How to migrate from Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2003

jaytechman · 02-16-2005, 07:10 PM

I recently researched how to migrate from Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2003, and got it all figured out and all done. For the benefit of others, here's the proven plan.

The following worked like a charm for moving the contents of an Outlook 2000 installation over from one computer (in my case a W98 machine) to Outlook 2003 (on an XP machine). The reason it's necessary to do it this way is to get all contents of the older-format .pst file into the newer-format .pst file used by Outlook 2003.

The first step was to rename the old .pst file, move it over to the XP machine in the same folder as the XP machine's .pst file, open Outlook 2003 on the XP machine and do File - Open - Outlook Data File keeping track of which new Personal Folders folder that opened, then, in Outlook 2003, manually move or copy each folder (in the case of custom created folders) or each folder's contents (in the case of the main default folders) from the old version's Personal Folders folder to the main Personal Folders folder that already existed in Outlook 2003. Then, I right-clicked on the old version's Personal Folders folder and Deleted it. Then I deleted the old version’s .pst file.

The Accounts and Rules were done separately.

For the accounts, I had to first go to the W98 computer's Outlook 2000 and do Tools - Accounts - Mail and then Export each account to file one by one. Then, on the new XP machine, open Outlook Express and Import them, and then open Outlook 2003 and Import them from Outlook Express. This resulted in a minor adjustment needing to be made manually in each account after I was done: I have some accounts set for "My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication" and in Outlook 2000 I had had them all set to "Log on using" with the appropriate User Name and Password for each one, but after Import they all reverted to "Use same settings as my incoming mail server." I had to reset them to "Log on using" and re-enter the passwords (it remembered the account names).

The Rules were done by going into Outlook 2000 on the W98 machine, going into the Rules, choosing Options and Export. Then I went to Outlook 2003, Rules, Options, and Import. This also resulted in a minor adjustment needing to be made: all rules that said to move the message to a "specified folder" had lost the name of the folder (even though it did exist in both versions of Outlook) and instead reverted back to the prompt that says "specified folder." So, I had to redirect each of those to the appropriate folder.

That took care of the Outlook migration entirely.

securase · 06-25-2008, 06:27 AM

For upgrading Outlook 2000 PST to Outlook 2003 PST file, you can use a tool from http://www.pstupgrade.com and quickly convert Ansi PST file to Unicode PST file. For upgrading moving each and every folder to new PST file is not a viable solution if you need to migrate 100's of PST files.

02-16-2005, 07:10 PM	#1 (permalink)
jaytechman Registered User Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 62 OS: XP Pro	How to migrate from Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2003 I recently researched how to migrate from Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2003, and got it all figured out and all done. For the benefit of others, here's the proven plan. The following worked like a charm for moving the contents of an Outlook 2000 installation over from one computer (in my case a W98 machine) to Outlook 2003 (on an XP machine). The reason it's necessary to do it this way is to get all contents of the older-format .pst file into the newer-format .pst file used by Outlook 2003. The first step was to rename the old .pst file, move it over to the XP machine in the same folder as the XP machine's .pst file, open Outlook 2003 on the XP machine and do File - Open - Outlook Data File keeping track of which new Personal Folders folder that opened, then, in Outlook 2003, manually move or copy each folder (in the case of custom created folders) or each folder's contents (in the case of the main default folders) from the old version's Personal Folders folder to the main Personal Folders folder that already existed in Outlook 2003. Then, I right-clicked on the old version's Personal Folders folder and Deleted it. Then I deleted the old version’s .pst file. The Accounts and Rules were done separately. For the accounts, I had to first go to the W98 computer's Outlook 2000 and do Tools - Accounts - Mail and then Export each account to file one by one. Then, on the new XP machine, open Outlook Express and Import them, and then open Outlook 2003 and Import them from Outlook Express. This resulted in a minor adjustment needing to be made manually in each account after I was done: I have some accounts set for "My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication" and in Outlook 2000 I had had them all set to "Log on using" with the appropriate User Name and Password for each one, but after Import they all reverted to "Use same settings as my incoming mail server." I had to reset them to "Log on using" and re-enter the passwords (it remembered the account names). The Rules were done by going into Outlook 2000 on the W98 machine, going into the Rules, choosing Options and Export. Then I went to Outlook 2003, Rules, Options, and Import. This also resulted in a minor adjustment needing to be made: all rules that said to move the message to a "specified folder" had lost the name of the folder (even though it did exist in both versions of Outlook) and instead reverted back to the prompt that says "specified folder." So, I had to redirect each of those to the appropriate folder. That took care of the Outlook migration entirely. Last edited by jaytechman; 02-16-2005 at 07:11 PM.

06-25-2008, 06:27 AM	#2 (permalink)
securase Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 6 OS: xp	Re: How to migrate from Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2003 For upgrading Outlook 2000 PST to Outlook 2003 PST file, you can use a tool from http://www.pstupgrade.com and quickly convert Ansi PST file to Unicode PST file. For upgrading moving each and every folder to new PST file is not a viable solution if you need to migrate 100's of PST files.