Help please!! copying e-mails into a new computer including the date field..

[Evan Derek]

Hi all, hopefully someone here can tell me if this is possible as I haven't been able to find a way to do this.

the story goes, I bought a new computer, loaded my office suite (2003 pro) onto it and proceeded to load the address book files I'd copied (.csv files) into outlook by importing them.

Come to find out after importing them the date field isn't included with all the imported/saved e-mails. The column is there but instead of a date it reads "None".

I also pulled the hard drive from the old machine & pulgged it into the new machine as a backup & so i could transfer all my other files/folders w/o hassle. since I've pulled it out of the old machine I assume I'd have to make it the primary drive again to get Outlook to access it again & display all the old e-mails which perhaps I could copy over in some other method then the one I used.

I cant be the only guy who's had this problem. I don't pretend to be any kind of a computer geek either, I've reached my limit of what to do 8o . I'm hoping this is a result of my screwing it up, not that Outlook isn't capable of doing this.

Does anyone know a better, more complete method of copying/importing all my old with all the fields into a new copy of Outlook?

Any help / response would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
Evan

 

[Roady [MVP]]

So how did you create the csv-file? Which application are you trying to
migrate away from?
For proper Outlook to Outlook data migration instructions see;
http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/backupandrestore.htm

 

[Evan Derek]

I was in Outlook & used the export function, of course after having this problem & poking around here I've found it's not advisable to export your data & expect it to show up as it was.

I've been reading on the "how to outlook" site about relocating the pst file. On my old drive the pst file is still there, I've copied it onto the new drive in the 'My doc's" folder & was trying to figure out how to get outlook to recognize it w/o doubling up on all the data.

two questions -
does a pst file contain all the data from the previous version of outlook one was using, i.e. contacts, old e-mails w/all fields, etc...?

can I uninstall my current version of outlook, load a new copy (essentially a blank) and then copy / load the pst file into it & it will have all the fields I'm currently missing?

thx!

 

[Roady [MVP]]

1) Yes, unless you created multiple pst-files of course or have an archive
file. Then you'll need to copy these as well.

2) Reinstalling won't help you one bit with configuration issues. Use File->
Open-> Outlook Data File to connect to the pst-file and then set it as the
default delivery location. Instructions are (linked) in the guide.

 

[Evan Derek]

Ok, well I solved the mail problem by dropping a copy of the pst file on the outlook folder and that put all the e-mail data back into outlook correctly.

unfortunately now my address book is gone, I guess i need to do something similar with the PAB.

any suggestions??

 

[Brian Tillman]

Ok, well I solved the mail problem by dropping a copy of the pst file
on the outlook folder and that put all the e-mail data back into
outlook correctly.

And thereby corrupted your mail profile.

unfortunately now my address book is gone, I guess i need to do
something similar with the PAB.

The PAB hasn't been used in ten years.

 

[Evan Derek]

Wow Brian, thats really helpful.....

 

[Brian Tillman]

Wow Brian, thats really helpful.....

No where in the link Robert suggested you read does it mention that you
should move the PST to the same folder in which Outlook creates PSTs by
default. This and the other Outlook newsgroups contain hundreds of posts
stating that it's not a good idea. They also contain hundreds of notes
explaining how Outlook contacts work. I'm surprised you didn't do a little
reading first, because your particular problem has been covered countless
times.

 

[Evan Derek]

Brian wrote "No where in the link Robert suggested you read does it mention that you
should move the PST to the same folder in which Outlook creates PSTs by
default. This and the other Outlook newsgroups contain hundreds of posts
stating that it's not a good idea. They also contain hundreds of notes
explaining how Outlook contacts work. I'm surprised you didn't do a little
reading first, because your particular problem has been covered countless
times."


Really, where? show or provide me the link to the post & I'm all over it as well as being very appreciative! All I want to do is solve my problem.

Look Brian w/o getting into a cyber flame out or a pi**ing contest here, I came to this forum for help. Telling someone they did something wrong, i.e. pointing out the obvious w/o offering solutions isn't helpful. as you can see in my original post I freely admit I'm no computer expert. I have searched the forum for answers with little luck, I'm probably doing it wrong, so what. I would think a guy w/almost 20,000 posts in 2 years 8o would be eager to point someone in need of assistance in the right direction, this doesn't seem so...

haven't you ever just wanted an answer and not have to browse thousands of posts trying to find the needle in the haystack?

Russ suggested this;
You did nothing to configure your Outlook Address Book.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;287563&Product=ol2002

so i searched "configure your Outlook Address Book" & got nowhere. did i do it wrong, probably.., I'll look again.

I'll apologize for my ignorance up front while still asking the experts for help.

If anyone has any suggestions for getting Outlook to recognize my
PAB file or the addresses/contacts in my .pst file I'd be greatful!

Thanks,
Evan

 

[Brian Tillman]

Really, where? show or provide me the link to the post & I'm all over
it as well as being very appreciative! All I want to do is solve my
problem.

http://groups.google.com/groups/sea...copy++pst++default++folder&qt_s=Search+Groups

will show you some of them. Google Groups is great for researching your
problem before posting. So is the Microsoft Knowledgebase.

haven't you ever just wanted an answer and not have to browse
thousands of posts trying to find the needle in the haystack?

Rarely. I usually do my own research before relying on others.

If anyone has any suggestions for getting Outlook to recognize my
PAB file or the addresses/contacts in my .pst file I'd be greatful!

Do you even have a PAB? Tools>Email Accounts>Add a new directory or address
book>Additional Address Book>Next>Personal Address Book... will allow you to
add it. This information is also available in Outlook's Help. Use
"personal address book" for a search string.

If you want your Contacts to appear in the Outlook Address Book interface,
read the article Russ suggested.