[SpaceCowboy706]

I don't use Microsoft Outlook or any of its offsprings... Im a Thunderbird fan, but alas my Supervisor is having Problems on his home PC and has called me to help.

Here is his scenario:

He bought a new computer and it came with a 60 day trial version of Microsoft Office 2003. He has used up all 60 days and now he has bought Microsoft Office 2002. I need to know how he can transfer all his Office 2003 address books, E-mails, and Contacts over to Office 2002.

I have already googled it, but all i can seem to find is how to do the reverse (2002 upgraded to 2003). I Can't find didly about 2003 downgraded to 2002, for importing and exporting.

I was able to find a site that talked about actually pulling the address book from its saveed location on the HD and saving it elswhere, but to do this I first had to locate the file extension .wba, *wb, <username>.wb, <username profile.wba......and of course i did a C:\ search and couldn't find any of these....

Someone with knowledge of this please post the steps in here how to do it... Your help is greatly appreciated in advance?

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When you use a version of Outlook that is earlier than Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, you may experience the following problem.

If you to try to open or to import a personal folder file (.pst) that contains information that was exported from Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, you may receive the following error message:

The file file_name.pst is not compatible with this version of the Personal Folders information service.
Contact your Administrator.

This problem occurs when the information in the .pst file was exported from Outlook 2003 by using the Import and Export Wizard. Outlook 2003 uses the Unicode format to export information to a .pst file. Earlier versions of Outlook cannot open or import Unicode-formatted .pst files. Earlier versions of Outlook can open only .pst files that are formatted in American National Standards Institute (ANSI) format.


To work around this problem, copy the contents of the Outlook 2003 .pst file to a .pst file that has not been converted to the Outlook 2003 Unicode format.

To copy information from a Unicode-formatted .pst file to an ANSI-formatted .pst file, follow these steps.

Note To follow these steps, you must use a .pst file from an earlier version of Outlook.

1. Start Outlook 2003.

2. On the File menu, click Data File Management, and then click Add.

3. Click Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders File (PST).

4. Click OK.

5. Click OK to accept the default name, and then click OK again.

Outlook 2003 now creates a new .pst file that is based on the earlier .pst file and maintains the ANSI formatting for that .pst file.

6. Click Close.

7. At the bottom of the navigation pane, click Folder List.

In the navigation pane, you now see the new .pst file.

8. Drag the information from your existing Outlook 2003 folders to the new .pst file. You may also use the Import and Export Wizard on the File menu to move the information from your existing Outlook 2003 folders to the new .pst file.

9. In the navigation pane, right-click the new .pst file, and then click Close "file_name".

Note E-mail messages or other items that contain Unicode characters will not be copied to the new .pst file.

[Retired Tech]

When you use a version of Outlook that is earlier than Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, you may experience the following problem.

If you to try to open or to import a personal folder file (.pst) that contains information that was exported from Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, you may receive the following error message:

The file file_name.pst is not compatible with this version of the Personal Folders information service.
Contact your Administrator.

This problem occurs when the information in the .pst file was exported from Outlook 2003 by using the Import and Export Wizard. Outlook 2003 uses the Unicode format to export information to a .pst file. Earlier versions of Outlook cannot open or import Unicode-formatted .pst files. Earlier versions of Outlook can open only .pst files that are formatted in American National Standards Institute (ANSI) format.


To work around this problem, copy the contents of the Outlook 2003 .pst file to a .pst file that has not been converted to the Outlook 2003 Unicode format.

To copy information from a Unicode-formatted .pst file to an ANSI-formatted .pst file, follow these steps.

Note To follow these steps, you must use a .pst file from an earlier version of Outlook.

1. Start Outlook 2003.

2. On the File menu, click Data File Management, and then click Add.

3. Click Outlook 97-2002 Personal Folders File (PST).

4. Click OK.

5. Click OK to accept the default name, and then click OK again.

Outlook 2003 now creates a new .pst file that is based on the earlier .pst file and maintains the ANSI formatting for that .pst file.

6. Click Close.

7. At the bottom of the navigation pane, click Folder List.

In the navigation pane, you now see the new .pst file.

8. Drag the information from your existing Outlook 2003 folders to the new .pst file. You may also use the Import and Export Wizard on the File menu to move the information from your existing Outlook 2003 folders to the new .pst file.

9. In the navigation pane, right-click the new .pst file, and then click Close "file_name".

Note E-mail messages or other items that contain Unicode characters will not be copied to the new .pst file.

[SpaceCowboy706]

Thank you very much Keith.

[Retired Tech]

I take it you managed to sort something out