How to restore MS Office Outlook 2007 folders back in Outlook

1   Relocate the Outlook.pst file

1.1  Close Outlook

1.2  Minimise all your open windows so you have a blank desktop to work with.

1.3  Open Windows explorer.  Open Windows explorer again so you have two windows open.  Right-click on the TaskBar and select Show windows side by side.

1.4  In one window, go to C:\Users\Earle\My Documents [by the way, you will sometimes see this appearing as C:\Users\Earle\My Documents and sometimes as C:\Users\Earle\Documents but they are both the same thing - one is just an alias of the other].  Double-click on C:\Users\Earle\My Documents to open it up then right-click, select New then Folder.  Call the new folder PIM and double click on it to open it.  You can confirm where you are by looking at the address bar at the top of Windows explorer & you will see that you are now in C:\Users\Earle\My Documents\PIM.

1.5  In the other window, go to C:\Users\Earle\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook and you will see Outlook.pst, Archive.pst and several other files [including other pst files but you have to ignore them for now].

1.6  Select Outlook.pst and Archive.pst only then drag them across to C:\Users\Earle\My Documents\PIM and let go of the mouse. 

1.7  Just as a precaution, in C:\Users\Earle\My Documents\PIM, select both Outlook.pst and Archive.pst then right-click, select Send to then Compressed [zipped] folder.  Doing this will ensure that you can start again if anything goes horribly wrong later.  The reason for making zipped files rather than straightforward copies is that you already have 55 copies of pst files dotted around your drive and you don’t want any more of them confusing the procedure.

1.8  Open Outlook and wait for it to complain that it cannot find its pst file[s].  In the dialog that opens, browse to C:\Users\Earle\My Documents\PIM, select Outlook.pst and click on Open.  Outlook will now open the same file as it was using before and will go on doing so every time it opens from now on.

1.9  There’s a bit of tidying up to do that is associated with the Archive.pst file and this might confuse you as you might not have been aware of what it was before.  You are welcome to ask me any questions about this or any other aspect of Outlook after you have completed the sorting out that you want to do but for now I think it best to deal with the procedure rather than how to make use of the AutoArchive facility. 

1.9.1  Click on the Outlook Tools menu then Options then the Other tab.  [If the menu bar showing Tools is not visible then press Alt-t to get it visible temporarily.]  Click on the AutoArchive button.  About halfway down this dialog there is the folder path & name of your archive file next to the entry Move old items to.  In this address box [where it has the old location still] enter C:\Users\Earle\My Documents\PIM\Archive.pst instead and then click on OK, OK to get you back to the main window.

1.9.2  There are references to the archive location in your other Outlook folders as well so they need to be checked.  In the Folders List view, right-click on Calendar and select Properties then the AutoArchive tab.  You might see most of this dialog greyed out if you have Do not archive items in this folder set.  Temporarily select Archive this folder using these settings then put the new archive location in the address box C:\Users\Earle\My Documents\PIM\Archive.pst then put back to your previous setting of Do not archive items in this folder if applicable.  Then click the OK button.

1.9.3  Repeat 1.9.2 for each of the Outlook folders after Calendar except Contacts & Search folders [they have no AutoArchive tab].  Note that you do not have to select the Outlook folder concerned, just right-click on it [this only makes a difference with Journal as selecting that will start it doing its job and you’ll have to wait while it does so].  Your Outlook folders will include Calendar, Deleted items, Drafts, Inbox, Journal, Junk email, Notes, Outbox, RSS feeds, Sent items & Tasks.  You might also have created additional Outlook folders so do them as well [you’ll see in my earlier screenshot, for example, that I have also created Outlook folders called Calendar archive, OddsNSods, Routine].

1.9.5  That’s it.  You have relocated your Outlook files to within your documents folders so they can get included in routine backups and you have worked through updating the AutoArchive locations to match the new location.  You can stop & swear or have a cup of tea now if you want.

0  Introduction

Before starting, I need to point out one thing.  All the “folders” you see when looking around inside Outlook [such as Outlook folders, Inbox, Calendar] are just objects within the Outlook.pst file.  It’s a handy way for Outlook to display them.  They are not the same as folders you see within Windows explorer such as C:\Users\Earle\Documents.  I think there has been some confusion between the two before in this question so, just to be on the safe side, I’ll refer to “Outlook folders” [if I’m referring to one of the folders within Outlook] or “folders” [if I mean something in Windows explorer]. 

I can see from  your screenshot that you have created the user name Earle and I can tell from one of your answers that Earle is the user name you are actually working in.  Many of your files are within a user name earleb but I think that will not be a problem as you seem to have full access to that area of the drive anyway [judging from your search results].

