST file sizes be limited? I expect the answer is no but, I would like to be sure. · Can you run Exchange 2000 on Windows 2003? I would expect you can, but there were those who were pretty certain that you can’t. · Can enterprise default archive settings be pushed through Group Policy? · Can you make individual exceptions to mailbox size limitations? From my knowledge of Exchange 5.5, I would be shocked if you can’t. I know you could in 5.5. Again, there were those who said this couldn’t be done. I appreciate any feedback on this. Thank

I need to know if administrator can set a size limit to a .pst file? I need to be able set my user's .pst to a particular size. Thanks

I use Office XP (Outlook 2002) and am having issues with my email. I keep getting duplicate emails. At first it was 2 or 3 duplicates, then it now has grown to the point that every time my email is checked, 50+ emails come in that are duplicates. The problem seems to be some kind of nasty worm on my machine, my IS guy thinks I have a stealth worm. I have 2 email accounts, one for home and one for the office. This worm only is in my office pst file, not home. I have just reformatted my drive, reloaded all software, installed all applications and imported the *.pst file and the issue remains. I have an updated copy of McAfee VS, updated all Windows XP and Office patches, etc,etc. This issue doesn't come up when I use Eudora email, only Outlook email. I think that the old *.pst file has some kind of worm that VS is not detecting. McAfee on-line help is not helpful. My IS guy has imported my email on Outlook 2003 (on his machine) and doesn't seem to have an issue. Do you know if there would be something in Outlook 2003 that is not in 2002 that would filter out this worm or is it more likely something in my computer? Do you have any suggestions of things that I could try? Thanks for your help,

Helpful. Thanks. But how can you automate the archiving process for SUB-folders?

Dear Sir/Madam, I have problem in my outlook pst file, while first time i access the file showing error msg " This is not pst file" after that i repair the pst file using scanpst.exe it ask backup and then after finish the repair process i am able to access the file but no mails showing and file size there.... please help me in this case what i have to do..... I am waiting for u r helpful reply.... Regards

Great article, thanks! Here's a topic for discussion: I've converted my PST files to Outlook 2003 but I need to revert to Outlook XP. Is there any way to down-convert the files, or do I need to re-install Outlook 2003 and do some sort of export? (I need to downgrade because I was using Outlook XP with RPC over HTTP and a Neoteris clientless VPN solution. Outlook 2003 will not work this way - it will only do RPC over HTTP for an Exchange 2003 server.) Thanks!

My Harddrive got corrupted and I managed to recover the root directory and all the files including some deleted ones = unfortunately the .pst file has now shrunk to 48 KB !!! so all the data is lost.....is there any way to recover this Outlook.pst file ? I am desperate. Regards.

I have a new computer with new MS office. After I install outlook, I only can receive mail, can not send email. I SEARCH outlook.pst file on my compter and get no result found in my C driver.So I can not run the inbox repair tool. Would you please tell me how to fix the problem? Thanks

After I deleted some emails with large attachment, the .pst file size never reduce. I have tried your advice to use the compact function (Advanced -> Compact Now) on the correct folder. But the .pst file size still the same. I don't have the administrator right, but I am the owner of the .pst file.

i am using outlook with .pst files. i am wanting to start an exchange 2003 server. can i import my existing .pst data to exchange so i retain all my emails? i am new to exchange Any feedback is greatly appreciated

sir can i programatically convert .pst files to .dbx or can I convert it to .eml files

This is very useful information. However, I have a problem with storing my .PST files on a network. The .PST file is not accessible sometimes. You can usually close and reopen outlook and the files are once again accessible. The problem comes and goes like a BAD storm. Sometimes the .PST file gets corrupted during this process and the SCANPST utility has to by run or worse a file restore from the file server. If you are allowed to move messages from the Exchange server to personal folders, the messages will disappear forever. Any Suggestions?????

Just found this through google. looks very helpful. I have a quick question. I currently use outlook 2000 as a knowledgebase as well. Is there a simple way to export the exsiting data to lets say an Access database? Ecport items include: Body of email and attachments. Formats include HTML and text Thnaks for any help provided.

Michelle, your article was excellent but I still have a problem that I'm not able to solve. Some time ago I saved old email messages for a few users on some pst files, because their Exchange mailboxes were becoming too big, then I opened the pst files in Outlook so that they could still see them. Everything worked fine, they could access the separate pst files, but today one user accidentally deleted his pst files. Since I had backup copies of all the files I thought that it wouldn’t be a big problem, but when I try to open the backup copies from Outlook they look absolutely empty. Any hints on why this is happening?

I use Office 2000 SP-3 and I keep multiple PST files in network storage. I open and close them as I need them. Sometimes I get an error message when I attempt to close a PST file, such as "The messaging interface returned an unknown error." When that happens, I go into the Registry and delete the reference to the file.

Hello Sue, Thank you for this article. But is their a way to change the file location of the pst files to say: C\Data\Outlook like with Outlook Express

I have 3 personal folders .pst files, however all the emails in them have been deleted.The file *.pst total some 770mb so I guess outlook 97 doesn't release the space. I now want o recover those deleted mails in the 8.pst files. How can i do it. thanks

I backed-up my archived pst files to a CDRW along with all my documents, then reformatted the HD. Outlook now tells me that the file contains 48KB and will not allow me to open it. Is there any way to recover my data? Please help!

I have 3 pst files. My office was using outlook 2000. We converted to outlook 2002. Now one of my pst's reads the following error message. "The file is not a personal folders file". Before we converted, it opened fine. Any ideas.

Help! Notes gone! Keep lots of important info in Notes. Opened today and most are gone. Thinking I archived them, but there is no "Notes" folder or view in Archive.pst?! Have run /restorefolders and scanpst (no errs). Where did they go???! Any help appreciated, thank you!

I installed MS Office XP Pro over Office XP Small Business thinking it was an upgrade only, but found out it was a full version. My Outlook went nuts and 120MB of data stored in a .pst file says it now cannot be opened. I have uninstalled and reinstalled till I am almost dead. Please help me get my .pst file and years of important dat open. The properties for the .pst file say its all still there, but how do I access it??? Thanks, Terry...

i have written over my pst file by mistake while i was trying to back it up. any help is greatly appreciated since i need the data badly. Microsoft and Dell tell me they are gone. can anyone help please.

I regulary open Outlook and it says that it can't find my pst file, is there any way i can mend this? Also we run three pc's with a server, and outlook is often incredibly slow - do you know if there's anything i can do about that too?

I want to move project related e-mail to standard folders (outside of Outlook) for long term storage and reference but whenever I do, the received by date info seems to disappear only to be replaced by today's date. This renders the archived e-mails relatively useless. Is there any way to move emails out of Outlook and maintain the original received by date? Thank you!

When I run Outlook under Win2K I get a "can't access .pst file: data error (cyclic redundancy check)" message. I've tried to run the Inbox Repair Tool (the latter failing to run) and run Scan Disk without success. Is my .pst file corrupted beyond recovery? It's about 1.5 GB (compressed to 1.2 GB).

We switched to Outlook 2003 & Exchange 2003. The people who were upgraded from Outlook Express 6 can't archive files. Actually they can, but it just creates the directory structure and deletes all the old emails (and no, they aren't marked for deletion, they are set to "move" to archive"). People who were running Outlook 2000 can archive fine with the identical settings. Upgrading people from OE 6.0 to 2000 and then to 2003 doesn't help.

Our IT department has set a deadline to elliminate .PST files from the server and remove our ability to create new .PST files. They're also limiting our allocated email space. Their solution is to save attachments to the shared drive and limit emails... Does anyone know a way to save emails or another solution so we can save our emails? Thanks.

