Can't find .pst files and Office disappeared

[jviren]

I neglected to backup my Outlook files (yiiiks) when I went out of town two
days ago. My son said that we had a power outage and when he tried to power
up my
desktop to use the Internet, it acted all wonky and started asking him
questions. I have no idea what they were but I think it was trying to set up
Internet access. Anyway, for some reason, I had many icons that reappeared
just like when you get a new computer and MS Office is gone completely,
including my most recent .pst files from Outlook, although my Favorites are
still there. I had some weird 60-day version of Office but removed it and
then reinstalled MS Office Professional 2003. I can't even see the folder
where the .pst files should be in Windows Explorer. When I did a search I
could find my old backup in My Documents but I had to do a search of hidden
files to find the supposedly most recent .pst file - although I can't see it
when I use Windows Explorer. I am really stuck as to how to proceed. In the
Search Results, can I copy the file I want and put it in the right place?
But then...I can't see the Local Settings files in Windows Explorer so I
wouldn't know where to "put" it anyway. I am sorry but this is really hard
to explain to get help. I want to get Outlook up and running again but this
is complicated. Thank you for any help you can give.

 

[DL]

In explorer Tools/Folder Options/View select show hidden
When you install OL it should either automatically locate the pst, or prompt
you to browse for it

 

[jviren]

Thank you for posting and trying to help. I installed OL (actually Office
Professional 2003) and it didn't prompt for it. Anything else I should try,
to get my .pst in the right place to use it? Like I said, I can locate the
file through search but there is not a local settings folder when I look in
Explorer. Thank you.

 

[DL]

As I said the Local settings folder is a hidden folder, unless you set
explorer to 'view hidden...' you wont see it.
Try the mail applet in the control panel

 

[jviren]

I figured out how to view the hidden files and copied the recent backup to
the Outlook folder, deleted the former .pst file that was too old and then
changed the name of the backup file. For some reason the size changed. Why?
And it didn't seem to change the date when I opened Outlook. Am I doing
something wrong still? I tooled around in the Mail applet but I don't know
what I'm doing in there so am afraid to change anything. Thank you for your
help.