| Ever want to
set up a new computer and move your e-mail
in Microsoft Outlook to the other computer
or just back up the files? We here at Flow
Dynamics are continually working with
computers and are happy to share what we
have learned. The conventional method for
moving Microsoft Outlook information from
one machine to the other is to transfer the
files holding the data using a CD or USB
thumb drive. First, you need to find the
data files for Outlook, which are tucked
deep into the computer innards at addresses
such as C:
\Documents and Settings
\Administrator
\Local Settings
\Application Data
\Microsoft
\Outlook
Outlook.pst “PST” is the format used for
Outlook data.
A quick way to find them is to open
Outlook, then click on File in the tool bar
and select “Open” and then Outlook Data File
(Outlook 2000 users can click Start, then
Search t find *.pst files) This opens a box
showing all the PST files on the computer
and thus points to a way of retrieving them.
To get the address of the folder, give the
PST file a right-click and then look for the
item called Location under General in tabbed
menu that appears. Use the mouse to paint
the words next to Location and then type
Control+C to copy the long address into
memory.
Now click on the Windows start button and
select Run. Click the cursor in the box
alongside Run, type Control+V and tap Enter.
This will open the folder holding the PST
files, making it possible to drag them into
an external storage device. On the new
machine, to find the best folder to output
the PST’s in, backtrack the steps used to
find those files and copy that location. Now
just drag the PST files into that folder
from the USB drive or CD where the copy is
situated.
Windows will designate these PST files as
read only files. To make them useable on the
new machine, give each file a right click
and remove the “read only” check mark. A
much easier but a tad less exacting method
is to simply use Windows’ drag and drop
tool. Open Outlook and use the
Maximize/Minimize box in the upper right
corner to make the display small enough that
the desktop is visible. Now open your
contact list and click to highlight the
first contact entry. Now tap Control+ A to
select the rest. You can now use the mouse
to drag copies of all the entries into a
folder on the desktop or better still, onto
a thumb drive connected to your USB port.
You can now open your email and use
Control+A to select all the messages in the
Inbox. These too, can be dragged and dropped
for transfer. Once the contacts and e-mail
messages are on the new computer, you can
backtrack to drag and drop the information
into the new outlook window.
This is just another way that Flow Dynamics
and Automation helps you our customers with
their problems and offers useful information
to make your job easier. |
