Can I read outlook mail without outlook program

[sleepyhead]

Hello

I use outlook for my mail. I tried to upgrade my old computer and
destroyed the MB. I built a new computer (someone else put it together) and
it's windows 7. Our home has both windows 7 and windows xp computers. The
hard drive from the fried computer has some mail on it that I would like to
look at. I tried installing the hard drive on my new computer but the
hardware on the new computer was so much different that xp wouldn't even
load. I tried looking for the mail files on the hard drive but I couldn't
find them. I have outlook installed on these computers. So my question is:

If you have outlook files on a hard drive that isn't your C drive is
there a way of reading them?

 

[Barry Watzman]

First of all, you say "Outlook"; I take that literally, e.g. that you
mean "Outlook" and not "Outlook Express". The two are VERY different,
although the names are similar they are totally different programs (the
answer to this question for Outlook Express would be very different,
although recovering your mail would still be possible).

In Outlook, EVERYTHING (all mail, calendar, etc.) is contained in one
single file, whose extension is ".PST" (this is one of the things I
really like about Outlook); so your first task is to find the PST file
containing your mail. It's on the computer somewhere, it may be a
hidden file or in a system folder, but a search should find it. There
may be several PST files (not likely, but definitely possible), if so,
look at the dates and sizes of the files (while there may be several,
only one of them would normally contain your "stuff", unless you have an
unusual situation).

Once you find it, yes, it can be opened by any version of Outlook
compatible with PST file in question (e.g. Outlook 2003 can open an
Outlook 2000 PST file, but Outlook 2000 may or may not be able to open
an Outlook 2003 PST file, depending on what options were set when the
file was created). If you find the PST file, you should be able to
simply use the "file/open" command in Outlook to open it (choose
"Outlook Data File" under "File / Open"].

 

[DL]

You wont be able to do that since assuming the pst is located at the default
location you would need to take ownership, then best to copy the pst to the
Documents folder of the new win installation, before then opening it in
Outlook

First of all, you say "Outlook"; I take that literally, e.g. that you mean
"Outlook" and not "Outlook Express". The two are VERY different, although
the names are similar they are totally different programs (the answer to
this question for Outlook Express would be very different, although
recovering your mail would still be possible).

In Outlook, EVERYTHING (all mail, calendar, etc.) is contained in one
single file, whose extension is ".PST" (this is one of the things I really
like about Outlook); so your first task is to find the PST file containing
your mail. It's on the computer somewhere, it may be a hidden file or in
a system folder, but a search should find it. There may be several PST
files (not likely, but definitely possible), if so, look at the dates and
sizes of the files (while there may be several, only one of them would
normally contain your "stuff", unless you have an unusual situation).

Once you find it, yes, it can be opened by any version of Outlook
compatible with PST file in question (e.g. Outlook 2003 can open an
Outlook 2000 PST file, but Outlook 2000 may or may not be able to open an
Outlook 2003 PST file, depending on what options were set when the file
was created). If you find the PST file, you should be able to simply use
the "file/open" command in Outlook to open it (choose "Outlook Data File"
under "File / Open"].

Hello

I use outlook for my mail. I tried to upgrade my old computer and
destroyed the MB. I built a new computer (someone else put it together)
and it's windows 7. Our home has both windows 7 and windows xp
computers. The hard drive from the fried computer has some mail on it
that I would like to look at. I tried installing the hard drive on my
new computer but the hardware on the new computer was so much different
that xp wouldn't even load. I tried looking for the mail files on the
hard drive but I couldn't find them. I have outlook installed on these
computers. So my question is:

If you have outlook files on a hard drive that isn't your C drive is
there a way of reading them?

 

[Barry Watzman]

Ownership and rights are separate issues. They might indeed need to be
addressed, but for all we know the partition is FAT32 not NTFS. In
principle what I said was correct, but yes, depending on the specifics,
other steps unrelated to Outlook per se may be necessary.

You wont be able to do that since assuming the pst is located at the default
location you would need to take ownership, then best to copy the pst to the
Documents folder of the new win installation, before then opening it in
Outlook

First of all, you say "Outlook"; I take that literally, e.g. that you mean
"Outlook" and not "Outlook Express". The two are VERY different, although
the names are similar they are totally different programs (the answer to
this question for Outlook Express would be very different, although
recovering your mail would still be possible).