Same problem with PST File that everyone has had after burning a file off of the network. What's happening - not a valid personal folders file

I have pst file above 2gb in outlook 2000. I tried the microsoft tool - does not have. Is there anything else i can do to recover the data - and then archive it.

I am unable to recover my .pst file from my previous profile. Is there any way to recover a .pst file that was deleted and emptied from the trash? Please help. All my pertinent contacts are lost. Thanks in advance

I'm having a problem with a .pst file of mine. My boss made it for me as a backup when I left working there. I was on exchange at the time. When I attemp to import it I get a message that says "(name).pst is not a personal folders file." It is impossible for that to be true. It's not read only so i can't figure out what could have happened. scanpst.exe doesn't even recognize it. Could it have been accidentally encrypted? Any help would be great. Thanks, andrew

I also have a big problem with Outlook. Last weekend I could not send or receive email. A message says: cylische redundantiecontrole. (this is Dutch, I'm from Holland) Someone told me to use several repair tools like the one from Outlook. After I used it all my email was gone!!! (thank you Mr. Gates!) As I typed in "Outlook" in the search engine I found a huge 1.7 gb file which is the backup I think. But I could not put it back in Outlook. Someone told me to run a check program on it several times till no corrupted file was found. I did and after 3 checks nothing seemed to be wrong with the backup. I went back to Outlook and tried to import the backup to the original folders. Now we come to the problem, nothing happens! I have tried this several times, followed all the instructions step by step, but unfortunately all the about 6000 mails don't appear. Any idea how to fix this problem? Thanks, Rolf.

Tony Sharkey: RE your question about Outlook files shrinking after deleting messages above, the space will be released over time. You need to leave Outlook open and the computer idle or.. choose File -> Data File Management -> Settings -> Compact Now... or a tool to do it automatically like PSTCompactor (http://www.pstcompactor.com). Also, there are no real differences between Outlook 98, 2000 and XP PST files, but Office 2003 has changed so once you go forward you can not go back

Hi, Can any body tell me on how to remove passwords from a PST file which had been archived from a previouse Netware 5.5 server. I have archived Email account from our previouse netware server and then importing then into Outlook 2003 as a PST file. Each time i do so it keeps on asking me for a password. I have tried to edit a few PST files by using notepad and removing the random genarated password, however this doesnt work and i cant seems to see any item in any of the folders. Does any body know how to resolve this????

what is .pst file and how addresses can be imported to outlook address folder from a .pst file

I have recently re-installed all software on my PC. I was using Outlook XP before the re-install and I'm using it now. The "Outlook/pst" file with all of my current data came back fine but the "Archive.pst" file seems to have lost all of the calendar data. The system didn't crash, all data was restored from verified backups. So what happened to my archived calendar info? Thanks.

I think the archive.pst just past 2 gig and was not archiving anything. So I changed the name to archive2.pst and archiving worked again. It looks like the archive folder showes contents from both archive.pst (~2 Gb) and archive2.pst (~12 Mb). Is this normal? Does anyone know? thanks.

Very interesting article' I have a similar problem as posted by gregory Guthrie -April 16, 2002 How do I get rid of a bad .pst file?, After a crash which forced me to format the drive & reinstall Outlook I imported my old data and ended up with two Personal Folders one which contains the old data & the new one in which all new emails go. How do I get of the duplicate ?

My archive pst file size is only 1.43GB on a local drive and the problem I encountered was can't move the emails from one mail inbox to this archive inbox folder. Pls advise as I couldn't get any solution from the web. Your help is greatly appreciated

Could you show me a quick way to change the pst file I archive my Outlook folders regularly to? I have an archive_200x.pst for every year so need to change the archive file on Jan. 1 every new year in the props dialog of every folder and I have a lot of folders...

I left a job location which used Outlook. I exported my inbox and sent files and now have .pst fies. At my new location we use Lotus notes. We do have Outlook express available. I have not been able to import the pst files into either. How can I get access to these files? Thanks

I tried to open my Personal folder (which is linked to a pst file) and I got a message saying the Outlook.pst file is not a Personal Folders file. I restarted my computer and when I checked the size of the pst file, it was 0 kb. Is there any solution to get my emails back? I tried using the Inbox Repair Tool but it returns a message saying the file is to small to contain any usful data. Any support is highly appreciated.

How do I get rid of a extra .pst file for Microsoft Outlook 2000? Somehow I ended up with two pst folders. The Outlook Today, and one that just is named "Personal Folders". I can't close it; if I try to close it, I get the error; "The operation failed, the object could not be found". It gives me the same message when I go into the personal properties, advanced section. I went into mail icon in the Contacts folder, but it didn't give me the option to delete. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Dear Sue, I hope you can help with my problem. I have a Psion 3mx and wish to convert my Psion Data file over to an Ipaq 3870 through 'Outlook' I am told that I need to convert my Data to a PST file, as when I do a normal straight conversion, I lose half of the data that is in each entry in my Psion. How do I convert my Psion Data file to a PST file. Thanks, Martyn Crouch.

From my desktop I opened the Outlook pst that resides on my laptop. (I wanted to move some emails between computers.) Both are Outlook 2000. Now Outlook won't close the 'personal folders' it opened from the laptop. I get an error message that the command failed, and that an object was not found. Yet I can still see and work with all the laptop's mail folders. How do I get Outlook to close that pst?

Your document on PST was short and clearly understandable.

Tom & Tanya, see if the last item on the troubleshooting page at http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/oltrble.htm helps. You may find it easier just to ignore the extra file or restart Outlook with a newly created mail profile.

Martyn, I have no experience with the Psion device. I doubt that there’s any direct conversion and suspect you would need to use the synchronization software provided by the company to sync with Outlook.

Hi, i have problem bringing from Win 98 office 2000 .pst file to Win XP Pro office 2003 OEM. I copied out the Win 98 office 2000 .pst. After importing to Win XP Pro office 2003 OEM I have the message (outlook.pst is not a personal folder file....) the .pst file size is only 7MB. I manage to import back the archive.pst. Please help Thank you.

When I try to import a PST file from a shared drive on the network, it appears to work, but at the very end I get an alert stating "Operation Failed" The files are less than 1GB and none of them are read-only.

How can i write to a pst file programmaticaly(c++ for example) and how a pst file is structured. Please help Thank you

Hi, I access an exchange server on a corporate network but keep my personal folders on a "local drive" (actually a mapped network drive). Every time I try to access them it reports them as being in use. I have closed all mail sessions I can find which might be using the file. I have copied the file to a new name (and Ive done this from a Unix command prompt to get around any windows file locking). I have tried to use the PST repair tool (but that too reports the file as being in use by another program). Any ideas on how I can "close" this file so I can again get access to my data?

I use the Outlook Calendar to document important information about meetings. I believe the older info was sent to archive.pst, but when I try to open this folder it won't show me any information. I tried to open it through a word document and all the information is jumbled. Any help would be appreciated so I can retreive all of my meeting information. Thanks!

Hello, I have a pst file that is 500MB. When I open the archive in Outlook only 100MB shows in the properties. I have run the scanpst and it didn't find any problems. Can you give me any suggestions on what I can do to recover the other 400MB? Thank you Tom

I am having problems getting emails in my inbox. It appears there is a delay. It will seem that there are no new messages and then if I click on my calendar or something else, a few new messages will appear. I don’t get new messages unless I click on something else first. Could you please look and help? thanks

just recently upgraded my operating System from Windows 98 to Windows XP after backing up my Outlook pst. Now after installing all the necessary software I tried to re-install my email by importing the *.pst file, But it came out as my *.pst has a password and I have to type in that password inorder to import or even just setting it up normally. I did NOT set any password on my *.pst when I was using Windows 98. I am wondering why this happen. Something happens and it automatically sets a password on my pst. Is there any way I can solve this problem? Thanks, Padre

I exported my Outlook 2003 emails as a .pst file. Now I have Outlook 2002 and I cannot import them. Is there a way to convert/retrieve my old emails? I do not have a copy of Outlook 2003, only 2002.

