Accessing Outlook .pst files in New Outlook

Anonymous
2024-06-04T14:06:01+00:00

I have twenty years of history in various .pst files.  When I first started using Outlook, my single .pst file and all my folders got too large and I was instructed to move some of my folders into new .pst files.  These .pst files contain lots of important emails and historic records attached to emails.  So I filed all the emails into various folders within various .pst files. 

If Outlook will no longer support .pst files, how will I be able to access the .pst files?  I understand that Microsoft will no longer support “Old Outlook”.  So what can I now do to be able to access these various .pst files?  Should i go back to what I was doing originally and move everything from .pst files into folders within my "root" Outlook email? That would put about 4.5G of emails into my New Outlook. How will that work?

Outlook | Windows | New Outlook for Windows | For home

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments

117 answers

Sort by: Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2024-11-15T01:41:06+00:00

    Hi Amin

    I find the many outlook versions confusing but I did try downloading Outlook Classic following the link https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/you-can-t-open-classic-outlook-on-a-new-windows-pc-5c94902b-31a5-4274-abb0-b07f4661edf5 . It would be a simpler solution but it requires buying a license, doesn´t it? Or am I looking in the wrong place?

    By installing the Virtual Machine I ´ve avoided new expenses, since I never felt the need to upgrade from Outlook 2010 that I bought ages ago.

    Outlook "classic" is the one that is part of Office and is the one you have to pay. That link says "A Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription is required to use this app with personal accounts."

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2024-12-04T16:42:22+00:00

    I totally agree with the statement "By installing the Virtual Machine I ´ve avoided new expenses, since I never felt the need to upgrade from Outlook 2010 that I bought ages ago." I've been using Parallels Desktop for Mac 17 with two VM's, one for Windows 11 and one for Windows 10 where I have Office Outlook 2003 installed and I can access various .pst files going back 25 years plus. I have been reading this thread wondering if I can or should look at a solution to read the .pst files in Windows 11 Outlook but I think that my current solution in Windows 10 is working just fine. I don't need a live server connection because I can access 60 GB of .pst files archived on a portable hard disk.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2024-12-06T17:00:46+00:00

    i just bought a new DELL laptop with Windows 11 and new outlook and there is no way that I can find to move my old outlook pst file from my old laptop. some MS admin in this thread claims you can do it by switching to "classic outlook" but when I try that I get a message saying you can't use classic outlook on a new pc. sheesh!

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2024-12-06T19:19:11+00:00

    Location of PST file

    drive:\Users<username>\Documents\Outlook Files

    If your version of Outlook/Office goes back quite a few years [at least 2013 and before], you may not be able to install Outlook/Office.

    Ed

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  5. Hal Hostetler MVP-Outlook 12,011 Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-12-06T20:09:41+00:00

    What version of Classic Outlook do you have? I'm running the latest M365 version, and it runs just fine on Windows 11.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments