Outlook: Accessing Archived PSTs

Zipping your Existing PST Files

 

Microsoft has notified SHSU that no files with an extension of ,pst can be permitted on a campus networked drive.  One option to allow you to still have archives and personal files is to zip the file, and therefore replace the .pst extension with a .zip extension.

 

You can locate the folder on your S drive that has your PST files in it and either right-click on each PST and choose IZArc > Add to “Filename.zip” or Zip up the entire folder of PST files.

 PST Image

Now you can safely store these zipped PST files on your S drive. Make sure that all of the files with an extension of .PST are included in your zipped files. Once all PST files have been zipped you will need to delete the actual PST file(s) from your S drive.

 

Accessing Your Existing PST Files

 

Note: You will be unable to add emails back into the PST file once you have moved them out of the archive.

 

Locate your file or folder of Zipped PSTs on the S drive and move them to your C drive before extracting the PSTs. The campus network can no longer allow PSTs on the S drive so they must be moved to the C drive to be unzipped.

 

Once you have placed the Zip files in a Folder on the C drive, e right-click on them and select Extract All. Make sure the folder that you are extracting to is located on the C drive of your computer. This will unpack your PST files so that you can access your emails in Outlook.

PST Image

 

Connecting the PSTs with Outlook

 

Note: Outlook needs to be closed for this process.

 

In the Start menu select the Control Panel, and then select Mail (you may have to switch to Classic View if you are unable to locate the Mail icon).

 

In the Mail Setup dialog box please select the Data Files button.

This will open the Account Settings window, please select the Add button on the left-hand side of the window and then select the first option: Office Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst)

 

Note: If the archived PST was made with a previous version of Outlook you will need to select the second option to access these older email archives.

 

Browse for the newly unzipped PST file on your C drive and then select the OK button.

 

Your archived emails are now accessible in Microsoft Outlook.

 PST Image


Using the Personal Folder in Outlook

 

In Outlook there will now be a Personal Folder listed at the bottom of your normal list of folders.
PST Image

You can now read your archived emails; copy and paste from them into documents or new emails; and you can click and drag them into your Inbox.

To move your entire Personal Folder back into your Inbox,  right-click on the folder in Outlook and select the Move “Folder Name” option.

PST Image

Then select the Inbox as the destination for the folder and select the OK button.

PST Image

 

To move more than one email at a time from your archive into your Inbox you can hold down the Shift key while selecting the emails to choose all of them in a row.

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 You can also hold down the Control key while selecting individual emails to move to the Inbox.


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After highlighting the emails hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor over your Inbox to move the selected files there.

 

After you have moved the emails that you need to your Inbox, e move your cursor over the Mailbox – “Your Name” at the top of the Mail Items sidebar and right click on it.  Then select the Properties for “Mailbox – Your Name…” and then the Folder Size button.

 

The size of your email account is listed at the top and the quota for SHSU faculty and staff is set by default to 200 MB of storage.  Please take note of your folder size.


Returning the PSTs to a Zip folder on the S Drive

 

Note: Removing this PST archive file from your list of Data Files is necessary so that you do not receive an error message each time you attempt to open Outlook.

 PST Image

When you are finished with your archived emails you will have to return the PSTs to their zipped state and move them back to the S drive.

 

You may right-click on the folder in your C drive that you moved the PSTs to and select the option IZArc > Add to (Filename).zip. Once this is complete you can move the zipped file back into your S drive.

 

Now you must remove the Data File from your list in the Account Settings dialog box from before. Select Control Panel from the Start Menu and then the Mail button. Select the Data Files button

 

 PST Image

In the Account Settings dialog box now open, you can select the Outlook Personal File that you added earlier and select the Remove button.