Use ExMerge.

I recovered a PST file from a lost partition on my hard drive. The PST file cannot be attached to my outlook 2000. I get an error "this folder is not a PST". When the file extension is obviously PST

I copied my contacts.pst file to a cd and then to the hard drive on another computer, both computers using XP, and I got the error "this folder is not a PST" when it was..!!

Can you Merge 2 Archive files into one? I have more thatn one archive.pst files and want to consolidate them into one.

hi, i have an exchange server. i set my mails to go directly to my PST. it was working fine not till yesterday when it didn't move any message at all. i tried to move one message manually to PST but i get an error "The item could not be moved. It was either already moved or deleted or access was denied."

where are the answers to these comments/questions?

How do I merge data from two .pst files ?? Thanks!

I'm using OL2000 on an exchange server, with my personal pst's stored on a network drive. Despite regularly renaming them to their "proper" names, every few days ALL my pst's get renamed with the name "Archive Folder", making it impossible to find anything. Why is this happening? Regards

How do I repair PSTs which has this error? "is not a personal folders file"

How do I repair PSTs which has this error? "is not a personal folders file"

I am trying to load an Outlook 2002 pst file into Outlook 2003. I keep getting the following error: 'The file \backup.pst is not a personal folders file.' I am able to import the file into my Outlook 2002, but I am not going to be using that any more, I want to load it into Outlook 2003. Any ideas?

Do you know how to load the contents of a .pst file in to a public folder. I've tried using the standard Outlook import command and also a tool called pubmerge but neither seem to work. Any ideas?

pst stands for Personal Storage Template. It is a database template that is common to Outlook (all versioins back to the original MS Exchange Client used on Win98)

It's utterly amazing how problematic Outlook is. This is a great article; very informative, unfortunately judging by the responses here, it would take a dissertation to cover fixes to all of these problems! Use Thunderbird instead, people! It saves email as plain text, in a standard format readable by just about any other program. And, copying your email and settings over to another computer is just a matter of copying files over, nothing more -- and it works, just the way you'd expect it to. Well, I'm off to fix an Outlook install that went horribly wrong. Wish me luck!

I had a .pst file corrupted. I run the scanpst.exe by keeping a backup. it said repaired but when it opens it only shows deleted items. properties through outlook say 0k folder size. however .pst is 656MB big. renaming the .bak file to .pst not working. same message as before repairing. the log file doesn't have optimistic messages though. missing and cannot find are the most usual words in there.

Hi, unfortunately i have deleted my outlook.pst file, how can I recover these files

Hi, unfortunately i have deleted my outlook.pst file, how can I recover these files

How would you automatically have outlook save sent emails in separate folders. I.E. Email sent from Bobs account gets save to Bobs Sent folder, and Sally's gets save to Sallys Sent folder. I have been searching high and low with no luck. Thanks

What's the point of posting questions here? Not a single answer to any of them regarding this BS application!

useful info

what service does outlook use? in other words- what service must i stop to backup outlook pst files without shutting outlook down? please email your response to papula@kandersteg.us if possible. thanks very much

My outlook-today .pst file is stored on a usb stick. Therefore I can easily move my calendar dates and contacts to other PCs. This is not the general case, because the default path of such a file points to the local hard disk. Unfortunately if I would like to set a reminder, an error message says: "the reminder will not appear, because the item is not in your calendar folder". Nevertheless, how can I activate the reminders in the .pst file on the usb stick? Thank you for your help

Running Outlook 2000 and was disapointed to find Archiving always moves, not copies files to archive. Exportint to a pst file does what I desire, but takes several steps. Am wondering if there is a way to make exporting to a pst file a one click operation instead several steps. Thank You.

I am working with an Access-based program that I need to import calendar info from Exchange into Access. Is there a quick way to do this or a way to migrate multiple at once. so far it takes about 1to2 hours per .pst file. please help. you can reach me at amwieland@prodigy.net Thanks

People have been posting questions here for almost 3 YEARS and no answers have been forthcoming. This makes me question the mental faculties of those still posting questions!

If you want to get rid of PSTs, there is no other solution than archiving them to a centralized store. In our company we are using Enterprise Vault from KVS, recently acquired by Veritas. This piece of software migrates and removes all PSTs within your infrastructure, while users still have seamless access to their data. I believe their website is still up and running: www.kvsinc.com

Same problem as many others appear to have. I use Office 2003 and exported my Personal Folders to a DVD, reformatted my hard drive, reinstalled Office 2003, and then went to import the backup.pst, but it tells me it is not a personal folders file. I've seen other people post with this problem but have not seen any answers. Thanks

Backed up the folder containing .pst files onto a CD from Oulook 2002. I then formatted my PC and installed Outlook 2003. When I tried to copy the backed up .pst files onto the Pc it stops just before it has finished copying and gives me a cyclic redundancy error. What's the problem?

I had a 900 MB PST on outlook XP. I copied it on a DVD and brought it to a computer running Outlook 2003. I'm getting the same problem like everyone else, that its not a personal folders file. I tried to open it in a system running outlook xp and the same error. I believe the file was originally on a FAT32 filesystem and now im importing them to NTFS. Does anyone know that this could be the cause of the problem?

This is what makes the Internet great! Even though the article is almost 2 years old it is still available. It answered exactly what I wanted to know and allowed me to easily transfer my Outlook mail from my old system to my new system. Thanks very much. It is great to find information that is accurate and works.

How do I get rid of a duplicated .pst file? After an attempt to reinstall Windows XP and office 2003, I ended up with two identical pst files called Personal Folders. How do I get rid of one of them? I can't close it; "Close Personal Folders" is grey. There is also another one which if I try to close it, I get the error; "The operation failed, the object could not be found". I get the same message if I open it's properties, I and select "advanced". I ran scanpst bbut no resuly arrived. I do notice that they have different icons, one has a folder icon, the other , has the "today" Icon …

How I got Outlook 2003 pst file into Exchange 2000: 1) Data File Management - Add new Outlook 97-2002 pst named for username I was importing to. 2) Copy all items in Personal Folders to new data file. 3) Copy %username%.pst to Exchange server. 4) Use Exmerge to import into Exchange. I had to use this method since I was getting errors in Exmerge when trying to get the original Personal Folders .pst from Outlook 2003 into Exchange. This may have been due to the fact that I had installed Business Contact Management which updated the pst.

Hi, I have PST file in my hard disk. I have MS outlook installed on my comp. I wanted to view my PSt file, but when I launch the MS outlook, I always get an error unable to connect to the server. I do not want to connect to any server, all I need to is to view my PST file without connecting to the servers. How do I do that. Please help Rgds Sujatha

i would like to know how to convert dbx file of outlook express to outlook 2000 ?

If you want to share Outlook calendar, contact and task information try OfficeCalendar at http://www.officecalendar.com. This is much easier to install and use and cost a lot less than Exchange Server.

I used my Outlook with Offline when the Exchange server was down. When the server came back after being down I had 2 Calendars. How do I delete the new one that was created?

