How do I import email, contacts from old drive to new computer

[BELGSO]

My old laptop crashed but I have the harddrive as an external drive. I want
to import the Outlook pst files from the old hd to the new computer. I don't
know how to begin this process. Any help would be great! Both versions are
Outlook 2007. I need my contacts and emails from the old drive imported into
my new computer.

 

[Karl Timmermans]

First thing - remove the word <import> from your vocabulary for this
exercise. You do not want to "import" any of this

#1 - Make sure that your Windows explorer is set to view <hidden files and
folders>
#2 - If you were using Win 'XP on the old system and IF the locations of the
Outlook files weren't changed from the default and IF the file name wasn't
changed - then on the old drive......
#3 - Look for <externaldriveletter>:\Document and Settings\Your Account
Name\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
#4 - In that folder, you will find one or more *.PST files - one of those is
the one you're looking for (default is Outlook.pst - at the very least - the
timestamp and file size should indicate the logical choice)
#5 - Copy the required file to whereever you want on your new system


If you haven't used Outlook for any production processing on the new
computer then
#6a - From Control Panel - User Accounts -->Mail - open your current
Outlook profile and add the new PST file - make it the default. Remove the
original Default PST file
#7a - Start Outlook and you will be at the exact same spot (in terms of
data) that you were on your old computer

....OR...

If you have used Outlook and simply want to retrieve the old data..
#6b - Open Outlook and from file menu - Open --> Outlook Data File -->
select retrieved file
#7b - copy info from relevant folders from <old> PST file folders to
equivalent folders in <current> default folders


Karl
___________________________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group
ContactGenie - Importer 1.3 / DataPorter 2.0 / Exporter
"Power contact importers/exporters for MS Outlook '2000/2007"
http://www.contactgenie.com

 

[BELGSO]

Thank you for your advice. I am using VISTA. I was able to retreive my
outlook folders from the old drive and restore them on the new computer. But
I don't know what happened to all of my contacts? I can only see dat files
and obi files. Any suggestions????

 

[Karl Timmermans]

What exactly do you mean that you can't see your contacts?
- is there no contact folder in the PST file that you retrieved? or.....
- you can't see contacts when sending email on the new system (contact
folder not set as an Outlook AddressBook)?

In short, if you have retrieved the correct <old> default PST file from the
external drive - a contacts folder will exist and if it doesn't contain any
contacts, the reason will be related to contacts having been saved somewhere
else which only you can know. You cannot delete any "default" folder while
it is active.

As for the file types you see - this page may be of interest:
http://www.slipstick.com/config/backup2007.asp

Karl

___________________________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group
ContactGenie - Importer 1.3 / DataPorter 2.0 / Exporter
"Power contact importers/exporters for MS Outlook '2000/2007"
http://www.contactgenie.com

 

[BELGSO]

I brought over 3 pst files: archive, archive1, and Outlook. After retrieving
these on to my new computer I only had email documents restored. When I
opened my address book I expected to see hundreds of addresses that I have
set up on the old drive but there were none.
The address on the old drive where I found the pst folders is :
F:\Users\Tessa\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook
I do not see a Contacts folder in this location. I don't think the folder
was saved some where else. I am at a loss at this point to getting these
email addresses off the old drive.

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

I brought over 3 pst files: archive, archive1, and Outlook. After retrieving
these on to my new computer I only had email documents restored. When I
opened my address book I expected to see hundreds of addresses that I have
set up on the old drive but there were none.

Then you didn't add those PSTs into Outlook correctly or you have a damaged
Outlook Address Book service in your mail profile.

 

[Karl Timmermans]

As an addition to Brian's response - you will not find a separate "contacts"
file anywhere. Contacts are stored within the primary PST file along with
everything else - there is no such thing as a separate Outlook "contacts
file"

So back to the original question - if you view "All Folders" via the
navigation pane in O'2007 for the <original> PST file - are you saying
#1 - There is no contacts folder? (then you do not have the right PST file -
no if, and, or buts about that) or
#2 - There are no contacts in the default contacts folder? (then contacts
have been deleted or saved somewhere else - note: "somewhere else" means
either another contact folder within the same PST file or another PST file
but doubt this to be the case in this situation) or
#3 - No contacts folder has been added to the Outlook Addressbook? (contacts
folder has not been added to the OAB - you did add the OAB to the profile
correct? or as Brian says - the OAB is damaged)

Given the file names you provided - the one that you want would be
<Outlook.pst> from the old system.

