Transferring my OL files

[Joe McGuire]

I am moving to another law firm and need to move my Outlook (2002) files to
the new place. The current firm runs OL on a Windows network and a
Microsoft Exchange Server and so does the new one. What is the best way to
move this data? A Microsoft article 287070 explains a bit about the *.pst
file. I assume this is on my desktop hard drive on the network. But it
says nothing about the archive.pst file, which contains a lotof old but
important information. I plan to use CDs to move the data. But will I be
"exporting" the file(s) as opposed to "Transferring Outlook data from one
computer to another"? Can I expect the contents of the Outlook.pst and
Archive.pst (assuming they are the file names) to get comingled on the new
system (I suppose I easily can fix this by setting archiving parameters) or
will Ouotlook keep them separate?

Thanks!

 

[DL]

Do not Export
Simply copy data files, with outlook *closed*
( A sugestion, copy files to one cd, then export the same to a second cd)
Copy to new PC, Documents folder eg, NOT outlook default folder.
In Explorer properties for these files, set read only attribute to off
Then in OL, File>Open>Data File.........browse to the location.
This assumes you have the neccessary permissions to manipulate data.

 

[Joe McGuire]

Thanks! But a question or two (I only get one chance to screw this up!!):

1. Why not Export? Is there a problem with that? It seems to be what
Microsoft tells us to do, which, as we all know, is not always the smart
thing to do. Or sometimes even a good thing to do. And if I should not
Export, why am I exporting the files to a 2d CD? When I copy files to the
new system am I copying the *.pst files from that 2d CD (the Export CD) or
from the first (the Copy CD)? Is the Export CD used for anything? Held in
reserve?

2. When I copy the *.pst files to a non-default location and then run OL,
where will OL store the *.pst files? Will OL keep using the files I copied
but keep them at the same location?

3. When I get these files into the new desktop do I have to do anything
to get those files onto the network/Exchange Server? Or does OL do that
automatically?

 

[Brian Tillman]

Thanks! But a question or two (I only get one chance to screw this
up!!):
1. Why not Export? Is there a problem with that?

You bet. You lose data when exporting.

It seems to be what
Microsoft tells us to do, which, as we all know, is not always the
smart thing to do. Or sometimes even a good thing to do. And if I
should not Export, why am I exporting the files to a 2d CD?

Why indeed. You have a PST on the hard drive. WIth Outlook closed (and
make sure it is by looking on the Processes tab of Task Manager), just burn
that PST to a CD. Backup done.

When I
copy files to the new system am I copying the *.pst files from that
2d CD (the Export CD) or from the first (the Copy CD)? Is the Export
CD used for anything? Held in reserve?

Only one CD containing a copy of the original PST is needed. Copy it from
the CD to the hard drive of the destination PC and using Windows Explorer,
remove the read-only attribute the PST will have from being on the CD.

2. When I copy the *.pst files to a non-default location and then
run OL, where will OL store the *.pst files? Will OL keep using the
files I copied but keep them at the same location?

OL won't use the PST you copy to the hard drive until you tell it to do so,
either using the Mail applet in Control Panel or by using File>Open>Outlook
Data File from within Outlook.

3. When I get these files into the new desktop do I have to do
anything to get those files onto the network/Exchange Server? Or
does OL do that automatically?

Outlook doesn't do anything automatically. If you want to put the data from
the copied PST into your Exchange mailbox, open the PST with Outlook, then
open each folder in the PST, select all the items in it with CTRL-A, and
copy the selection to the corresponding mailbox folder. For the Calendar,
you'll have to change the source calendar's view to a table view like By
Category before you can select all the items.

 

[DL]

Export loses settings amongst other things & can also lose data
The double copy to, two seperate media is just insurance
Use the copied files on the new sys

If OL is allready configured then you have to add the data file, Within OL,
File>New>Data File......browse to location.

If OL is not configured use the Mail applet in the control panel to add the
data files and configure accounts
The files can remain in the location.

I dont have any dealings with Exchange