Very good article. A few updates though: With Outlook 2003, Microsoft has increased the PST file size to 16 GB. Everything is stored in that file including contacts, calendar, tasks, etc. If you are missing data, the PST file is corrupt. To attempt to fix the PST file, run the scanpst.exe which on my laptop is stored under the C:\i386 folder.

thank you so much this was extremely helpful and has saved my life (article on denied access to pst files) Merry Christmas

thank you so much this was extremely helpful and has saved my life (article on denied access to pst files) Merry Christmas

Where is the answer to above question about back convert from outlook 2003 to outlook 2002 (xp) for pst files?

When I left my last job recently, I copied approx 600Mb of personal .pst files onto a cd. I've attempted to copy the file onto the disk of my home PC, but the copying process always ends with an error message and is unsuccessful. Is there an application that will enable me to either copy, open or convert my files? Thankyou in advance. Gary H. Melbourne, Australia

I wake up one morning and found a new profile automatically created on my pc i.e oldprofle.domainname. I could not log on to old profle although it was present in Documents and Settings of my windows 2000. The pst file was gone. Is there any way I can get my mails back? Daniel, Tanzania

In my experience with Outlook 2000, make sure you do the following: 1) Back up your PST file daily to a network (or other non-local) store. I weekly back mine up to DirectCD as well. 2) Make sure your Preview Pane is ALWAYS switched off. This is a primary cause of trojan and worm launch in HTML-scripted emails. 3) NEVER use a password unless you have a serious reason. 4) Decide which emails you REALLY need, and for how long, and use AutoArchive to delete the rest. Nick Pfitzner Sydney, Australia

P.S. While I like Thunderbird, it has limited facilities for users who require calendars, notes, journal, and other fluff. Nick

I recently got a new computer and copied my PST file from my old computer. When I opened the PST file, my subfolders where missing. Has anyone seen this problem, and know if there is a way I can recover the missing data? Karen

article excellent but how do I find answers to the questions after the article. Some of them are problems I'm having right now. Your assistance is appreciated.

I am trying to import a PST file from Outlook (2003 that I burned on a CD-R) into Entourage (Mac OS X.) I no longer have a PC so there is no way for me to import back into Outlook, and import into Mozilla's email server then export/ import into Entourage. This was the path I sought refuge in. Please assist as all my contacts are sitting on a cd when i'd rather them be accessible. Thank you for your help.

Fantastic! To see all you guys fighting to get that piece of s...t working. It's been a big mess for years and people are still wanting to use it. Why? It can't be for agendas and fluff. Tell me pls

Anyone know how to programatically find the path of .pst files (besides searching through every file and folder on Explorer, that is)

until recently all my e-mail was automatically moving from my inbox on the server to my personal folder inbox. Now I have to hit send/receive in order for my new e-mail to move from the server to my .pst - does anyone know what happened

Hi, I am using windows xp Sp1 and outlook 2000. I copied my messages from inbox of archeive folder to inbox of pst folder. Howver it shown that it copying the files and after completion of copying process when i open the inbox there is not even a single message that i copied is there, also the messages are no more in archieve so DID I LOST ALL MY MESSAGES? if not, THEN WHERE MESSAGES WENT EVENTHOUGH I COPIED IT TO INBOX

I have a lot of pst files that I have saved up for future sorting. I copied them on cd's and carried them home wanting to edit them using the copy of outlook express that came with my home pc but can't figure out how to connect the pst to outlook express. At the office I always use file/open... method, as you describe in your article, to attach or reattach a pst to my Outlook but it does not seem to be an option with Express. I tried to use the import function in Express but a warning comes up that "Messages cannot be imported from the MAPI client. An error has occurred." Any ideas on how to access the pst using Outlook Express?

I have since backed up my outlook file and have saved it as a *.pst file. When I go to import the file under file and import export it imports only the emails not all the other folders I've created.. Any advice would be much appreciated as the file is about 65MB in size so doent really want to loose all that data...

I bought a new computer with Windows XP and Outlook 2003. I want to preserve my old mail from my old computer. I created a file with personal folders "backup.pst" by exporting it as a personal file folder from Outlook 98. I copied this file into my new computer and tried to open it in Outlook 2003. Outlook 2003 does not recognize the file and gives me the message that "this file is not a personal folder file". I run scanpst.exe program to repair the file. I got the message "Inbox Repair Tool does not recognize the file backup.pst. No information can be recovered". I tried to convert the file from non-unicode format into unicode format by creating personal file folder in Outlook 2003 and importing the old file into this. I got the same old message "This file is not a personal folder file". I have no problem opening the file in Outlook 98 so the file is definitely not corrupted. I don't know what else to do except mailing to myself all my approx. 200 messages or keep the old computer forever to preserve my old mail. If somebody has a better idea please let me know. Thanks in advance. sl.

I am also having a problem reading an archive.pst in Outlook 2003 that was created in Outlook 2000. The file is perfectly fine when opening it in 2000. Is there some sort of conversion process that needs to be done? Thanks.

I have duplicated mirrored main Personal Folders and Archive folders. Does anybody know how to get rid of that mirrored folder? Usually i can close any folder i want, but in this case "Close" option is greyed out. I ran "scanpst.exe" on my .pst file thinking that there may be errors, but it didn't help. Could somebody please reply to me on this as soon as possible? Thanks a lot

I have spent three days trying to copy PST files from one laptop to another using a CD as the backup disk. The PST file is definitely there but when I try to import it to the new laptop, it will not import. Sometimes it asks for a password, other times it says "see your administrator". The laptop I am copying from has windows XP Pro and the one I am trying to move the PST files to has Windows XP Home edition. Can someone please help - this thing is driving me up the walls. Thanks in anticipation.

See above for all the reasons why you should use an email system other than from m$haft.

XP will hide crucial files. PST being one of them. You will need to adjust accordingly in folder options to be able to find.

Take a look at your permissions for the file you are trying to move. You need to grab a command prompt and type cacls /? Use this utility on XP to change the permissions.

All I can say is to move to a reliable unix mail client or extract data from pst files use the following tools. http://outport.sourceforge.net/ http://alioth.debian.org/projects/libpst/ http://www.genusa.com/utils/pmseu.htm

i want retrieve deleted mail from my microsoft outlook account, except my account is through school, so i can only use microsoft outlook through the web, therefore i use "Microsoft Outlook Web access". so how do i retrieve emails that i've already deleted from the deleted items folder? is there any way? there is a way to do it if u use a regualr outlook but i'm using it on the web, so it's different. anyone know how to help me out? it's really important cuz i permamently deleted something by accident and i need it back.

a co-worker once accessed his oulook personal folder from my computer. Weeks later, his outlook personal folder wouldn't open and he called the help desk. They told him that his personal folder was already in use by my username. I was not linked to his personal folder. How did this happen? The only clue I have is that our company was switching to XP at the time. Other than that, I don't know any changes going on to cause this. Do you know how that old linkage could have occurred and made his personal folder get linked to my email?

A: The web access tool has a means of searching previously deleted items in it's UI. I can't recall where but it might allow you to find some recently deleted stuff. Sorry but it's been several months since I was forced to use garbage M$haft exchange (like in give me an exchange, please). I told my former boss if he wanted to switch from sendmail to exchange server he'd have to do it himself, later I quit becuase he's an idiot.

Just excelent!.

I found a utility @ www.stinkysoft.com to convert .msg files to .pst format.

I work in a Exchange Enviorment and would like to backup my pst file to take with me. Where can I find my pst file in an Exchange server enviorment. Can outlook tell me where it is?

I would like to backup a users .pst when they are not log into the network or the computer. As an administrator is this possible, if so, how can I save their email?

