Outlook 98

[Margaret Bartley]

I have an old machine that has been offline for many years. I did a bunch
of research on it that I'd like to retrieve - it's time to start working on
it again. I used both Outlook97 and Outlook 98 on it.
The machine itself is broken and won't run. I probably have files in
both versions.

I think the Outlook files were in an .ost file? I long ago copied off the
data files, but the Outlook file was too big for any of my I/O options
(100 MB Zip Drive) so it's still sitting on the hard drive. I'm thinking
of pulling the hard drive off, and taking it to a local computer store
and asking them to install it as a slave drive to one of my working
machines. Or hiring someone to come in and show me how to
do it.

Since I won't have Outlook 98 to use, I can't look up the file to pull over.
Is there just one file? I seem to recall trying to understand backing up
and archiving (a futile effort) so there may be more than one file on that
machine.

Can you tell me what file(s) I would be looking for, and what directory to
look in?

Can I read those files with Outlook 2000 or Outlook 2003, both of which I
have?
Anything else? How about my contacts? I never did understand how the address
book worked. Can I get those as well? What would be the file name and
directory
for that? Is it the same as the contacts?

I seem to recall that they were two different things in those days.

Many thanks for any advice.

 

[Pat Willener]

Turn hidden files and folders off, then search for *.PST and *.OST
files. There is a chance that you may find multiple ones; ignore those
with 265KB size - they are empty.

 

[neo [mvp outlook]]

Good advice and I would like to add that a .PST file created in Outlook
97/98 can be be used in any later version of Microsoft Outlook.

/neo

PS - The .OST can't be moved between machines

 

[Margaret Bartley]

Thanks.
What about my contacts and address book. Are they the same?
What file extension would I look for on those? I don't recall doing any
archiving on them, so I dont
Can they be imported?

 

[Brian Tillman]

What about my contacts and address book. Are they the same?

Depends. Were you using the "Personal Address Book" service and did not
have your contacts in the Contacts folder? If so, they're not the same.
If, instead, you were using the "Outlook Address Book" service and did keep
your contacts in the Contacts folder, then they should be the same. It also
makes a difference whether you'd installed Outlook 98 in Internet Mail Only
mode or Corporate/Workgroup mode. In the former case, you were probably
using neither a Personal Address Book nor the Contacts folder, but the
Windows Address Book. which is shared with Outlook Express. Since you
mentioned "OST", however, perhaps you were connected to an Exchange server,
which means you used Corporate/Workgroup mode, but I suspect that's not the
case.

What file extension would I look for on those? I don't recall doing
any archiving on them, so I dont
Can they be imported?

The PAB is a separate file and has the extension ".pab". The Contacts
folder is is contained in the PST. The Windows Address Book has an
extension of ".wab". When moving Outlook data between versions, it's best
not to use export or import, but to simply reopen the PST in the later
version.

There's no reason to pay someone to make your old drive a slave. It's VERY
easy (in my opinion) to do that yourself. Instructions on adding an
additional hard drive should be in the PC's documentation or online at the
PC vendor's web site.