outlook issue with using old pst file!

realBabelfish · 15 Nov 2013 at 13:09

HI guys

fixing a laptop for a friend and i have their old PST file i need to use after a reinstall.

problem being outlook seems to be getting its knickers in a twist.

whats the best way to do this?

i copied the pst file across to outlook folder but then outlook creates a new long named pst file (with name and email address).

new emails are downloaded to this new email address folder but i want them to use the old one. yet i cannt set the one i was as default. any ideas?

realBabelfish · 15 Nov 2013 at 13:10

outlook 2007 btw and his email is a btinternet.com one.

Jacko197 · 15 Nov 2013 at 13:13

Best thing to do is open the old pst as a data file in Outlook and then move the emails across to the new file

realBabelfish · 15 Nov 2013 at 13:22

yeah, think i will do that. cant believe its such a pain in the arse. sure it was easier than this on 2003. but i suppose we use exchange so its much easier as it just builds a new one with old emails in.

realBabelfish · 15 Nov 2013 at 14:07

man, this is ridiculous.

deleted outlook.pst and then it kept asking for the file. even though i had deleted the account to setup again.

so i had to click on the long winded .pst file and now there is 2 in the all mail items view and i cant remove the 2nd one!

uninstalling doesnt remove any settings at all....

grr.

realBabelfish · 15 Nov 2013 at 15:50

oh my word. 2 hours later and still importing pst file yet the actual PST file its importing to hasnt changed size in hours. what the hell is it doing? grrr

realBabelfish · 15 Nov 2013 at 16:10

all done finally. that F for that!

nightmare99 · 16 Nov 2013 at 07:52

deleted outlook.pst and then it kept asking for the file. even though i had deleted the account to setup again.

You probably needed to remove the datafile as well as removing the account FYI

edscdk · 16 Nov 2013 at 08:21

use the import facility in outlook

you are probably using imap in the new setup hence the different pst file name

realBabelfish · 18 Nov 2013 at 10:42

nightmare99 said:
You probably needed to remove the datafile as well as removing the account FYI

i deleted the whole folder! i guess there is some account info elsewhere!

edscdk said:
use the import facility in outlook

you are probably using imap in the new setup hence the different pst file name

imported and took a while. whould have picked up the same settings as it just grabs them from BT. i didnt put server or anything on there.

anyway, all done now!

nightmare99 · 18 Nov 2013 at 20:33

i deleted the whole folder! i guess there is some account info elsewhere!

In Outlook File > Account Settings you have the email tab with the accounts and settings then you have a data files tab as well.