Accessing Outlook .pst files in New Outlook

Yes, there is but problem is, it no longer accepts my password and MS just tell me to move to the new one! Really annoying!

This is my second reply to this post and hopefully what I write will be seen as giving back something to the community. As I stated in my last post I have lots of PSTs, in fact I now know that I have 29 years of them. One for each year and one for each account that I used over those years. Some of the early PSTs have multiple years but needless to say when my Classic Outlook Client stopped working one day this month (I think October 3rd) because the mail service provider stopped allowing simple username / password to connect to the IMAP server I had no option but to use the New Outlook (Already installed on my computer) to access any new email. If I wanted to see 29 years worth of PSTs I had to use the Classic Outlook but never the two shall meet (New email and older email stored in PSTs) when using the New Outlook Client. I'm trying to keep my stories short so I'll spare you all the research I've been doing since October 3 and give you the most delightful solution that I can live with until the New Outlook Client supports PSTs or some form of them supposedly in March 2025.

I accidentally fell into this solution but it's working for me using the old Outlook Classic Client (OLC) (Microsoft® Outlook® for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2409 Build 16.0.18025.20030) 64-bit) on my computer (Microsoft Windows Home 11). We (my wife and I) share our computer. I have my account she has hers. I was doing some testing with trying to use the New Outlook Client to access my email so I created a new user (NewUser) on our computer and I also burned one of our family licenses to have a *** Email address is removed for privacy *** and gave this to my new user on the computer. I launched the Classic Client under the NewUser name and connected it to both my IMAP service provider and outlook.com (Two email accounts) 1) Account was *** Email address is removed for privacy *** the other was 2) *** Email address is removed for privacy *** at the old IMAP provider. Wala during this setup of the profile I said I wanted to set up the account manually. I got prompted for OAuth2 stuff from the IMAP Provider and unlike my other account on the same computer using the Outlook Classic Client I was able to get new email and see (and even create) new PSTs. So true to form as stated in some of the MSFT articles you can continue to use the Classic Client but you can't continue to use it if it has old registry stuff hanging around in your current user account because that old account on my computer will not let me connect with the IMAP service provider even if I try creating a new profile under that original account. I'm at the state now where I'm going to migrate all the data from my original account on the same computer over to the new account (unless I can figure out a way to wipe out what the OLC under the original user account knows about Outlook and recreate the profile and get the correct prompts during setup).

I hope this makes sense.

1. Create a new user on your computer
2. Launch the Outlook Classic Client
3. Set up the Profile Manually and you will get prompted for OAuth2 stuff during setup (In my case my provider is Google)
4. Wait for the Outlook Classic Client to Sync (which can take a while)
5. Move your PSTs over so the new user has access to them and create as many PSTs as you like
6. Stay on the Outlook Classic Client for as long as it take for MSFT to get it right

As I understand it MSFT has outsourced the development of Outlook and they are trying to unify the code base so it works like the Web Client. I understand from sources that even internal MSFT staff don't like Outlook New because it lacks many new features.

Who knows maybe this AI thing is going to make us forget about PSTs and emails.

Cheers

Steve Atkins (Retired geek that still likes to dabble)

Update - I figured out how to fix my original profile by resetting it under my original account. Got prompted for the 2FA at Google and let my mail sync all day. Back in Business. 10-22-2024

Good day,

You say "One option is to migrate the contents of your existing .pst files back into your Outlook mailbox or folders" What are the other options?

Does Microsoft believe it is more efficient to store these archived emails on the Microsoft servers than to store them in a file that is only access when needed? Will bringing these files back into an outlook folder not balloon my storage requirements and increase my costs? Or is this more about Microsoft having the ability to scan my emails for targeted advertising opportunities?

I really do not understand removing support for PST files. I have my email in PST files going back to 2001. and I often need to load an old PST to find records.

agundrum, enjoy it while you can. They will take it away from you.

I have been using Classic Outlook, desktop kept suggesting I use New Outlook, but I tested it and again the issue of PSTs and having data available locally and when I am offline are deal killers.

New Outlook is a product I would not pay for, as I am for Classic Outlook (with Office Suite).

Did the folks at Microsoft not hear of New Coke?

For now, I hope the MSFT program manager for Outlook gets this feedback during their twice per year review cycle and can produce working PST functionality in the next release of New Outlook, and I will try to live with its other drawbacks.

Microsoft also used to have a Customer Experience team that focused on taking feedback like this. Something like Voice of the Customer. If that group still exists, it would be great to get feedback to them, maybe they are listening here.

Just in case, I am looking at testing out Thunderbird as an alternative in the meantime and a 3rd party PST converter/importer or using one of a couple of methods to get this data migrated locally.

Be prepared for similar functionality to Outlook, there are a number of add-ons you may have to consider, but it looks like they are working to update the code, clean up old code from Mozilla roots and keep it updated.

That is really strange because I have all 3 mail apps installed, Outlook 2016 (part of Office 2016 Pro suite), Mail app (default Windows 10 mail) and Outlook (new) app. I can use any app I want. Clicking each app launches that exact app. It does not take me to Outlook (new) app at all. Never.

I don't understand why people are complaining about being forced to use Outlook (new). It may have something to do with the environment. I sign in to Windows Active Directory domain in the LAN and my account has no Admin privilege.