Karl
___________________________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group
ContactGenie - Importer 1.3 / DataPorter 2.0 / Exporter
"Power contact importers/exporters for MS Outlook '2000/2007"
http://www.contactgenie.com

 

[BELGSO]

Karl, thanks for helping me. I do not know alot about contacts vs. email
address book. I do know I had a lot of emails in the address book on the old
system. When I pull the data file Outlook.pst which I think is the primary (
I know this is the correct one because I got all the emails I sent and
deleted, drafts, junkmail and archieved.) I just don't see another folder for
Contacts. I don't understand why I can not find or get the email addresses
that were there. Should I look for oab file type? I don't know what adding
the oab to the profile means but I wish you could poke around this drive to
see if you could find it.
I hope it is not damaged.

 

[Karl Timmermans]

On your new system - you need to do 2 things:

#1 - add the Outlook Address Book to the Outlook profile - there are 2 ways
to do this
a) from within Outlook --> Outlook Menu Bar --> Tools --> Account
Settings --> Click on OAB tab - add Outlook Address Book
(the other way to do this is with Outlook not running and
--> Control Panel --> Users --> Mail -->
--> Select Profile you want to use --> Email Accounts
and beyond that follow above steps

#2 - Re: Contact Folder
a) The Contacts folder will not appear when viewing "EMail"
folders - you need to go to the Navigation Pane and either
1) look at Contacts or 2) Expand the Nav Pane to show "All
folders" (little icon at bottom of Nav Pane)
b) once you find the contact folder - right click on it -->
Properties --> look for the Outlook Address Book tab and make
sure that the "Show this folder as an email address book"
is checked

The above pre-supposes that your Outlook profile or OAB service has not been
corrupted in which case you simply need to create a new Outlook profile.

Some info that may be of use from the Outlook Help system - just search for:

Topic: "Overview of Outlook e-mail profiles"
Topic: "Add or remove an Address Book"
Topic: "Add people to the Address Book"
Topic: "Navigation Pane"
Topic: "Contacts"

Karl

___________________________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group
ContactGenie - Importer 1.3 / DataPorter 2.0 / Exporter
"Power contact importers/exporters for MS Outlook '2000/2007"
http://www.contactgenie.com

 

[BELGSO]

I followed step 1 listed. On the new system and Outlook address book was
already listed. I found the contacts when I followed step 2 !!

note: I have 2 personal folders showing in my folders list. One is the
original and the second is the data file I brought over from the old
harddrive. I copied over the folders I wanted.

Now, on the new system when I select address book and in the address book
contacts window I now have 2 Contacts listed in the drop down menu on the
right. The first Contacts have nothing in it and the 2nd Contacts have all of
my contacts I have been looking for. Is there a way to have just the one
correct Contacts show in the drop down box? I have tried to delete the empty
one but the systems will not allow it to be deleted.

 

[Karl Timmermans]

For the sake of this response - <PSTNew> = the PST file created when you
installed and opened Outlook on the new system and <PSTOld> is from the
original system. You have to know which is which when looking at your stuff
in Outlook.

The short answer is that if you copied everything correctly as desired - you
don't need PSTOld and just need to set PSTOld as the "default" for the
profile and then remove PSTNew from the profile.

The longer answer is that if one contact folder is "empty" and one contains
the contacts you want - you didn't "copy" everything since with a "copy" -
both folders should have contained contacts but according to you - only one
did so.............

You either copied the contacts creating a new "contact folder" in PSTNew or
you did not copy the contacts (which also begs the question if everything
else was also copied to the correct folder).

If you have never used PSTNew to recieve any email etc or have not added a
lot of things that you can't otherwise replicate etc - just make PSTOld the
default PST file for the profile - close PSTNew and your done (to set new
default --> Tools --> Account Settings --> Data Files (make PSTOld the new
default)

If you have used PSTNew - the you need to copy the "contents" of the folders
in PSTOld (not create a new folder in PSTNew):

- open the relevant folder in PSTOld
- highlight all the entries you want to copy (move) and either
1) right click and <move to folder> which will be in PSTNew or
2) highlight what you need and holding the control key down
- drag the highlighted items to the relevant target
folder in PSTNew.

Karl

___________________________________________________
Karl Timmermans - The Claxton Group
ContactGenie - Importer 1.3 / DataPorter 2.0 / Exporter
"Power contact importers/exporters for MS Outlook '2000/2007"
http://www.contactgenie.com