PST stands for Personal Storage Template

Three people have asked for pointers to software that can read .pst files. Does the author bother reading these comments?

I everyone, i am using WIN XP prof with service pack 1 and office 2003 with service pack 1. recently i have a problem that when i use outlook my computer hangs or slows down very much, specially when internet is on. my PSt file is around 530 MB. can anyone give me solution

Hi, My XP PC recently crashed, I have recovered all emails but cannot find my distribution list emails. Can you help?

I'm using Outlook 2000 - i received a Mailer Daemon message and it has now frozen up my outlook and sends my computer CPU Usage up to 100% so i have to end the task so that my computer works again. Is there any way to delete this file, or repair the pst file? Unfortunately i don't ever remember archiving any of my emails - is there any way to keep my emails but get rid of the problem?

is it possible to convert .pst to .dbx

To the person moving .pst's btwn laptops: If you're opening the .pst from the CD, it will not work. Outlook requires the .pst to be writable. Copy the .pst to the harddrive and try to open it.

Hi, my emails were lost when i tried to create a new user account, luckily my emails were still on the mail server at work, so a friend put it on a CD-R but now it cant open the CD-R doesn,t even copy. 1 thing though is at times it does see the file on the CD-R & shows the windows logo icon, clicking on it shows open with dialog box, tried to open with Ms Outlook still does not open PLS HELP.... shoul've had the emails a month ago already. thanx in advance

Hi, my emails were lost when i tried to create a new user account, luckily my emails were still on the mail server at work, so a friend put it on a CD-R but now it cant open the CD-R doesn,t even copy. 1 thing though is at times it does see the file on the CD-R & shows the windows logo icon, clicking on it shows open with dialog box, tried to open with Ms Outlook still does not open PLS HELP.... shoul've had the emails a month ago already. thanx in advance

try to copy the .pst file from CD onto your PC and remove the read-only attribute. Then set the .pst as your current Microsoft Outlook pst file. The default path where you should look is C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

I deleted my Mailbox.pst file (the one that outlook today uses). I also emptied the recycle bin. So I created a new mailbox.pst. But now i have recovered the old Mailbox.pst with a software called restoration. When i try to use this file it tells me it is not a personal folder file. What can I do?

Hi Folks. Article was good collection from NewsGroups, but after - nobody cares about us... To Uday Rao, Todd Frantz...>>> .PST READER >>> some time ago I succed to read .PST with MsAcces. >>> Other worarounds: sometimes, when Outlook stops/not working & You can't receive mails, try to install thundebird -probably it will take some info from You file.

Hello everybody I wanted to move a *.pst file to another location (ready for CD-R backup), but computer kept saying "file is locked and in use" (or words to that affect). It would say this despite Outlook being closed, and even with the computer switched off. No other services (eg Terminal Server) was used. The *.pst itself was bubbling under 2gb. Anyone else had this problem? Anyone with a resolution?

Hi, I would like any tips on PST portability ie using CD-RWs, USB sticks etc. I have been successful in the past moving a CD-RW between SOE PCs in my workplace containing (the same) CD-writable s/w (Roxio), but I'd also like to use these CD-RWs at home. Basically I'm seeking PST portability to work on ANY platform with ANY cd-writable s/w installed ie h/w & s/w independence. Anyone else tried this? Regards ps: I wish PSTs were NEVER invented.

If you have a PDA using ActiveSync docked, it will keep the .PST file open even if Outlook is closed. In order to backup the file, move it or otherwise manipulate it, remove the PDA from it's cradle to allow the .PST file to close.

I have a user who says: user unable to send excel attachment that was saved in his pst file- Any thoughts on why this is? Thanks windows@westlakeva.net

I just changed from Outlook 2000 to XP and now my .pst folder won't load. The system tells me that sonja.pst is not a personal folder file. There is a lot of data there I really need.

Just a couple of generic answers(?) to some of the people here: When saving a PST file to use with a different computer after the old one has been overwritten/updated/reformated/deleted/etc. you should ALWAYS try and read/open the backed up file with the current computer. If you can't read it, DON'T format!! This is one of the cardinal rules of computing, and common sense! To test the PST file for validity, use the "bit-bucket" test. Open a command prompt on the computer and copy the file being tested to the nul device. For example, the file is called MYFILE.PST, at a command prompt type in copy MYFILE.PST nul If you get read errors during this process, the file is corrupt, make another one. For people that have received a corrupted Email and now their Outlook is "blowing-up" every time it opens, this has worked for my customers: Send yourself another Email; Outlook will open on the last received Email by default; send a test mail to your affected Email account from another computer or ask a friend to do it. Then open Outlook (which should work now as it's pointing to a different Email than the corrupt one) and turn off the Preview pane (method varies with the differnt versions of Outlook). Shutdown and restart Outlook so that the Preview pane is off. Left-click on the affected Email (only click once to highlight and not twice to open). Now hold down the Shift key and click or hit Delete. This will delete the email without sending it to the deleted items folder, and should solve the problems. Also, if you can't find an answer to your question and you get an error message, this is a MUST. Write down the error message verbatim (word for word) and type it into Google surrounded by quotation marks, unless it's a REALLY long message and then pick out the most important (and specific) 10 to 15 or so words and put them in quotations. The biggest mistake most users make when they get an error is closing or deleting it and then trying to remember what it said. This paraphrasing never works and they get frustrated. Keep a notepad or document on your system; whenever you get an error, copy down or type in the EXACT error message, along with the time and date and what you were doing when you got the error. Doing this will substantially increase your chances of success trying to fix it and will make your IT Department's (when applicable) job a lot easier. Finally, look to multiple sources to try and find an answer. If you've followed the above steps, this will substantially increase your success. An anonymous IT worker

I realize this thread is really old but I believe I have found a solution to Outlook not recognizing a pst file. I am running xp. it was not being recognized including when i used inbox repair. here is the solution if you are interested. 1. copy pst file to hard drive as you must have write permissions. DO NOT HAVE OUTLOOK OPEN WHEN YOU COPY 2. run SCANPST 3. open Outlook 4. Import

I see folks having issues with PST between 2000and 2003. You must create and new PST in 03 and then export the old mail into the new PST. You cannot use 2000/XP PST's in Office 2003. Hope this helps.

Comment: If not already mentioned, make sure Outlook is closed before you burn a PST file. As well, routinely compress (defrag?) the PST file (it's in the same area where you add/remove your PST file from Outlook). Need to extract mail from a PST file? Try WN Mailkeeper (it ain't free though).

I have a PSt file that will open in 2003, but not 2000. I get an error relating to compatibility. Any suggestions?

a pst file in outlook is a personal storage file,it is the outlook data store ,which stores all the data of outlook like emails,calendars ,contacts.To know more about a pst file please refer: www.support.microsoft.com/kb/287456 Also if you need more information about how t take a back up outlook data refer: www.support.microsoft.com/kb/287070(outlook 2002,this holds good for all versions of outlook)

the format for outlook 2003 pst file is different from that of earlier versions of outlook like outlook 2000 and outlook 2002.hence the error related to compatibility.the only workaround is to create a pst file of the format compatible to outlook97-outlook 2002(this u can see in file new outlook data file) and export the data in outlook 2003 to this pst file created and then you can view in outlook 2000

I'de like to retrieve a data from a PST file by code of C sharp and not bz importing the PST. Is there anyway to do so ?

