Outlook -> Entourage; Entourage -> Outlook (perils)

[Brent Walker]

Hi Brent!

Have a look at this page on The Entourage Help Page
<http://entourage.mvps.org/cross_platform/win_mac.html>. It should give
you some options for the software you're able to access.

By the way, this newsgroup is deprecated and has been replaced by
microsoft.public.mac.office.entourage. Post further questions there
where there's more traffic.

Hope this helps! Bill

Bill,

The problem is that I no longer have a pc running Outlook. I have the last
5-6 years worth of email stored in .pst files (2001.pst, 2002.pst,
....2006.pst, etc) which are stored on an external USB drive. I worked for a
company that provided a home pc and recently left that company and returned
the pc.

Now all I have is the iMac running entourage 2004. I do not want to go
purchase a pc just to get to this email and contacts. Seems silly to me to
do so.

I was using a legal copy of Outlook and now am using a legal copy of
Entourage, both Microsoft Office products.

It would seem to me that Microsoft would provide a tool for importing .pst
files into Entourage or conversely importing Entourage (.mbox) files to
Outlook. This would make the Outlook -> Entourage and/or Entourage ->
Outlook migration almost seamless. The newsgroups are filled with similar
customers trying to do this very exercise. Some successful, some not!
Either way all efforts are very painful and time consuming.

This is not a platform battle between PC v. MAC, but simply Microsoft
allowing their customers of Office work seamlessly independent of the
platform. I purchased a license to both the PC and MAC versions of OFFICE
but leveraging prior contacts/messages/calendar entries is currently not
supported. Why?

Microsoft, please help!

Brent Walker
MCSE +i

 

[William Smith]

Hi Brent!

My comments are inline with yours.

Bill,

The problem is that I no longer have a pc running Outlook. I have the last
5-6 years worth of email stored in .pst files (2001.pst, 2002.pst,
...2006.pst, etc) which are stored on an external USB drive. I worked for a
company that provided a home pc and recently left that company and returned
the pc.

Only one application can open the Microsoft proprietary .pst file
format. That's Outlook. Even if you need to borrow someone's computer,
that's what you'll need.

Now all I have is the iMac running entourage 2004. I do not want to go
purchase a pc just to get to this email and contacts. Seems silly to me to
do so.

I was using a legal copy of Outlook and now am using a legal copy of
Entourage, both Microsoft Office products.

It would seem to me that Microsoft would provide a tool for importing .pst
files into Entourage or conversely importing Entourage (.mbox) files to
Outlook. This would make the Outlook -> Entourage and/or Entourage ->
Outlook migration almost seamless. The newsgroups are filled with similar
customers trying to do this very exercise. Some successful, some not!
Either way all efforts are very painful and time consuming.

Not an excuse but an explanation: If you're familiar with large
corporations such as Microsoft then you're familiar with the concept of
business units. The Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) makes Entourage and
another separate business unit makes Outlook. The two don't have the
same reporting structure, sales goals or customer focus.

But you're reiterating a point I've made before, which is there is
demand for some mechanism to get data out of .pst files and into another
non-Outlook application. I hope someone's listening!

This is not a platform battle between PC v. MAC, but simply Microsoft
allowing their customers of Office work seamlessly independent of the
platform. I purchased a license to both the PC and MAC versions of OFFICE
but leveraging prior contacts/messages/calendar entries is currently not
supported. Why?

If you have a license for Office for Windows then you may already have
Outlook. And if you're a recent switcher then you may be running an
Intel Mac. Correct so far? If so, then you might try downloading the
trial version of CrossOver Mac from <http://www.codeweavers.com>, which
can run many Windows software applications without Windows. It may be
enough for you to get your information out of your .pst files and into a
usable format for Entourage. You may find it's worth paying the $60.00
price tag.

Hope this helps! bill

 

[Brent Walker]

Thanks bill for your note and yes I hope someone at Microsoft is LISTENING.
Microsoft, we are not asking you to support another companies piece of
software. We are simply asking that you make the trek between buildings and
allow your customers to have the requested functionality, the functionality
for Entourage to read Outlook file stores and for Outlook to read Entourage
file stores.

You don't have to offer this as a integrated solution to Entourage/Outlook
(although that would be a much nicer solution), a simple utility would
suffice.

Thanks again Bill for your concurrence and comments,
Brent

 

[MacGrrl]

Here is a pst import tool
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/email_chat/pstimporttoolforentourage2004formac.html

 

[William Smith]

Unfortunately, this tool only imports from PST files created by Outlook
2001 for Mac. It's not meant for use with any Outlook for Windows PST
files.

bill