Problem Importing Office 2003 PST Into Outlook 2002

Hello ,

THanks for the solution but the problem is here is that I do not have Outlook 2003 but have the pst files and want to open it using outlook 2002 am unable to do it .

If I had 2003 version then I do not need help to view PST files at all

Please suggest alternate

Thanks. Your solution is a lifesaver

Fantastic, I though all was lost, but your solution saved the day!

Brilliant! thanks!

MicroSoft’s gigantic site could not (would not) provide this information. However you did. Thank you ever so much!
Howard

Nice step by step instructions.

- Howard -
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA011190371033.aspx

Still trying to transfer Outlook 2003 info to 2002 Outlook on laptop.
I create new .pst file, but am lost trying to open folder list and draggin 2003 info to new file. Any other steps involved? Once the info is in correct file, I assmue import/export to 2002 is a breeze.
Not sure if any one will ever read, but Thanks.

geez, this seems so easy but i still cant get this to import into my 2002 version from 2003. I keep getting the same error time and time again. Am i missing something? I copy paste all the emails from the 03 pst file into the “compatible pst” file and then export this file. When i try to import in the outlook 02 version the error is still the same. Please help me?

The solution works for the emails, thanks. But if you need to transfer your contacts folder, you remain out of luck since contacts does not appear as a subfolder to PersonalFolders. Any ideas?

Thanks! Worked Great!

HI
My problem is that the copy of 2003 is missin and my pc crashed i only have office xp and the back up of the pts files. does this meen im stuck? or is there a way to convert the files?

ShawnR - Go menu - Folder List displays all folder within the pst in the main Folder List windows

I’m sorry, I’m confused. How can you drag the contents from the existing Outlook 2003 .PST file into the compatible .PST file when it’s not a folder?

Still not clear…
if you have a 2003 pst file
and access only to a computer with outlook 2002 how would you open the 2003 file

Everyone should know that if you resave your file has a 97-2002 that you would then be able to open it in 2002…It’s like any Microsoft products…Tthe problem is getting around using 2003, how can we open a pst file created in 2003 on 2002..!!….
it’s not a solution..!!

This solved my problem … thank you!

The only part of the instructions that confused me was step 8 about dragging the folder. I thought i was doing that in Data Management. Once I went back to Outlook and saw the new Personal Folder at the bottom I right clicked on the folders in the 2003 pst and click Move To Folder and selected the new 97-2002 folder in Outlook. It took awhile to move them all but i was then able to copy that file to the computer running Outlook 2002 and then do an import.

Appreciate the help!

This works (which is AWESOME, THANK YOU!), however the instructions above leave off a few important steps. I guess they assume we’ll figure this out. Here’s what you have to do. First, for step 5, make sure you are saving this new “Compatible” folder or .pst file in the same place your existing 2003 Outlook files are. For instance, save it on C drive or D drive to make sure it will show up in 2003 Outlook list of folders. Then, what I did was name my new “Compatible” folder something easy to identify, I named mine “Sue Compatible folder”, This tells me that this is where the new compatible files will be which I will later open in 2002.
I did not change the default .pst name, I left that as “Personal Folders(1).pst”, what I changed was the folder name to include the word Compatible. Hope that makes sense! If not, just leave all the default names and just find your new folder in 2003 Outlook folder list.

Step 7/8 is not quite clear. After you do step 6, you will see the new folder/file that you just created appear in your list of folders, in the window where you Inbox is. Drag your files from 2003 folder to the new “Compatible” folder you just created. I guess putting the 2003 files into the new Compatible folder will convert them so you can view them in 2002 later.

Step 9 (not included in description above). From your computer which has 2003 Outlook, go to Microsoft Explorer, or My Computer folder to find your new .pst file you just created. If you’re not sure which is, use the View/Details feature to see the date and time stamp. Once you find your new .pst file, the new compatible one, save it/drag it to your flash drive or whatever you’re using to transfer the file. Let’s call it “transfer medium” (flash, CD, etc)

Put your transfer medium into your computer which has the Outlook 2002 version. Transfer the new compatible .pst file onto your desktop. (This is always more stable than transfering anything directly from the medium to the program).

ok now you’re ready to open the 2003 files in 2002! Open Outlook 2002. Go to File/Data File Management, click it open. Then hit Add… from the “New Data Outlook File” window, select “Personal Folders File (.pst)” Hit OK, then find your Outlook 2003 folder or .pst file, however you want to refer to it, find it on your desktop, select it and hit OK. Once you hit ok and close out, it should appear in Outlook 2002 in your list of Inbox folders area, and be viewable and readable!

I hope that works for everyone!! I was pulling my hair out, none of my work IT guys nor computer expert friends could figure this out, and the MOST frustrating was Windows lame help info! email me if you are desperate suejones65@hotmail.com

Oops, one change to my big description above. When you go to save the new compatible file to your computer which has the 2002 version, instead of saving it to your desktop, try to see if you can save the file to the same place where your existing 2002 .pst files are. I did a Search in my computer for “Outlook” to find where these were stored. This way, you dont clutter up your desktop nor risk deleting these files later.

p.s. Microsoft’s “help” and “search” features are THE WORST! I am soo so so grateful for this awesome How-To info! If anyone absolutely can’t figure this out or has other issues, there is another solution, although it’s slow. You could email/forward every single 2003 email to yourself, to another email such as Hotmail, Yahoo, or to your 2002 email account. Forwarding or Sending the email will do the conversion. You don’t want to Forward or Send as an attachment, just forward like you’re sending that email body to someone…. Now that I have converted my 2003 emails to my 2002 Outlook and computer, I’m going to buy the newest version of Outlook and hopefully re-convert, using above help, to Outlook 2007! Good luck everyone!

Excellent i tried and it worked all you have to do is follow the instructions carefully

Great !! it’s working.

Ton of thanks,
CR

Yes - all you have to do is follow a long and complex set of instructions, ignoring the earlier instructions which are incomplete or misleading or both, and wait for any additional or supplementary instructions. Many thnks to Sue Jones for taking the trouble to research and explain it. But why do Microsoft make it so flipping hard in the first place? It might have been predicted that this would be required.

Brilliant - thank you. Had a problem in that it would not remember my password but microsoft took me through that part