From Win98 to Vista & OL98 to Office 2007 with Outlook?

[Johannes Czernin]

My aging computer is nearing the end of its and I'll have to buy a new
machine in the near future. Currently I run Win98 and Office 97 with Outlook
98. Now I have a few questions:

Which version/package of Vista should I get? And should I choose 32-bit ot
64-bit?

I will definitely have to get a version of Office 2007 that includes
Outlook. My current *.PST files contain valuable data from a number of years
back. How will they convert to the new file format so that they can be
worked with on the new machine? As the old machine will be scrapped after
the conversion there will be no requirement any more for the files to be
readable with any Outlook version prior to OL 2700.

When the installation of Vista and Office 97 on the new machine is complete,
will Outlook be able to open the old OL98 format files right away or will
some conversion program have to be run first?

Any help will be more than aprreciated, and many thanks in advance.

Kind regards,

Johannes

 

[Pat Willener]

I can't help you with the 32-bit/64-bit question; you'll have to look
for this answer elsewhere.

Outlook PST files are upwards compatible; you can use your OL98 PST file
with Outlook 2007; just copy the PST file to the new computer, make sure
that the read-only attribute is not set, then open it with Outlook. Be
aware that the 97-2002-type PST files cannot grow above 2GB in size. You
will need the new type PST file if you need a higher size.

To convert, create a new-type PST file, then (in Outlook) drag-and-drop
all items from the old file to the new one. Be sure to keep a backup of
the old PST file.

 

[Johannes Czernin]

Great! Thanks for the most comprehensive and highly valuable help! Sure I'm
going to save your posting to have it at hand when I finally spend the money
on that new machine.

Kind regards,

Johannes