outlook I cant import my pst file after 2007 trial

[Trevor]

after trial of office 2007 I decided it wasnt for me so I reinstalled Office
2k and all works fine except I cannot get the contacts folder to display its
contents. so can't access it when typing new message.
I have tried uninstalling and reinstallation, to no effect, althoiugh each
new installation manages to find all my messages and folders (strange) I was
expecting to find a blank Folder with just the outlook welcome message and
then import my pst file.
It would seem 2007 version is taking over, NOT what I expect from a trial
from Microsoft. Maybe I should try Thunderbird again.

 

[Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]]

Probably you should just try following the directions we post here every day
for the correct way to migrate Outlook data. Since you provided no
information on what you did, we cannot tell you what you did wrong. This is
end user error. You never import Outlook data.

 

[Trevor]

What I did...
I had a working version of Outlook 2000. on various OS 98, 2000pro, XPpro
and Vista Home Premium. All did what it says on the box. I tried thunderbird
on the XP system but returned to Outlook..
What I did wrong was to try the Office 2007 trial because since then my
Outlook 2000 has not worked correctly.
So... before I started the trial I exported my folders to a pst file as I
had done when changing OS's in the past thinking that I could at least
restore my folders to the state before the trial, (even though I would lose
messages received during the trial period).

However after Uninstalling the MSO 2007pro I then reinstalled Outlook 2K
which I had deactivated from the Office 2Kpro CD being marked as
unavailable, (was this my mistake all along) as when 2007 was removed it
wasnt able to reinstate my Outlook 2K.

I have since your reply "Opened" a personal folder from a backup pst and
this displays the contacts but I still cannot access that folder as my
contacts in any new message.
I have tried to select it under the Activities tab of File/Properties after
"clearing all" but it seems to have no effect.
Trying to delete the first level Personal folders is impossible.
So I seem to be stuck with a contacts folder that just gives me a cryptic
error message of "Unable to display the folder, could not complete the
operation, one or more parameter values are not valid".

thanks, Trevor

 

[DL]

The Outlook 2007 data file, assuming you used 2007 format cannot be read by
OL2k
Export / Import of native OL data is not reccommended, it can lose data &
other problems
Locate scanpst.exe, the repair tool and run it several times on your data
files - with OL closed
To copy / backup a data file it is only neccessary to copy it, with OL
closed.
To access a data file it is only neccessary to open it within OL

 

[Trevor]

Some progress...

I have uninstalled Outlook again.
Renamed all backup versions of my .pst files to .old

Hacked the registry for all references of Outlook
Restarted machine

Reinstalled Outlook

Got a clean install, apparently...
opened my .pst file into existing (Personal Folder)

have all my messages,
Get the Contacts folder to display it's contents. --- But still dont get
access to it from a New Message or Forwarding Messages.

I get a different error message now,
"The messaging interface has returned an unknown error. If problem persists,
restart Outlook."

Tried File/Properties Activities tab process again, modify - nothing...

Restarting outlook has no effect as neither does Detect & Repair.

Have also hit it with Scanpst.exe numerous times but nothing changes.

When I reinstall it askes if it should be the default Mail & News app, I
always say yes but looking at default programs Windows Mail is listed as the
default M&N, Outlook isn't listed and I can't find a way to add or say
Outlook should be the default.

Any further assistance would be appreciated.

Trevor.

 

[DL]

Uninstalling / reinstalling has no impact on data files or the OL Profile

"Opened pst file into existing Personal Folder" makes no sense
A pst is a Personal Folder, if you opened a second pst you would have a
second Personal Folder or Archive if it was such.

Having hacked the registry, unneccessarily, who knows what has happened.
If in any of your efforts you overwrote any pst's by eg placing your backups
in the default location then you probably corrupted the pst & profile

If you pop the Office /Outlook cd in and after the repair you still receive
the "unknown error"
I think in the first instance I would create a new Profile, not copy, if the
error persists, I would then consider running a win system file checker
(scannow) and, assuming you didnt backup the registry fixes in order that
you could undo, try a system restore. If the error msg persists then you may
need to resort to this
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290301 to remove all
reffernces to Office or OL and then reinstall.
reboot after each process.

 

[Trevor]

"Opened pst file into existing Personal Folder" makes no sense

A pst is a Personal Folder, if you opened a second pst you would have a
second Personal Folder or Archive if it was such.

What I meant to say here was that I opened my .pst file and then moved my
message folders into the default Personal Folder, the one that you cannot
delete. Then I copyed my contacts into the default Contacts Folder. After
doing all that I deleted the second Personal Folder. sorry for the confusion
about this.

I have reinstalled Outlook again. created one entry in the Contacts folder.
opened a new message, clicked on To: and still get the "The messaging
interface has returned an unknown error. If problem persists, restart
Outlook."

Now looking into running the msicuu2 on it, do I have to remove all of
Office with it or can I just remove Outlook as the rest of my Office
installation appears to be working correctly?

Trevor.

 

[DL]

Dont use the removal tool
Overwriting the pst may have corrupted the Profile, create a new profile,
add the data file, configure accounts & test them.
If the err persists,
Locate scanpst.exe, the pst repair tool, run it on the pst, run it several
times.
If it reports an err, run it over another 2 'clean' passes