Outlook and pst files (pffft!)

[Diggs]

Is it just me or do others struggle with pst file conversions. It used to be easy for a client to get Outlook but 10 years later these clients (after a HDD failure) don't want to pay for a copy of Office that has Outlook on it yet want all their Contacts recovered into (Thunderbird, Gmail, etc.). I don't run Outlook (but still may have to get it just for the business). You'd think there's be a decent piece of software or app that can extract Contact information from a pst into Vcard format but I haven't found it yet. It's all the same crapware (and I've tried most of them) that makes promises they don't keep.

Anybody got something they use for this? (Something tried and proven.)

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Just download a "trial" install of Office, open the PST in that temporary unactivated version of Outlook...export it to a format you want

 

[Diggs]

What year Outlook gives Contact Vcard export capabilities? I know 2010 does not.

I prefer to install a software tool and not have to deal with mess of MS/Office/Outlook especially since it is becoming irrelevant in residential these days.

 

[callthatgirl]

"dont' want to pay" equals more money for me to fix that old stuff. I tell folks this, "2 hours of me fixing the old stuff and continue to pay me to fix it or upgrade and it will be easier down the road" Some do opt for the repairs.

PST are my life, you should check out my training video if you want to learn how to fix Outlook. PM me for details. $10!

 

[callthatgirl]

And I don't know of software that goes conversion like that, I do everything by hand.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

What year Outlook gives Contact Vcard export capabilities? I know 2010 does not.

I prefer to install a software tool and not have to deal with mess of MS/Office/Outlook especially since it is becoming irrelevant in residential these days.

Most email client work with .csv, I'd export contacts as a csv and import into the <whatever> email client from that.

 

[Diggs]

Most email client work with .csv, I'd export contacts as a csv and import into the <whatever> email client from that.

Really? I'm sooo tired of the .csv cluster-f*** of field and name matching that is always a pain, messy and subject to error. Still trying to come up with a Vcard solution so things are quick, clean and accurate.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Really? .

Yah..really. I've used it for like...25 years since like Outlook Express and Outlook 95/97, can't even begin to count how many times. Gets the job done.

Found some 3rd party converter that appears to do multi-batch to vcards...bottom of this link
https://www.msoutlook.info/question/803

 

[Diggs]

I'm butting heads with Outlook again! A customer's ancient desktop died. They are an 0365 user with a POP3 account and a ton of old email and all I'm left with is a 3 GB .ost file. (That's an .ost file, not .pst) How do I get that into a new install of Outlook?

 

[nerd2u]

Can you add it as an additional mailbox to the profile?

Sent from my SM-G870W using Tapatalk

 

[Diggs]

It's an .ost file. It's not portable that I know of. I have an old Key Code I'm trying to get refreshed for a copy of Stellar OST-to-PST converter. As I remember the results weren't too "Stellar".....

I even replaced the existing .ost with the one I want but Outlook faulted and failed to start.

 

[callthatgirl]

if it's an OST file, it's IMAP or Exchange, do those accounts not exist anymore? If so, just create a new profile and add the email account.

 

[callthatgirl]

I use Kernel now, better on the licensing! lol

 

[Diggs]

if it's an OST file, it's IMAP or Exchange, do those accounts not exist anymore? If so, just create a new profile and add the email account.

That's what I thought but nope. It's POP3. The client (a local township) had dozens and dozens of local folders....... sigh.

Thanks @Computer Bloke I may give that a try as my copy of Stellar is no longer valid and I don't think works with 2016 Outlook anyway.

I use Kernel now, better on the licensing! lol

Kernel? Never heard of them. Hmm....

 

[HCHTech]

Kernel? Never heard of them. Hmm....

https://www.kerneldatarecovery.com/products.html

We have and occasionally use their PST recovery software.

btw, POP accounts in Outlook do NOT create OST files - at least, I've never seen one. Maybe at one point in history, there was an IMAP or Exchange account setup, and since abandoned or deleted and the OST was left over?

Edit: Which means....that OST file is probably old and doesn't contain the data you are hoping for anyway. If it has a current date, then that means someone probably created a new POP profile and deleted the old IMAP/Exchange profile before you were called to help. At least in this case, the OST would have current data. So you may yet save the day, Squire. Onward!

 

[Diggs]

Stellar is OK if it's all you've got but I've seen much better results from SysTools OST-to-PST Converter (here), and at US$49 it's cheap enough that you can add it to your client's bill without flinching.

Systool's stuff is a frustrating mess for me. Asking for .dll(s) to be registered which don't come with the install. Won't accept any Outlook profile I can create. 404 pages all over their help section. Tech support that says don't worry about the errors even though they stop me cold. Probably should change the recommendation to "Do not recommend".

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I They are an 0365 user with a POP3 account

So Outlook had both an Exchange profile and a POP profile?
O365 is "hosted exchange"..that would be your OST, can just ignore it and it'll pull down a fresh offline mailbox file. You can delete OST's all day long, they are just copies of what's in the hosted mailbox, it instantly rebuilds within minutes.

POP..there's a PST somewhere for that.

 

[Diggs]

I have searched and done several full drive sweeps and no .pst files can be found.

The clerk downloaded Office 365, brought up Outlook and entered her pop3 info at Frontier and away she went until this crash.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Ahh OK ...so yeah the term "O365" gets mis used a lot. You don't "download O365"...as O365 encompasses a huge suite of different services.

So, she has a basic subscription for a local (home) Office Business version download/install via O365. But it's not a Business Premium which includes hosted Exchange, just the basic software download, and she's tying it to a ISP provided POP.
Frontier does IMAP too...sure she was't on IMAP..as that would explain the OST.

 

[Diggs]

...sure she was't on IMAP..as that would explain the OST.

I'm not really too sure about anything in the past for this machine. Could be someone tried to set things up as IMAP (and failed) or there was IMAP email in the past but I'm stuck with just an .ost file.

Regardless, the conversion of the .ost is proceeding in Systools (after many guesses and contortions). I'll see how well the new .pst file is constructed. Like I've said in the past. It shouldn't be this hard. (What? How hard can it be for MS to have Outlook be able to import it's own .ost file?)