How to get rid of unwanted "sets" of Personal Folders

[Stephen Porter]

Hi,

I'm a fairly casual user of Outlook--no Exchange Server or anything,
but I occasionally run across the problem of getting multiple "sets"
or instances of "Outlook Today--Personal Folders" in the same
installation. This usually occurs after moving a .pst file from one
location to another, or, as happened recently, when someone else
installed a 2nd copy of Office on a computer that already had Outlook
running... actually I'm a little unclear as to why it happened, but
I would like to get rid of the duplicate set.

In case I'm not being clear, when opening Outlook, in the Folder List
view there are two sets of "Outlook Today--Personal Folders"
visible--both open fully expanded. They actually point to the same
outlook.pst file on another computer networked to this one, so if I
try to close one of them, I get the error saying that I can't
close/delete the folder that contains my email, contacts, calendar,
etc.

I think if I just uninstall and reinstall Outlook that will fix it???
I'm wondering if there might be a simpler/easier way to do it?????

All enlightenment on this topic greatly appreciated.

TIA.

 

[John C. Harris, MPA]

I had this problem when other users would inheret systems form others. When
we changed the logon it would give them another set of personal folders,
usually with one not accessable. The way I fixed it was closing down
OUTLOOK, going to the control panel and opening the MAIL setting (OUTLOOK
will not chnage this unless it is offline). Open up the PROFILES portion and
delete all but the current user. This worked for me, but I am running on an
EXCHANGE system. Not sure if it makes a difference.

 

[Stephen Porter]

Thanks for the complete data, Millie. As usual, you are the best
;-).

I'm not able to experiment with the registry changes yet, but the
right-click method won't work--Outlook comes up with a message saying
you can't delete or close the personal folders that contain your
mailbox, calendar, etc. Somehow both "sets" (for lack of a better
term) of folders in this instance point to the same file--so I'm not
surprised that Outlook won't allow a close/delete. I'll try the reg
fix and/or just uninstalling Outlook completely and reinstalling it
on this machine. The problem started when the user installed a
second copy of Office over a previously installed one--why/how he did
that I'm not sure.... ;-).

Thanks again--I always get a workable response on this list and often
from yourself...

Steve Porter

To remove extra PST(s) from the folder list:

Outlook 97 or Outlook 98/2000 (Corporate Mode)
- On the Tools menu, click Services.
- Highlight Personal Folders service you want to remove and click "Remove".

Note: Standalone users require 1 Personal Folders Service. Those connecting
to an Exchange server normally do not use a Personal Folders file when mail
is kept on the server.

Outlook 98/2000 (IMO [Internet Mail Only] Mode)
- On the View menu, click Folder List.
- Right click on the root folder of a folder list.
- Right click on the root of the extra set of Personal Folders and choose
"Disconnect" or "Close".

For the most stubborn of PSTs that will not remove from the folder list.

IMPORTANT: The following information contains information about editing the
registry. Before you edit the registry, you should first make a backup copy
of the registry files (System.dat and User.dat). Both are hidden files in
the Windows folder.

- Start RegEdit (Win9x/NT) or RegEdt32 (NT).
- Navigate to:
* Win9x users
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows
MessagingSubsystem\Profiles\<your profile name>
* WinNT users
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\WindowsMessaging Subsystem\Profiles\<your profile name>
- Look in the tree under that point (it should be full of keys with long
hexidecimal value names) and look for a section that references the PST file
you want off of your folder tree. Export that section (for safety) and then
delete it.


--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact.


After searching google.groups.com and finding no answer
Stephen Porter <[email protected]> asked:

| Hi,
|
| I'm a fairly casual user of Outlook--no Exchange Server or anything,
| but I occasionally run across the problem of getting multiple "sets"

--