DON"T USE THE STUPID PST FILE SYSTEM AT ALL!!! It may not be as efficient as the "Archive" command, but I save all e-mails and attachments by clicking the "Save-As" command in the File toolbar and saveing to a folder in My Documents. You never have to worry about the 2gb limit and you can open the individual e-mails from a cd when you backup later. You can also save your "Sent Items" e-mails the same way. Just my way; Al Medina

i have setted a password for my personal folder.And next time i am not able to login to my system.it is asking for password as soon as i opened my outlook2003

HI Any one know How do I set warning notification message for pst size which is exceeding 1GB. regards basi

I have Exchange and my store on the same drive. I need to upgrade my drives to bigger size. What is the best method to backup my exchange store, upgrade drive, reinstall Windows Server, Exchange... then restore my Exchange store? This server is a member of a domain... creilly19@cox.net

I am running Outlook 2000 and am trying to import an old .pst file. I had deleted the file originally, but was able to recover it using Active @ file recovery. It is on my hard drive again as a .pst but when I try to open/import it, I get the "properties for this information service" notice followed by the "XXX is not a .pst file". I have checked to make sure that the read-only box is NOT checked and have checked the archive box. I have also tried to use the PST19UPG.exe utility, but it doesn't seem to have done anything. How can I import/open this file? The size is only 3MB, so the 2GB limit is well off in the distance. Thank you in advance.

One solution to all your problems, dear Outlook users : http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird Do like me : Make the move! Free yourself!

What is contained in the .pst file? What about account information for POP mail, i.e., POP Address, email address, passwords etc..?

Is there a way to backup your .pst file without shutting down Outlook? I'd like to use an automatic file mirroring software to copy my .pst to a backup location. Thanks.

how do I convert .msg files into .pst files

hi, i'm using microsoft outlook 2002 on exchange and i'm getting error message when i'm tring add my .pst file. Everytime i tried to open my .pst folder i get, " file.pst is in use and could not be accessed. close any application that is using this file, adn then try again." As far I know no one is using my .pst file except me, so not sure why i'm getting this message. I tried to run scanpst.exe but same error message. If someone knows please help!! I'm waiting!! thanks.

My .pst files are well under the 2Gb limit (biggest is 180Mb) but I am told that "the file C:...(file path...)...\outlook.pst could not be accessed". New emails I receive disappear off the face of the earth if I close Outlook. Old emails are accessible for a couple of times going in and out of Outlook folders then the whole thing seizes up and I get the above message again. I am running Act 5.0 but have laboriously gone through to create smaller databases of fewer than 1000 contacts each - but that doesn't seem to have solved the problem. Can you help? I am using XP and Microsoft Office 2000 Premium.

Outlook 2000 running on Win Me is doing something I don't think it should and I'm hoping you may have a solution. Some, not all of my incoming e-mails are going straight to my delete box and not into my inbox. I'll see the small envelope in the bottom right hand corner of my task bar letting me know I have mail but there will be no new mail in my inbox and if I open my delete folder I will have an unopened e-mail in there and when I close the delete folder and reopen my inbox the small envelope will dissappear. I have run the scanpst.exe and outlook.exe /cleanpst and reinstalled Outlook and redirected Outlook to use mailbox.pst which I moved out of the default store to and newly created PST backup folder to no avail the problem still persists. Regards, Rick Warren -March 08, 2002 check the rule , delete all rules n try shabbir

I was wondering if anyone knows how to update the AutoArchive location for Outlook 2000 users who are using Exchange mailboxes. I need a method to update a few thousand users quickly. I need to change the location from the default profile path to say a network drive. Robert -April 15, 2002 Go to tools ->option-->other-->auto archive--->>>>change the default archive file location Hiii

Hi, I don't use Microsoft Exchange. I'm using Outlook 2000 on Win9x/Win2k. Is there a way I can allow multiple users to open and modify a PST file? Paul Li -May 01, 2002 delegate control hii

hi, i'm using microsoft outlook 2003 on exchange and i'm getting error message when i'm tring add my .pst file. Everytime i tried to open my .pst folder i get, " file.pst is in use and could not be accessed. close any application that is using this file, and then try again." As far I know no one is using my .pst file except me, so not sure why i'm getting this message. I tried to run scanpst.exe but same error message. If someone knows please help!! I'm waiting!! thanks

Is there any way to extract just the Contacts from a pst file if you can't restore the whole pst file? or, is there any separate file that contains all of my "contact" information? Eldon Sellers -July 03, 2003 export contacts to xcel hiii

Hi, I'm using Outlook 2000 and have all the pst files of many difrent users of a net stored in the server drive. Is there any special reason to these files to get corrupted all the time? Bigest file is 1 GB. It seems that Outlook has problems to manage the file if I store it in a server drive. Thanks

These two programs are helpful if you had the same problem I had and your PST file wouldn't import into Outlook. http://alioth.debian.org/projects/libpst/ http://www.genusa.com/utils/pmseu.htm

I'm a little newbie at this pst stuff. Here's my issue: I have a folder in Outlook that has almost 5,000 emails in it. I would categorize them as personal. For that reason, I want to get them out of Outlook and onto either a disk or I'd be happy to get them all moved over to Word or something. I may be mistaken but I thought exporting them to a pst file was the wayto do it...but then I try to open the pst file and it won't let me. I went back into Outlook and did a View, Folders and there was the pst file. The data matches the original folder I had all these personal emails in. Question: how the heck do I get these personal emails out of Outlook? Is there a better way than a pst file? I thought about dragging them all somewhere...but I'm not sure. Thank you so much!! jkremer@kclife.com

I am running Outlook 2002 and am trying to import 7 old .pst files to a new machine from CDs I copied them to my hard drive as .pst, went into properties and checked to make sure that the read-only box was NOT checked , clicked apply and save on each in turn. On five of the seven, the date change to today. I was not able to import the two files the dates did not change on into Outlook. I used scanpst on those two files and it failed. I got the "properties for this information service" notice followed by the "XXX is not a .pst file". I have also tried to use the PST19UPG.exe utility, but it indicated that the two files were not .pst files. The only difference between the two that do not work and the five that do is the two are over 550MG the other five are below. Thank you in advance.

When I try to delete the archive folders from the folder list in outlook, I get an error saying 'The operation failed. An object could not be found'.

With Outlook 2003 SP1 connecting to an Exchange Server but all inbox data moved to and calendar data stored in a .PST, how can I get ActiveSync 3.8.0 Build 5004 to synch my pInbox and pCalendar to the .PST? Thanks.

I recently installed 2003 upgrade over officeXP, now i cant find any of my old emails. What can i do to retrieve the pld emails, the upgrade never gave me the option to import.. Thanks

If you password protect a PST and forget the password you are SOL. I am rating this article a 2 because it left that part out.

outlook2000 gives the following error: can't open this item, you do not have sufficient rights to perform this operation on this object. The e-mail is in other users inbox, and I have reviewer rights. I also have PGP 7.* installed. Is there a work around or fix for the problem.

I have just reformatted my hard drive and during the process exported all my Outlook Express emails and it turned out to be dbx file. Is there any way I can Import this file in to Outlook Express so that I can get my emails back.

hey... i need a diagram of jumpers on my comp. motherboard

How do I open a large pst file of Outlook 2000 messages that has been saved as a Word file on CD?

export all PSTs to a system such as Cryoserver, and search them all in there

Is it possible to search .PST files for full text queries from SharePoint

Freidgeim, no. Since Outlook .pst files can't be shared, it wouldn't make any sense to maintain a central index for them

Gregory, the problem probably is not with the file but with your mail profile. Creating a new profile usually is the only way to get rid of such "ghost" PST files.

jkremer@kclife.com, a .pst file can only be opened in Outlook. If you want to get the items out of Outlook, check out some of the tools listed at http://www.slipstick.com/addins/housekeeping.htm

taRMacian805, no import would normally be necessary when you upgrade from Outlook 2002 to 2003, since the upgrade process does not touch your mail profile. Search your system for .pst files. You can open them with the File | Open | Outlook Data File command.

