Moving PST file in Outlook 2007

[Desert Rider]

In helping a friend set up his new laptop with Outlook 2007 I took his
Outlook 2003 PST, moved it to the new laptop, modified the profile to
point at the new PST and everything worked fine. Unfortunately, I had
placed the file in a folder in his My Documents and he decided to move
some folders in My Documents to another folder he created. Of course
one of the ones he moved was the Outlook PST folder I created. Outlook
no workee! When he told me what he'd done I was able to move the
folder back to where it belonged and all was well in Outlook.

I would like to avoid anything like this happening again. Can I move
the PST created when I set up his profile out of the user\application
data\Outlook folder (think that's where it is in Win 7. I will be able
to find it) and move the working PST there, repoint the profile to it
and not cause any corruption or problems?

Used to be able to do this all the time with Outlook 2K. Just don't
know about 2007. I KNOW he'll never mess with that directory.

Thanks for any assistance.

 

[DL]

You may have permissions issues, ensure you dont overwrite any existing pst

 

[Russ Valentine]

You must disconnect a PST file from its profile before you attempt any
modification of it within Windows Explorer. If you don't, your profile will
become corrupt, as your friend demonstrated.

 

[Desert Rider]

You must disconnect a PST file from its profile before you attempt any
modification of it within Windows Explorer. If you don't, your profile will
become corrupt, as your friend demonstrated.

Thanks for the reply. Would this be a safe way to get the PST info
into the original profile? I would repoint the profile at the original
PST then open the working PST in Outlook and copy all the data (email,
contacts, custom folders, etc) to the original PST. How does that work
for the calendar entries? Just drag the calendar from the working PST
to the original PST?

Would another alternative be to create a totally new profile and then
move the data into it as above?

 

[Russ Valentine]

The easiest way to migrate a PST file is simply to open it in the Outlook
profile where you want to move it. Once you do, you can either reset it as
your default and close the existing PST or merge the two files by copying
data from one to the other. To copy Calendar items you must use a Table view
of the Calendar so that you can select all the appointments (for example,
the By Category view will create a Table View of the Calendar).

--
Russ Valentine

You must disconnect a PST file from its profile before you attempt any
modification of it within Windows Explorer. If you don't, your profile
will
become corrupt, as your friend demonstrated.

Thanks for the reply. Would this be a safe way to get the PST info
into the original profile? I would repoint the profile at the original
PST then open the working PST in Outlook and copy all the data (email,
contacts, custom folders, etc) to the original PST. How does that work
for the calendar entries? Just drag the calendar from the working PST
to the original PST?

Would another alternative be to create a totally new profile and then
move the data into it as above?

 

[Desert Rider]

The easiest way to migrate a PST file is simply to open it in the Outlook
profile where you want to move it. Once you do, you can either reset it as
your default and close the existing PST or merge the two files by copying
data from one to the other. To copy Calendar items you must use a Table view
of the Calendar so that you can select all the appointments (for example,
the By Category view will create a Table View of the Calendar).

--



Thanks for the reply. Would this be a safe way to get the PST info
into the original profile? I would repoint the profile at the original
PST then open the working PST in Outlook and copy all the data (email,
contacts, custom folders, etc) to the original PST. How does that work
for the calendar entries? Just drag the calendar from the working PST
to the original PST?

Would another alternative be to create a totally new profile and then
move the data into it as above?

OK, thanks for the clarification. I think, to simplify things, I will
just take the working PST and bury it deeper in the directory
structure, somewhere where I know he won't venture. I'll then repoint
the profile to that location. That should work wouldn't you think?

I set him up with Acronis to do system image backups and specific
directory backups. I'll just add the new directory to the 2nd backup
profile.

 

[Russ Valentine]

Should work, depending of course on what you mean by "repoint the
profile..."
--
Russ Valentine

The easiest way to migrate a PST file is simply to open it in the Outlook
profile where you want to move it. Once you do, you can either reset it as
your default and close the existing PST or merge the two files by copying
data from one to the other. To copy Calendar items you must use a Table
view
of the Calendar so that you can select all the appointments (for example,
the By Category view will create a Table View of the Calendar).

--



Thanks for the reply. Would this be a safe way to get the PST info
into the original profile? I would repoint the profile at the original
PST then open the working PST in Outlook and copy all the data (email,
contacts, custom folders, etc) to the original PST. How does that work
for the calendar entries? Just drag the calendar from the working PST
to the original PST?

Would another alternative be to create a totally new profile and then
move the data into it as above?

OK, thanks for the clarification. I think, to simplify things, I will
just take the working PST and bury it deeper in the directory
structure, somewhere where I know he won't venture. I'll then repoint
the profile to that location. That should work wouldn't you think?

I set him up with Acronis to do system image backups and specific
directory backups. I'll just add the new directory to the 2nd backup
profile.

 

[Desert Rider]

Should work, depending of course on what you mean by "repoint the
profile..."
--





OK, thanks for the clarification. I think, to simplify things, I will
just take the working PST and bury it deeper in the directory
structure, somewhere where I know he won't venture. I'll then repoint
the profile to that location. That should work wouldn't you think?

I set him up with Acronis to do system image backups and specific
directory backups. I'll just add the new directory to the 2nd backup
profile.

I guess what I mean is that I will move the PST, open the Mail applet
in Control Panel, modify the profile there to point to the new
location of the PST, save that and re-open Outlook. Does that sound
right? Boy, this can be confusing!!!

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

In helping a friend set up his new laptop with Outlook 2007 I took his
Outlook 2003 PST, moved it to the new laptop, modified the profile to
point at the new PST and everything worked fine. Unfortunately, I had
placed the file in a folder in his My Documents and he decided to move
some folders in My Documents to another folder he created. Of course
one of the ones he moved was the Outlook PST folder I created. Outlook
no workee! When he told me what he'd done I was able to move the
folder back to where it belonged and all was well in Outlook.

When you move a PST away from where the mail profile indicates it was placed,
when you start Outlook, it should complain that it can't find its folders and
open a browser dialogue to allow you to locate the file in its new folder.
Didn't this happen?

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

I set him up with Acronis to do system image backups and specific
directory backups. I'll just add the new directory to the 2nd backup
profile.

Make sure Outlook is closed when the backup occurs or you will get a reliable
backup.

 

[Russ Valentine]

That will work fine.
--
Russ Valentine

Should work, depending of course on what you mean by "repoint the
profile..."
--





OK, thanks for the clarification. I think, to simplify things, I will
just take the working PST and bury it deeper in the directory
structure, somewhere where I know he won't venture. I'll then repoint
the profile to that location. That should work wouldn't you think?

I set him up with Acronis to do system image backups and specific
directory backups. I'll just add the new directory to the 2nd backup
profile.

I guess what I mean is that I will move the PST, open the Mail applet
in Control Panel, modify the profile there to point to the new
location of the PST, save that and re-open Outlook. Does that sound
right? Boy, this can be confusing!!!

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

Make sure Outlook is closed when the backup occurs or you will get a
reliable backup.

That's "...or you will not get a reliable backup."

 

[Desert Rider]

When you move a PST away from where the mail profile indicates it was placed,
when you start Outlook, it should complain that it can't find its foldersand
open a browser dialogue to allow you to locate the file in its new folder..
Didn't this happen?

Yes, it did. That's when my friend called. He's not very computer
savvy and gets frustrated easily so I usually don't ask him to do
something like search for things. What threw me when I got there was
knowing where the PST was located yet seeing the folder empty when I
opened it. As stated, that's when he mentioned ....Oh yeah, I forgot
to mention I moved a few things around last night!

Easy fix once I knew that.