I will provide instructions for putting the Outlook.pst file in the folder C:\Users\Earle\My Documents\PIM as I don’t understand the comment you have made as your Decision 1.  I think you were getting confused between “Outlook folders” & “folders” when you wrote that comment.  But there’s no need to worry as, when you finish the instructions, you’ll be able to see everything you expect [such as Outlook folders, Inbox, Calendar] when you open Outlook.  The reason I am suggesting C:\Users\Earle\My Documents\PIM is that having the Outlook.pst file within your normal documents folders means that it will always get backed up by whatever routine backup plan you follow.

I have given detailed instructions because it’s not possible to look over your shoulder while you are doing it.  I have probably gone into more detail than is necessary in some places but I was keen to ensure that I coped with any possible errors along the way.  It will take you longer to read some of my instructions than to do the action concerned.

The stages in this are

1  Relocate the Outlook.pst file to C:\Users\Earle\My Documents\PIM

2  Move 53 of the 55 backed up pst files on your PC to a single folder so you have a single place to work from.

3  Review the 53 backed up pst files to identify duplicates so you don’t waste your time looking at multiple copies of the same file [I noticed some entries that appeared to be duplicates in your earlier screenshot]

4  Review each of the remaining backed up pst files in turn from within Outlook itself so you can move all the useful information into the main Outlook.pst file or into the Archive.pst file if you prefer.  You will not have to do all the files at once; you will be able to do a one at a time then come back to the job whenever you feel like it.

I’ve posted each stage separately in the hope of keeping things as clear as they can be.

Thanks for that screenshot.  I can see enough to know what I need to advise you to do but there are some things I cannot see that I need to resolve.

The steps are each simple and I can explain each of them.  Since you will have many files to check over, I suggest a methodical approach that will allow you to stop when you get fed up then restart later on.

I need some additional information so I can include precise folder paths & file names in my instructions [in the hope of ensuring that there are no procedural errors and that you will then be able to rely on the results]. 

1  Find out which files your current installation of Outlook is using. 

2  Decide where you actually want to keep your Outlook file[s] in the future. 

So

1  Identify current Outlook files 

1.1  Open Outlook.  You need to use the Folder list in the Navigation pane.  If your Outlook looks like the picture below then you are already there and can skip to para 1.2.  If you have something else showing in your Navigation pane [such as the Shortcuts View] then look at the bottom of the Navigation pane, there are some icons.  Hover over each one until you find the one that is the Folder list [a popup label appears as you hover over each one].  Click on that icon.

1.2  At the top of the Folder list, right-click on Outlook folders.  [*It is possible that you have renamed this in which case you need to right-click on the entry at the top of the list that everything else is shown as a subfolder coming off.]*Click on Properties for Outlook folders then click on Advanced.  In the dialog that appears, there is an entry Filename: so select  all the text in that entry & copy it [Ctrl-C] then paste this information somewhere handy such as a text file then post it here so I know what main file is being used.  To get out of the Outlook dialogs you are in, click Cancel then Cancel again.

1.3  Look for any archive files set up by you or by Outlook.  Now you are back in the main Outlook screen, click on the Tools menu then Options then the Other tab.  [*If the menu bar showing Tools is not visible then press Alt-t to get it visible temporarily.]*Click on the AutoArchive button.  About halfway down this dialog there is the folder path & name of your archive file next to the entry Move old items to.  Either write that down or select it then copy it.  Then paste this information somewhere handy such as a text file then post it here so I know what archive file is being used.  To get out of the Outlook dialogs you are in, click Cancel then Cancel again.

1.4  Check for any additional files Outlook is currently using.  At the top of the Folder list look just to the left of Outlook folders and click on the little - sign to collapse this entry.  If there are any more pst files in use they will be clearly seen underneath.  I am not expecting this as I think you would have said that you had done so.  I think you'll just be left with the situation illustrated below and so no further action is necessary.  If there are additional files then repeat para 1.2 for each of them.

2  Now you have to make decisions. 

[Decision 1]  Where do you want to keep your Outlook files?  It is useful to have them somewhere within your documents folders so they get included in routine backups.  Doing so will probably avoid your ever having to go through all this sorting out again.  You might, just for example, want to have them in C:\Users\Earle\My Documents\PIM or similar.  Please just tell me where.

[Decision 2]  If you carry on using Outlook for a long period, you might want to keep some old items in another pst file so you can refer to it in the future without those old items cluttering up the file you use normally.  Outlook makes such a file and calls it Archive.pst.  Outlook can be set to use that file [the Auto-Archive function] and you can also add to that file manually.  If you have other old items that you want to keep but want them completely separate then please say so.  For example, I have a lot of old stuff in Obsolete.pst & OldContract.pst because I don't think I will ever refer to any of it again but I am not certain enough to delete it completely [wasting a few megabytes is better than finding out I need the information again next year].  So, will you want to have any extra archive files in addition to Archive.pst?

When you tell me this information, I can give you the procedures for sorting it all out [without errors].

Hi Try*3,

I have attached a the first page copy of my PST files. Please advise my next steps to copying them back to Outlook.

Too many documents had this grumpy old man anxious and confused. Thanks for your patience, time and understanding.

Regards,

Earleb