In Outlook, EVERYTHING (all mail, calendar, etc.) is contained in one
single file, whose extension is ".PST" (this is one of the things I really
like about Outlook); so your first task is to find the PST file containing
your mail. It's on the computer somewhere, it may be a hidden file or in
a system folder, but a search should find it. There may be several PST
files (not likely, but definitely possible), if so, look at the dates and
sizes of the files (while there may be several, only one of them would
normally contain your "stuff", unless you have an unusual situation).

Once you find it, yes, it can be opened by any version of Outlook
compatible with PST file in question (e.g. Outlook 2003 can open an
Outlook 2000 PST file, but Outlook 2000 may or may not be able to open an
Outlook 2003 PST file, depending on what options were set when the file
was created). If you find the PST file, you should be able to simply use
the "file/open" command in Outlook to open it (choose "Outlook Data File"
under "File / Open"].

Hello

I use outlook for my mail. I tried to upgrade my old computer and
destroyed the MB. I built a new computer (someone else put it together)
and it's windows 7. Our home has both windows 7 and windows xp
computers. The hard drive from the fried computer has some mail on it
that I would like to look at. I tried installing the hard drive on my
new computer but the hardware on the new computer was so much different
that xp wouldn't even load. I tried looking for the mail files on the
hard drive but I couldn't find them. I have outlook installed on these
computers. So my question is:

If you have outlook files on a hard drive that isn't your C drive is
there a way of reading them?

 

[DL]

Doesnt matter whether its fat or ntfs, you will still need to take ownership

Ownership and rights are separate issues. They might indeed need to be
addressed, but for all we know the partition is FAT32 not NTFS. In
principle what I said was correct, but yes, depending on the specifics,
other steps unrelated to Outlook per se may be necessary.

You wont be able to do that since assuming the pst is located at the
default location you would need to take ownership, then best to copy the
pst to the Documents folder of the new win installation, before then
opening it in Outlook

First of all, you say "Outlook"; I take that literally, e.g. that you
mean "Outlook" and not "Outlook Express". The two are VERY different,
although the names are similar they are totally different programs (the
answer to this question for Outlook Express would be very different,
although recovering your mail would still be possible).

In Outlook, EVERYTHING (all mail, calendar, etc.) is contained in one
single file, whose extension is ".PST" (this is one of the things I
really like about Outlook); so your first task is to find the PST file
containing your mail. It's on the computer somewhere, it may be a
hidden file or in a system folder, but a search should find it. There
may be several PST files (not likely, but definitely possible), if so,
look at the dates and sizes of the files (while there may be several,
only one of them would normally contain your "stuff", unless you have an
unusual situation).

Once you find it, yes, it can be opened by any version of Outlook
compatible with PST file in question (e.g. Outlook 2003 can open an
Outlook 2000 PST file, but Outlook 2000 may or may not be able to open
an Outlook 2003 PST file, depending on what options were set when the
file was created). If you find the PST file, you should be able to
simply use the "file/open" command in Outlook to open it (choose
"Outlook Data File" under "File / Open"].


sleepyhead wrote:
Hello

I use outlook for my mail. I tried to upgrade my old computer and
destroyed the MB. I built a new computer (someone else put it
together) and it's windows 7. Our home has both windows 7 and windows
xp computers. The hard drive from the fried computer has some mail on
it that I would like to look at. I tried installing the hard drive on
my new computer but the hardware on the new computer was so much
different that xp wouldn't even load. I tried looking for the mail
files on the hard drive but I couldn't find them. I have outlook
installed on these computers. So my question is:

If you have outlook files on a hard drive that isn't your C drive
is there a way of reading them?

 

[sleepyhead]

Thanks everyone for your replies. It is outlook and everything is in the
default location. I'll have to print out your directions and work on it
later.

 

[Barry Watzman]

There is no such thing as "ownership" if the hard drive is FAT32
formatted. FAT32 does not support that level of security.

 

[Peter Foldes]

Huh? Explain that. I have a machine in FAT32 and I am able to. Log in as
Administrator. Period

 

[sleepyhead]

Hello,

Thank you for the assistance. I was able to get into my old mail and get
what I needed.

 

[Barry Watzman]

Being able to long in as Administrator has nothing to do with ownership
of files.