Move outlook settings to new computer?

[J741]

Here's a situation I run into quite often:

User1 has MS Office installed and uses Outlook for contacts, calendar, and e-mail functions. User1 buys a new computer and installs office. User 1 wants all the contacts, calendar, e-mail, etc. copied from the old computer to the new one.

To do this I usually hook up the old computer, open outlook, export everything to a BACKUP.PST file, copy the file (which can be quite large) to the new computer, open Outlook on the new computer, and import the BACKUP.PST file. This method works sufficiently that the customer is satisfied.

However there is another situation I seem to encounter quite often. When the old computer no longer functions (such as when the ancient motherboard dies or some idiot deletes the C:\Windows directory), but the files on the hard drive can be accessed by hooking the hard drive up as a second drive on the new computer, how can I copy the user's calendar, contacts, e-mail, etc. from the old hard drive to the new one? I can't start Outlook and perform an export function, so how can I import everything?

This has been bothering me for some time now, and I'd love to find a reliable, permanent solution.

 

[dawnd3]

You can just do a search for the "Outlook.pst" file and copy that file to the new location.

Dawn

http://www.calliopeconsulting.net

 

[kippy13]

Hi,
This all depends on how the mail was set up-there wont be much in the outlook.ost file if offline folders are not enabled.
Sometimes outlook is configured to leave the mail on the server(as well as contacts etc)
Are you using an exchange environment?

"Sometimes I do not know but I try hard"- R.F. Haughty 1923

 

[J741]

Sometimes this sutuation occurs with a machine in an Exchange Server environment, but then all folders and messages are stored on the server and are immediately accessible when the user logs in to the Exchange service via Outlook. So in this environment there's really no problem unless it's the server that's the problem.

It's when it's a standalone machine, or a networked machine in an environment without Exchange Server when this situation can occur.

As for locating the outlook.pst file on the old hard drive, I seem to remember having limited success with that. If I remember correctly, I think multiple files of that name often exist with different content, and the content may not always contain everything. But then I can't remember exactly, so I will try that first when next this issue presents itself.

- Thank you.

 

[animosis]

I do this all the time here at my company.

Try using a program called "Total Commander". You can have two windows with two separate locations opened at one time, even accross different drives.

So if the old Outlook.pst file is on the 2nd hard drive (Vol. G, for example), and the location you want to put it is on C, you can just open both of those windows, and copy the .pst file right over.

It doesn't much easier than that.