Outlook export/import question

[Bifta]

Last week I exported all my email from Outlook (2003) to a PST file, reinstalled Windows XP (with service pack 2, original install was only SP1) and reinstalled exactly the same version of office (i.e. the only version I have), tried to reimport the PST and I get an error message saying:

"File D:\Backup\Backup.pst is not compatible with this version of the Personal Folders information service."

I've tried importing it through data file management too, no dice.

Any idea's? Really need to get them back for work

[willie]

From M$ website

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, copy the contents of the Outlook 2003 .pst file to a .pst file that has not been converted to the Outlook 2003 Unicode format.

To copy information from a Unicode-formatted .pst file to an ANSI-formatted .pst file, follow these steps.

Note To follow these steps, you must have a .pst file from an earlier version of Outlook.

1. Start Outlook 2003.
2. On the File menu, click Data File Management, and then click Add.
3. Click Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders File (PST).
4. Click OK.
5. Click OK to accept the default name, and then click OK again.
   
   Outlook 2003 now creates a new .pst file that is based on the earlier .pst and maintains the ANSI formatting for that .pst file.
6. Click Close.
7. At the bottom of the navigation pane, click Folder List.
   
   In the navigation pane, you now see the new .pst file.
8. Drag the information from your existing Outlook 2003 folders to the new .pst file.
9. In the navigation pane, right-click the new .pst file, and then click Close "file_name".

Note E-mail messages or other items that contain Unicode characters will not be copied to the new .pst file.

[Bifta]

Thanks, like I said, tried that already though, no joy

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by Bifta

Thanks, like I said, tried that already though, no joy

Boring, but have you tried an SP1 reinstall? This could be a feature of SP2.

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by SMHarman

Boring, but have you tried an SP1 reinstall? This could be a feature of SP2.

I haven't, can I get rid of SP2 somehow and reinstall SP1? (there's no uninstall routine for it on my machine and no restore point).

[~Dan~]

I just had to reinstall everything a coupla weeks ago, and before I did it I was having trouble exporting my emails until a friend told me a really easy way to do it.

Go to Tools Accounts and export each of your email accounts
Then go to Tools Options Maintenance and click on the Store Folder button - this gives you the location of where your mail is stored.
Then just export all from \Microsoft\Outlook Express\
everything in that folder

Then with a new copy of Outlook just add the email accounts and copy the mailbox files back into that folder.

[MovedGoalPosts]

Not sure if the original problem has been solved or not. If not, can you not simply open the file in Outlook (File > Open > Outlook Data File). If it will you can then just drag and drop folders into your new mailbox?

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by MovedGoalPosts

Not sure if the original problem has been solved or not. If not, can you not simply open the file in Outlook (File > Open > Outlook Data File). If it will you can then just drag and drop folders into your new mailbox?

No you can't, same error as reported in original post.

[MovedGoalPosts]

Are there any odd read write permissions in the properties of the .pst file, I assume you didn't create it with any passwording.

Outlook 2003 should be able to open any file that it creates. I cant see that Windows XP service packs should alter how Outlook operates, especially file access. It worryingly might be that your .pst file is corrupt in some way.

You may find some information if you do a google on the Outlook Newsgroup: http://communities2.microsoft.com/co...&lang=en&cr=US

[Nemesis]

Found this ...

http://www.outlookforum.com/t53433-s