When I try to import an outlook data file using the wizard or from File--> Open, I get a meesage saying that "xxx.pst is not compatible with this version of the Personal Folders information service". What should I do? Thnx

Is there a way to migrate from Outlook 2000 to Outlook Express 6?

How do I create a .pst file?

We have just installed Windows XP pro on our desktops and use Windows NT4 SP6a and Exchange 5.5 SP4 and Outlook 97/98/2000 mail client. All was okay with windows 98 but with XP our Outlook 97/98/2000 receives internal or external emails but does not display them for up to 30 minutes! If you click on another inbox field or another outlook folder and go back to inbox then the emails magically appear! It is as if the emails are arriving but the inbox window is not being updated. I have looked in the registry but cannot find anything due to lack of terminology for the problem. Any ideas??

I have this exact problem as described on page 15, except both the original and the source Outlook are 2003 versions. I'd be thrilled if there was a solution to it: (quote) ... I created a file with personal folders "backup.pst" by exporting it as a personal file folder from Outlook. I copied this file into my new computer and tried to open it in Outlook 2003. Outlook 2003 does not recognize the file and gives me the message that "this file is not a personal folder file". I run scanpst.exe program to repair the file. I got the message "Inbox Repair Tool does not recognize the file backup.pst. No information can be recovered". (/quote) The .pst file is appr 280MB. Thanks in advance!

Sue, Thanks for your time. I'm wondering about how OST files work in Outlook 2003; you can now create a PST file in Outlook 2003 format that can exceed 2 gb; however, it's unclear whether OST files created by Outlook 2003 have the same properties, or if there's a way to specify this. Thanks again! swelker AT internetwerx.com

The Critical issue with PST and other related Outlook files in "all flavours", they are never backed up properly by Network Software like BackupExec, if "Outlook is running". If you open an archive folder, you must close it, then fully exit Outlook (all flavours) before the Archive can be backed up. The worst of it is that the backup log for the whole network indicates a "failed" status if just one pst file is open. I block the backup of the main pst files, but backup archive pst files. Even the MS pst backup tool forces the closure of Outlook. So what you say, well with it conveniently dropping to the tray when minimised, and only really being of use if it runs all the time for an online experience, who want to "shut it down".

I saw some previous questions along this line, but not the response. I too have some dead data file issues. One PC has two links to the same data file, can't get rid of the 2nd. And the other has a dead link to a no longer existent file. I've tried the recovery tools, etc. Suggestions? Don't need any data, etc. Mostly an annoyance. John.Popowski@gmail.com

Please help me to import email messages and addresses from a mailbox.pst file to outlook express 6, Thanks

Does anyone know of a .PST reader? I would like to open have a reader separate from outlook, where I can open up previously backed up .PST files. Does such a reader exist?

XP had a corrupt hive file issue. IT seems an auto restore occurred and I've lost all config settings including Outlook. How can I restore my old mail. Can't find a .pst file. Thanks.

Is it possible to recover the .pst file of a User I have deleted from my system? (WinXP / Outlook 2000). Thanks!

Is there any way to store a pst file on a web server and get outlook to use that as it's data file? I have tired to point to a pst file stored on my web server using ftp and keep getting the error message "You cannot use an Internet address here."

Every month I am receiving 1.5 GB (.pst file) & more emails. For that I am creating new pst file monthly ….e.g-Jan, feb, march..etc, which is very inconvenient specially when you need to search a particular message…also neither outlook gives you to manage folders in alphabetical order … Is there any tool or utility, at least I can consolidate six month-six month, in 2 folders ….or any way can I manage folders name in alphabetical order …? so that it becomes easy for search Thanks for help in advance…

Several users on our network have disappearing emails: emails are downloaded from the POP3 server, but are not displayed in the inbox (or anywhere else) in Outlook. Where did they go and how to fix?? (We recently moved .pst files to a network location, and some users have no problems.)

Is there a limit on the new Outlook 2003 .pst or .ost file that is uses?

is there any tool to convert .pst file to .chm file

I need to get the path of the PST files programatically. Can any one help in this case.

I need to get the path of the PST file programaticaly. can anyone help in this case. mail me on ahonly4u@yahoo.co.cin

pst extention is office data file. Outlook keeps telling there's an error, cyclic redundancy every time I try to copy it to back up before attmepting to repair file. PLEASE HELP!

how to indexing .pst file while we want to indexing and search particular words from that file.

The easiest way to move a .pst file, that I have found, is to locate the file on the losing computer, transfer the file to the gaining computer, (USB Stick, Disk, or network) then in the gaining computer on the Outlook menu bar choose "File", "Import" and choose the files location.

is there actually any way of converting a 97-2002 pst file to a 2003 pst file? For some reason my pst file corrupted itself and now is displaying as a 97-2002 pst file and wont display the emails that were stored there previously! HELP this is important... if you know how to do this email me at mda@hpsgroup.com.au THANKS!

I tried opening my recovered .pst file(~700 MB) in microsoft outlook 2003 but I got an error message saying that .pst is not a personal folders file. How should I open that file??

All, I have a good one. Copied all my data (My Docs, Fav, Outlook.psts to another hard drive and re-installed XP Pro and OFC 2K3 then applied all patched via the web. Now OL2003 wil not open pst files, error says they are not personal folder files? Help Jim

hi i got the same trouble i copied outlook.pst under safe mode and after reinstaling winxp it says it is not personal file when i attemt to open it. any suggestion please? thanks ondrej ondsta@centrum.cz

I have a problem with my pst file (corrupt) I tried Scanpst.exe but it had an error on phase 7. Now I can't see my archive folders which has EVERYTHING in it!! Help...

I'm trying to delete a file that I downloaded and it's giving me an erro message... ( cannot delete error t-4861. How do I get rid of it. I tried dowloading everything that was on the net to try to fix this. can you help?

Hello, I accidentally closed one of two personal folders I have from my folder list (right click Close Personal Folder). How do I add it again? where is it located? I can't find mre than the PST file still there (My personal folders 1) and the OST and such, no secondary PST. Any ideas? Thank you! Please reply to zancaman@hotmail.com

Hey, This article is very helpful. Thanks, Deepesh from www.phpworkshop.net

Do you know if it is possible to change the path where outlooks looks for the outlook.pst file everytime it launches? I would like to access my outlook.pst file when i launch outlook from different computers in my local network. Thanks.

I was wondering if anyone knows how to update the AutoArchive location for Outlook 2003 users who are using Exchange mailboxes. I need a method to update a few thousand users quickly. I need to change the location from the default profile path to say a network drive.

Hi, is it possible to export to a pst file from the command line? Thanks in advance

Hail to thunderbird. stop the MS fucklook crap

I moved some of the items from one PST file to another PST file. I noticed that the file size in the original PST file did not change. Why is that?

I was wondering if once a month or two from the calendar have been archived or not, but "disappears," what happens to them and are they retrievable? Also, how can calendar items be saved (to disk or at least saved from being deleted?) Thanks!

Hi, how do you optimise someone's outlook config. By outlook I refer to desktop config not the exchange aspect. am asking this because I deal with many users who complain of snowness but I don't know what to do.

