Solved Getting Outlook 2000 to function on Windows 7

[DrJoanie]

Just installed OL 2000 on my new Windows 7 laptop and can't (1) send or receive messages (2) get OL Contacts to interact with OL e-mails.

I had this same problem a few years ago installing OL 2000 on a Windows Vista machine. I eventually solved it by switching from Internet Only mode to Corporate Workgroup mode. I have tried that this time but so far without success.

I had no problem using OL 2000 on Windows XP SP3. One of the things I tried with the Windows 7 machine was to run OL 2000 in XP compatibility mode, but it doesn't seem to have worked.

I need many OL special features so can't switch programs.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Joan

 

[richnrockville]

Welcome DrJoanie to the windows 7 forum.

FWIW: the only old version of outlook that I have gotten to work on windows 7 is outlook 2003.

I would recommend that you purchase outlook 2010 and then import your email, contacts and such from your outlook 2000 .pst file. There are a few programs that you can purchase that will extract all the data from your old outlook files and put them in the outlook 2007 or 2010.

Best I can do at the moment.

Rich

 

[DrJoanie]

Thanks, Rich. I may try OL 2003 if I can't get 2000 to work, but I'm happy with the simplicity of 2000, and I don't like what I've read about something called a "Ribbon" in OL 2010.

I had a great struggle back in 2007 or 08 to get 2000 to work with Vista. I got lots of help--which I certainly needed!--and it finally worked. I'm hoping I'll have the same luck this time.

Joan

 

[richnrockville]

Thanks, Rich. I may try OL 2003 if I can't get 2000 to work, but I'm happy with the simplicity of 2000, and I don't like what I've read about something called a "Ribbon" in OL 2010.

I had a great struggle back in 2007 or 08 to get 2000 to work with Vista. I got lots of help--which I certainly needed!--and it finally worked. I'm hoping I'll have the same luck this time.

Joan

DrJoanie, The Ribbon is a new feature started in 2007. It takes a while to get used to it but once you get over the learning curve, it is relatively simple.

Re the ribbon, Word and Excel 2007 and 2010 have an option available on the net for creating a task bar similar to the word/excel file edit and such task bar. I have found lots of old word/excel users love it.

Better to byte the bullet and move forward with outlook 2010. I personally like it and I am a Eudora email person.

Rich

 

[DrJoanie]

Thanks again, Rich. I may try a 60-day trial of 2010 to see if I can stand it. But I keep reading on the various forums that people have succeeded at getting OL 2000 to function fine in XP compatibility mode. I don't understand why it's not working for me... :-(

Joan

 

[HiTechCoach]

Joan,

If you still have OL2000 installed, make sure that you also install all the Office 2000 update to SP3. This is a manual; process. It is not part of Microsoft/Windows Update. Are you sure you have all the updates installed?

I have found that OL2000 has many issues including security issue. It is also no longer support. So there are no longer any security updates.

Outlook 2003 really is a much better that 2000.

FWIW: I never really liked using Outlook unless it was connected to an Exchange Server. Well that has all changed with OL2010. IMHO, OL2010 is by far the best Outlook yet. I used Eudora for years because it handled multiple email accounts. Outlook 2010 handles multiple Email account really well now.

About the Ribbon:
Office 2007 introduced the Ribbon. It did had some issues. The Ribbon was greatly improved in 2010. I started project where I worked in Office 2007 a lot. I really did not like the 2007 Ribbon. Now when I have to work in Office 2003 I really do miss the Ribbon. Office 2010's improvements to the Ribbon have really made me a lot more productive. I used to think I was faster and more efficient in 2003. Now I find that the older/outdated 2003 style menus really were slowing me down. I would have never that that was possible. :shock:

I would urge you to make the leap to Outlook 2010. In the end I believe you will be really glad you did.

 

[DrJoanie]

Thanks so much, HiTechCoach, for all this good information. I have downloaded and installed the Office 2010 Home and Business trial program, and I will probably start trying Outlook tomorrow. You make me feel a bit more hopeful.

The most important reason I use Outlook is for its compatibility with Word, which allows me to assign foreign-language key combinations to my keyboard and use them in both programs. We'll see how well my 2000 Normal.dot converts to the new system and how much trouble I have getting used to this ribbon thing...

Thanks again,
Joan

 

[HiTechCoach]

Joan,

Microsoft has some resources to help with the transition to Office 2010,

See:
Office 2010 Migration Guides

Microsoft's Office 2010 online training (free online training)

If you would like to have your emails and Word documents read to you then check out:

Office 2010: Using the Speak text-to-speech feature

 

[DrJoanie]

Finally got Outlook 2000 to work on Windows 7!

I tried Outlook 2010 for two weeks, and here are the most annoying problems that I could not solve:

• As I've written in previous posts (see "Transfer old Windows Classic display theme to Windows 7 machine?" and "Outlook 2010 view combines Win Classic (wanted) & Win7 (not wanted)"), I was never able to achieve on Outlook 2010 the Classic Windows look and colors I'm used to and feel comfortable with. When you spend as much time working in Outlook and Word as I do, you really need to feel comfortable with the way your screen looks day in and day out.
• Because my new laptop is of the now popular--indeed inescapable--"widescreen" variety, there is less horizontal space on my screen than I had on my old laptop, with the result that my long list of Outlook folders was only partially visible in OL 2010. It became necessary to scroll around to find folders that I need to put things in or take things out of constantly. That is simply not efficient!

So here's what I did to get Outlook 2000 to work:

• Transfer all the OL 2000-related AppData files from Local and Roaming on your old computer into the same folders on the Windows 7 unit.
• Install OL 2000 from disk and choose Workgroup mode.
• Navigate to the OL 2000 application (outlook.exe) file on your hard drive.
• Right-click on the file name and run the program in compatibility mode for Vista.

You may have to copy and transfer WAB.dll files into the Windows/System32 folder. Instructions for how to do that, along with more detailed step-by-step information re running Outlook 2000 on Vista, can be found at Scott's Blog, Outlook 2000 on Vista « Scott's Blog.

I know that most of the users of this forum are happy with Outlook 2010, and that's great. But I wanted to provide this information for anyone else out there who might be as particular as I am about Outlook's appearance and functionality.