Because there was so much junk on my old drive, I installed a new drive and
loaded Vista and Office 2007. I can only access my old drive via Windows
Explorer. How can I import my old email addresses to the new Outlook? I
tried
to search for .pst files from the old drive but the Outlook 07 import
facility wouldn't recognise them.
First, forget the words "import" and "export" when you're trying to move files
between Outlook instances. It's not necessary and can cause more harm than
good.
By default, PST files are help in x:\Documents and Settings\user\Local
Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook, which is a hidden folder so
search won't find it unless you enable viewing hidden files and folders.
Nonetheless, you can enter that exact path into Windows Explorer and you will
be able to see the folder contents even if viewing hidden files and folders is
disabled. Copy the PST to a place on your new hard drive (under Documents is
good). Start Outlook and click File>Open>Outlook Data File. Browse to the
folder where you put the PST, select it, and click OK. The PST should open
and you'll be able to see the contents. If that fails, you'll have to take
ownership of the file before you can open it. See the Microsoft Knowledgebase
for an article on how to take ownership in Vista.
After opening the PST, you'll need to move the data in it to your new PST.
Display your Navigation Pane in the Folder List view (press Ctrl-6 or click
the Folder List button at the bottom of the Navigation Pane). For each folder
in the old PST that is NOT a default folder, right-click and drag the folder
to the root (the Outlook Today or "Personal Folders" node) of the default
folder set, right-click and choose Copy, or select the old folder and click
Edit>Copy to Folder. Specify the root of the default folders as the
destination.
Once you're copied the non-default folders, you can copy the old default
folders, but you can't copy the folders themselves, you'll need to copy their
contents. Select each of the old default folders to open them in the
right-hand pane of the Outlook window. Select one of the items in the folder,
then press Ctrl-A to select them all. Right-click and drag the selection to
the corresponding default folder in the new folder set and choose Copy or
click Edit>Copy to Folder, specifying corresponding default folder of the same
name as the destination. Continue until all the default folder contents have
been copied. In order for Ctrl-A to work in the Calendar, you'll need to
display it in a table view like By Category. If you enable the Advanced
toolbar in the Outlook window, you'll have a View drop-down that will make
selecting another view easy.
Any other questions? Write back.