JUST FIXED .pst (Cyclic Redundancy Problem .pst file) !!! Refer : http://www.softwarepatch.com/software/cd-recovery.html Download : CD Check from : http://www.softwarepatch.com/software/cd-recovery.html and use recover option . this will recover .pst file from CD to your desired diretory. My pst was 600mb and it took 15 hours to recover. But its worth it. Once done, make sure that .pst is not read only. Thats it. Now u would have working .pst. Hope it helps. I am sure, it would help for all kinds of files.

How can I store .pst Files on my Local Hard Disk Using Java Mail

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i cannot locatre the PST files as i have inbox instead of outlook today and when i right click it i get to properties and hten i can get the source but not the PST files as i get DBX files which are equal to the number of the folders that i have in my outlook express. i need to upgrade my outlook express to outlook professional which i got recently cant transfer all my data to the outlook now . need help abt it

How do I open a pst file that is in outlook but out look claims it to be : "Can't open this item. Outlook blocked access to this potentially unsafe item." It has a lot of valuable info that I need to recover. Is there any way that I can change the Secuirty Settings?

How to export a pst file to hotmail or any otehr mail??

Thanks for clearing the way outlook.pst is managed. I like to add some. To change to an earlier exported file rename it into outlook.pst if given a different name in file/import export. You have to move the original outlook.pst first from the present store location like described in the article. In earlier editions of outlook express it worked the same way. In later editions of outlook express there is a menu to change the store folder in maintenance. Like to know if the favorites folder in IE can be changed to an external store location as well. When the mian drive crashes or has to be formatted you risk to loose e-mail, favorites, accounts, etc. Hope to discover also to deal more easily with the addresses and contacts in ms outlook on you website. Had conflicts between outlook express and ms outlook, which caused me to format my disk and reinstall!!! So now I go back for all e-mail services to outlook express. In ms outlook hyperlinks are not treated as such. Ok? Thanks Deev.

Most of my end users don't understand how large their PST files are and will soon be unhappy when they reach the 2 gig limit. Is there a command line tool I can use as an administrator to compact PST files from the server console?

How can I lock down the default location of the .pst for the archive. I have implemented Group Policy to lock down auto archive settings but the setting for the default location for PST's doesn't seem to be working? What gives?

I exported my contacts as a .pst file. I am now trying to import them and am prompted for a password, but I didn't enter a password when I exported it -- I left it blank. I tried leaving it blank as well as entering every password I have ever used and nothing works. What can I do - if anything?

it was news to me that PST files had a 2 gig limit. I wonder, do OST files have a similar limit? Norm

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Norm, yes, .ost and .pst files share the same architecture and are thus subject to the same size limites

Anonymous (8 Aug 2005), if the calendars items were archived, they will be in the archive .pst file set on the Calendar folder's Properties dialog. You can open any .pst file with the File | Open | Data File Command

Anonymous (8 Aug 2005), the Microsoft Knowledgebase article, “How to compact the personal folders (.pst) files in Outlook 2002” at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=291645 explains that automatic background compaction runs if a file has 16kb space that has been freed since it was last compacted.

Anonymous (2 Aug 2005), http://support.microsoft.com/?id=836755 is a good reference on how to change the default archive .pst location. Note, though, that it won't change any per-folder archive settings the user may have applied.

the information is good. i want to know the difference between .pst and .ost files.

trilokkhanna, An OST file is similar to a PST. The difference is that an OST file is RTF-aware, while a PST is not. The contents of any folder designated as an offline folder are included in the OST file, but the contents of the mailbox and other folders are not. THANKS, THOMAS.MSHAR WWW.AXOMTECHNOLOGY.COM

My workplace uses Outlook on a server. I need to syncronize my work Outlook with my home Outlook. Using the CSV files (or the like) creates all sorts of headaches. Does exporting from one and importing to the other work, or am I asking for a even greater headache?

erickpay, you're asking for even more headaches. A good solution might be to use a mobile device that can sync with two copies of Outlook.

Thomas, I don't know why you'd say a .pst file isn't RTF-aware. All .pst files for all versions of Outlook contain RTF-format items. The real difference is that an .ost file is assocated with a particular Exchange mailbox. A .pst file is not.

I have a user that on several occasions I've remapped him to his pst file and he keeps getting errors that he can't open or the file is corrupt. Please advise

Hi, I copied my old pst to cd, i now need to view it, so i copied it to my hard drive, removed the read only in it's properties, when i do to file open outlook data file i receive an error stating, .pst is not a personal folders file. this is in outlook 2003.

Hi, I copied my old pst to cd, i now need to view it, so i copied it to my hard drive, removed the read only in it's properties, when i do to file open outlook data file i receive an error stating, .pst is not a personal folders file. this is in outlook 2003.

AutoArchiving problems with Modified date being checked instead of the more familiar "Received" date. Generally Outlook presents clients with column headers which generally include "Received date, "Subject" From: to: etc. Clients rarely notice that Archiving doesn’t always match the "Received Date." The problem: A user viewing his e-mail notices a group of messages has two weeks before mailbox manager will delete them. Not a problem because his autoarchive setting promises to move these imperiled messages to a PST a week earlier (at least according the only date the client knows about. If these messages were recently modified, autoarchive leaves them alone but not so with mailbox manager. The question- What is the least intrusive, most transparent to the client, method of having the "Received date" used by autoarchiving. By transparent something like modifying a registry entry would be great. Having the client use field-chooser and work with the "Modified" column, sorting and deleting - not as good. A script to set the modified date equal to the Received date . . . might do the trick. Appreciate any suggestions. Thanks Glen Lawrence

Hi terrellodom, You can try our product Advanced Outlook Repair to repair your PST file. It is a powerful tool to recover messages and other objects from corrupt or damaged Microsoft Outlook PST files. Please visit http://www.datanumen.com/aor/index.htm for detailed information about Advanced Outlook Repair. And you can also download a free demo version at http://www.datanumen.com/aor/aor.exe Alan Chen DataNumen, Inc. - World leader in data recovery technologies Website: http://www.datanumen.com Fax: +1-800-9917-FAX (US Toll-Free), +852-31829286 (HONG KONG)

i want to recover my accidentally deleted contacts from deleted items folder ..how does one do it

To recover your deleted contacts try using Repair PST Software from http://www.repairpst.net

To those who receive the ..."is not a personal folders file" error message, if you are using Office 2007, you need to run the "scanpst.exe" tool, located in "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12" (or appropriate directory, if you installed to non-default location). Also, you can receive this error message if you run out of disk space.

I accidently deleted my .pst file. I then reformatted my drive. I used a program to get the deleted file back. Win 2000 properties says if is an office file. I used another program to see it's heiarchy and it has the information. When I try to import the file it says the properties must be set prior to use and when I say OK it says it is not a .pst file. How do I fix this? I am using Outlook 2000.

I received the "..is not a personal folders file" error message. I executed the scanpst.exe tool on the file I'm trying to open but come across with another error message: "Inbox Repair Tool does not recognize the file.... No information can be recovered". I've checked, disk is loads with full space. I wonder why is this happening. Any suggestion on how to fix this?

i'm trying to import emails from outlook express to outlook and we take emails with wrong date arrival..!! do you why this..? thanks

Does anyone know... Is it possible to remove or hide the Deleted folder and the Search folder that auto populate when you create a new pst. file?

please help me "how i midify share permission in server core 2008?"

Thanks for the article on common pst file question.Recently my pst file get corrupted and I am not able to repair it any how. I have tried Inbox repair tool but i am not able to solve. one of my colleague suggested me to use pst repair software. I have used Stellar Phoenix pst repair software.I have download the demo version from the site http://www.repair-outlook-pst.com/ In which I have seen preview few of my mails and contacts..Then I go for full version and I recover my all pst files.