Restore Outlook 2007

[QwikSilver]

I did a clean install of W7 Ultimate 64 from Vista 64 without realizing that it would wipe out MS Office 2007 and I would loose all of my old emails.

I had to reinstall MS Office 2007. Is there anyway to restore all of my old emails?

I also lost all of my pictures but I was able to find and restore them.

 

[mikedl]

Hi, QwikSilver! Welcome to the Seven Forums!

Where were you able to find your pictures to restore them?

The only way you'll be able to restore your old emails would be if you were to have saved a copy of your PST file, usually located in your user name folder under "\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook".

If you were using IMAP, however, or had your POP3 accounts set to never delete emails on the server, you should be able to retrieve your old emails from your email server. Still, more than likely, you will not be able to retrieve all of them in this manner. For that, you'll still need your PST file.

 

[QwikSilver]

Pictures Restore

It put my pictures in the Windows.old/users/name/pictures. I just copied and pasted the folder

I was afraid that I have lost all of my emails. Oh well

 

[Orbital Shark]

Try looking in c:\windows.old\users\[you]\My Documents\Outlook Files and see if there is an 'Outlook' file there. I have in mine so hopefully you do. If so, you can open Outlook and choose to open the file or just double click it.


OS

 

[Orbital Shark]

Also, try doing a search for .pst when in the Windows.old folder and see if it yields any results.

 

[QwikSilver]

Thanks but I don't see any Outlook or .pst files

 

[mikedl]

It put my pictures in the Windows.old/users/name/pictures. I just copied and pasted the folder

I was afraid that I have lost all of my emails. Oh well

Orbital Shark is correct, QwikSilver. More than likely, your old PST file is still in your Windows.old folder. Have a look.

Great advice, Orbital Shark!

 

[Orbital Shark]

Thanks but I don't see any Outlook or .pst files

Ok the files locations in Vista are slightly different and I should have known

Follow these steps to see if they help...

1. Open Explorer and click Organize then Folder and Search options
2. Under the 'View' tab make sure that Show hidden files, folders, or drives is checked. If not, check it then click OK
3. Go to c:\windows.old\users\[you]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook and c:\windows.old\Users\[you]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

You hopefully may find your previous outlook files in those folders.


OS

 

[mikedl]

Thanks but I don't see any Outlook or .pst files

Oops. I didn't see your post before I posted my encouraging message a minute ago.

From your Windows.old Folder, in Explorer, type "Namest" in the search box (without the quotes).

EDIT: Do this after setting the "Show hidden folder" options as indicated by Orbital Shark.

The email PST file will be in the AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook folder. There may be one, also, in the Roaming part but it won't be your emails.

 

[QwikSilver]

Thanks but I can't find AppData

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
Too late now but there is a great tool available from MS for backing up PST / Outlook emails --works with Office 2010 too

pfbackup.exe download from MS site. It DOES work also for 2010 -- access via the ADDINS menu after installing if you are on Office 2010.

Download details: Outlook 2007/2003/2002 Add-in: Personal Folders Backup

I know this doesn't help you now but for the future its worth using. You can backup to say a USB --in the OFFICE ==>OUTLOOK=>file open --just open the backup folder and then you can access all the old emails and move them to folders of your choice.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[QwikSilver]

Okay, found the Show Hidden Files button and now found AppData/Local/Microsoft/ - GameExplorer is the only file in the Microsoft folder???

 

[Orbital Shark]

Okay, found the Show Hidden Files button and now found AppData/Local/Microsoft/ - GameExplorer is the only file in the Microsoft folder???

Hmm, i've known of cases where a Windows install will not move ALL files to the Windows.old folder.

Try replacing c:\windows.old with ordinary c:\ and see if it appears in you're current user profile. It's unlikely but it's worth a shot.

 

[QwikSilver]

Thanks to you people I'm making progress''''

Okay here's what I've found -

HP/C/Users/MyName/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Outlook

Now, how do I get this folder/Files/Emails back into Outlook?

 

[Orbital Shark]

You may need to check the dates of the files as you will see your currently installed Outlook files too. You should be able to double click some of them to open in Outlook.

 

[QwikSilver]

Here are the files in the Outlook folder. I get a message that I can't open any of them

backup 12/01/2010
extend.dat 12/01/2101
Outlook 12/01/2010
Outlooksharing.xml.obi 12/01/2010
Outlooksharing.xml.kfi 12/01/2010

Thank you for trying

 

[mikedl]

QwikSilver, have you tried as Orbital Shark suggested: Open Explorer and, from the root of your C: Drive type "NAMEst" (without quotes) in the search box. See if you get any results with a PST file extension. It will be of the file type "Outlook Data File".

 

[QwikSilver]

Mikedl, Yes with no results

 

[mikedl]

I'm sorry, QwikSilver. Unless you have a backup of the PST file you'll have to rely on what emails have been saved on the email servers. If you can setup your email accounts as IMAP, you might find quite a few are available. As to your POP3 accounts, once you re-set those up in Outlook, anything that hasn't been deleted from the server will re-download.

Jimbo's reference to the pfbackup.exe is a great solution and works in Win7 x64 and Outlook 2007 and 2010 32 bit but not with Outlook 2010 64 bit. If you encounter any issues with installing and using that add-in, please let us know. I did a lot of troubleshooting on it before discovering it won't work with the 64 bit version of Outlook 2010.

 

[Orbital Shark]

I agree.

As much we would like to it looks almost definite that your previous .PST file is gone

Hmmm, you may want to try a free Undelete app to see if it finds anything.

Glary Undelete