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: Most helpful
  1. Anonymous
    2025-04-06T02:30:04+00:00

    If you do not want to subscribe to a paid Microsoft 365 plan to get Classic Outlook, then you might want to consider buying a license for Office Home & Business 2024. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/p/office-home-business-2024/cfq7ttc0pbm7 This includes Outlook 2024. The latest version of the full featured, Classic, desktop, stand alone, perpetual license Outlook.

    Was this answer helpful?

    4 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2025-02-09T21:30:27+00:00

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    I can see a great following here with the same issue.

    We now have to run classic for PST files. In my case I also run Thunderbird.

    The new outlook has limitations on rules as well.

    Did microsoft think about end user requirements and build on what is a good platform and improve the new outlook or are they trying to go down the apple IOS system? Is there anyone in microsoft that really wants to work with the end users or is everyone happy being force fed.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Enough of rant... microsoft are not going to help.

    Here is what I did:

    1. created the IMAP account in new outlook.
    2. Copied a whole heap of messages from my PST file into the IMAP folders.
    3. then I struggled with the stupid icons,
    4. struggled with the stupid apple IOS style menu system,
    5. lack of rule support,
    6. ended up using both versions - which is just nonsensical - crazy stuff.
    7. reverted back to outlook classic and run IMAP and PST files separately.
    8. tried Thunderbird - but found that too gimmicky, icons for everything even in the folder names and didnt want to relearn a new system. I will try it again when I have more time. But it seems like a good email system.
    9. As long as classic remains its far superior than the new outlook.

    Was this answer helpful?

    4 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2024-11-10T18:24:06+00:00

    This answer is a non-starter. The main reason people export to PST is because of email storage limitation of 50Gb and 100GB if you use In-Place-Archiving. You can't just put all that historical mail back in outlook!!! The whole point of having a PST file is to hold historical email records for referencing in the future. So being able to mount the file is crucial for I would say every business on the planet not to mention Governments.

    No matter what the reason to keep .PST files, they are very important for us. A temporary solution (temporary = forever? ) is to keep both the Old Desktop Client Outlook and the New web based Outlook working side-by-side, each with its own data. All communication with outside email servers would be handled by the New Outlook, having all possible security features, while the Old Outlook should serve as a database, using your .PST files. You can freely import/export between the Old and New Outlook. Just my 2 cents.

    Was this answer helpful?

    4 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2024-11-01T19:39:33+00:00

    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.

    Was this answer helpful?

    4 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  5. Anonymous
    2024-06-21T05:49:51+00:00

    Hello Amin No,

    Thank you for your reply,

    Please let me check your answer i will get back to you soon

    I sincerely appreciate your patience and cooperation.   SincerelyEben Ezer Tres | Microsoft Community Moderator

    Was this answer helpful?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments