Outlook problem (need to recover mail)

[KatNelson7717]

I made the stupid mistake of changing the properties of a user profile. As a result, the user lost all of their email files in Outlook (and their desktop settings, which I have fixed). I know that the email files are still there stored under the previous user configuration (under Documents and Settings\{username}\LocalSettings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook). I have tried to physically move them into the current user's configuration but it has not worked. My next step was to create a generic user profile, set up Outlook on it, and try to import the .pst file into it. At the very least, if it works, the user can get to their old emails, under another login. Is there another way to recover the .pst files in the new user configuration? (Yes, I did try to import them and it did not work). It is an older machine, with Windows 2000, and Outlook 2000 or 2002.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[office politics]

what happened when you copied the new location? i would think this would have worked. you will miss rules, autocomplete, account settings, and anything in tools | options. separate files for rules and autocomplete.

heck, the import should have worked too.

 

[KatNelson7717]

Copying the location just didn't work. A couple of us in IT tried it and failed. I can't remember the result off-hand, but we couldn't move or copy the files into the new outlook account. I tried again today to import several times, and it looks like the import processes, but the result shows 0 files imported at the end, and nothing moves. This is especially frustrating because I can see the old mail messages still in doc&settings, but I can't GET to them! Grrrrrr

 

[office politics]

try this.

rename the current pst. open outlook. it will error saying can't find pst. then it will prompt you to open / create. select the old pst

 

[KatNelson7717]

I think the problem with importing was that I was trying to import Outlook Express (.dbx) into Outlook (.pst). I was able to find a shareware solution on the net that allowed me to view the old files. Thanks op for your help!