.pst backup on disk of calendar, contacts, personal folders

[SUSAN S.]

Hi All,
Before I bought a new home computer, I backed up my Outlook 2003 Contacts,
Calendar and Personal Folders to a CD, and it took days to figure that out.
It was the only way I knew. I think the CD is read only. Can I get my LIFE
back by exporting from the disk back into the new Outlook 2003? Oh, my, what
a mess, what have I done...

(¯`v´¯)-»* Thank You! * »(¯`v´¯)-»

-Susan the novice user

 

[KOrland]

Copy your PST from the Disk to hard drive, then make sure the PST is
read-write (check the properties), then add the PST to Outlook (don't
import). and off you go.

 

[SUSAN S.]

1. Thanks, I copied the .pst from the CD to my hard drive. There are (2)
choices in properties: read only and hidden. I unchecked read only, but it
does not change it to read-write. Told you I was a novice. Thanks! -Susan

2. ALSO: When I copy to a CD, how do I choose Read-Write? (my CD's are RW)

 

[KOrland]

Uncheck the "Read Only" file attribute by right clicking the file and choose
Properties. Now open Outlook and connect to the file by choosing File->
Open-> Outlook Data File. Give that a try.

 

[SUSAN S.]

1. Thanks! On my hard drive, read only is NOT checked off.
What do you mean by:

add the PST to Outlook (don't import).

2. One file is Outlook Office Data File (my calendar & contacts???)

3. The other is archived email which I want back in my Personal Folders.

Feeling some progress here.

 

[KOrland]

File \ Open \ choose your Outlook file

 

[SUSAN S.]

OMG! I have contacts, my calendar for the last 2 years and ALL of my
archived email. I am stunned and ver-ry grateful KOrland.
Question: I have 2 copies of Personal Folders now...woohoo

 

[KOrland]

You'll be an old hand at this in no time! If you ever want to backup and
restore again, or even test (this is an excellent idea, don't wait until
you're under the gun to test anything), check this website for great steps
and tips:

http://www.howto-outlook.com/Howto/backupandrestore.htm

If you have two sets of personal folders, you maybe pointed to one twice.
Retrace your steps from adding the Outlook Data files (File, Open, Choose
your Outlook File) to make sure. You may have duplicated one.

 

[SUSAN S.]

ALSO: When I copy to a CD, how do I choose Read-Write? (my CD's are RW)

 

[KOrland]

You can't. The file is going to be Read Only once you burn it to CD. You must
copy the file to your local drive in order to be able to use it and you have
to change it to Read-Write.

 

[SUSAN S.]

Susan S from Michigan: "KOrland, you rock!"
I will wait to hear from you about deleting a duplicate copy in my folder
list of Outlook Today: Personal folders (calendar, contacts, inbox...one
empty, one FULL of my stuff! Yeah!

 

[KOrland]

You'll have to determine which one is the empty one and remove it. Do a
search of your HDD for *.pst and look for the empty one. Remove it from your
profile - Start \ Settings \ Control Panel \ Mail \ personal folders and see
how many are there. You can click on the properties to see the locations and
your file search should indicate the sizes and locations of the personal
folders. Delete the empty one.
Good luck!

 

[SUSAN S.]

Old hand, hah! Well I installed MS office last week which gave me a new
Outlook Today - all empty.
Today when I moved the data off the CD/Hard Drive, a whole new set came up
with my stuff.

 

[SUSAN S.]

I will try that now.
In the meantime, where can I change my settings. When I open Outlook it is
not a full screen?
Thanks for everything. I have never gone out to chat and it was such a
pleasant surprise today!

*: ·..·:*¨¨*:·..·:*¨TEN STARS!!!¨*:·..·:*¨¨*:·..·:*

 

[Brian Tillman]

Old hand, hah! Well I installed MS office last week which gave me a
new Outlook Today - all empty.
Today when I moved the data off the CD/Hard Drive, a whole new set
came up with my stuff.

What you want to do now is to tell Outlook to use the old data as the
default. Assuming you're using Outlook 2002 or 2003, click Tools>E-mail
Accounts>Next. At the bottom left, there's a drop-down labeled "Deliver new
e-mail to the following location". Select your old PST in this drop-down
and click Finish. Stop and restart Outlook. Now your old PST will be the
"Outlook Today" PST and you can close the empty one (now called, most
likely, "Personal Folders") by right-clicking its root (in the Folder List
in the left) and choosing Close.

 

[SUSAN S.]

Very helpful, Brian. Have a great online day! -Susan