Solved Outlook migration to new PC


denvilledon

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Winsows 11 Pro
Getting a new laptop and I will like to migrate all Outlook Office 2021 data to the new PC. I was hoping someone could either tell me what to do or send a link with the best way to accomplish the move.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Winsows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP HP Pavilion Laptop 15-eg1xxx
    CPU
    11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1195G7 @ 2.90GHz
    Motherboard
    HP 898C Intel Tiger Lake-UP3 PCH-LP
    Memory
    16.00 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Tiger Lake-UP3 - GT2 Integrated Graphics [Hewlett-Packard
    Sound Card
    Intel Tiger Lake-U/Y PCH-LP - cAVS (Audio, Voice, Speech)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    L2251x Wide
    Hard Drives
    SAMSUNG MZVLQ1T0HBLB-00BH1
    WDC WD20NMVW-11EDZS7
What/How much do you want to migrate - email, tasks, contacts, etc .. or simply all of the above?

What type of email account - IMAP?
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 22H2 (latest update ... forever anal)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Slim S01
    CPU
    Intel i5-9400
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GT730
    Sound Card
    OOBE
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer 32"
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    2 x 1TB SSDs
    PSU
    OOBE
    Case
    OOBE
    Cooling
    OOBE
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    Classic Australian w.a.p.
    Browser
    Brave
    Antivirus
    KIS
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro (latest upadte ... anally always)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion 15
    CPU
    i7-1165G7 @ 2.80GHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
    Hard Drives
    Samsung NVMe 512GB
    + numerous/multiple SSD Type C USB enclosures
    Internet Speed
    NBN FTTN 50
    Browser
    Brave
    Antivirus
    KIS
Would like to move everything... Mail accounts are all POP
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Winsows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP HP Pavilion Laptop 15-eg1xxx
    CPU
    11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1195G7 @ 2.90GHz
    Motherboard
    HP 898C Intel Tiger Lake-UP3 PCH-LP
    Memory
    16.00 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Tiger Lake-UP3 - GT2 Integrated Graphics [Hewlett-Packard
    Sound Card
    Intel Tiger Lake-U/Y PCH-LP - cAVS (Audio, Voice, Speech)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    L2251x Wide
    Hard Drives
    SAMSUNG MZVLQ1T0HBLB-00BH1
    WDC WD20NMVW-11EDZS7
Find your .pst data files and copy them to a flash drive. You can add the data files on the new PC using Control Panel/Mail.

On your new PC, install Outlook and open it but do not add an email address yet. This will set up Mail (Microsoft Outlook) in Control Panel. Open Mail in Control Panel and under data tab, add your .pst files.

Now, go back to Outlook and add an email address and when it asks to point to a data file, choose the data file for that email address.

note: Your Outlook data files might be located in Documents/Outlook Files or in users/your user name/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/Outlook.
You'll have to enable show hidden files if they are located here.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 64Bit
    CPU
    Intel Core i3 10100 @ 3.60GHz Comet Lake 14nm Tech
    Motherboard
    ASRock H410M-HDV (CPUSocket)
    Memory
    32GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    2048MB ATI Radeon RX550/550 Series (ASRock)
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    (2)DELL S2721HS (1920x1080@60Hz)
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080@60Hz
    Hard Drives
    931GB Crucial CT1000MX500SSD1 (SATA (SSD))
    465GB Samsung SSD 870 EVO 500GB (SATA (SSD)) 25 °C
    931GB Inateck ASM1153E SCSI Disk Device (USB (SATA) ) 32 °C
    1863GB JMicron Generic SCSI Disk Device (USB (SATA) )
    PSU
    Gamdias Kratos M1-750B 750W ATX12V v2.2 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Non-Modular Active PFC Power Supply with Built-in RGB Lighting Effects and Addressable LEDs
    Cooling
    Fans
    Keyboard
    ARTECK
    Mouse
    Logitech
    Internet Speed
    252.23 Mbps
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes premium
    Other Info
    Sound Cards
    Playback Devices
    Speakers (2- Xonar SoundCard)
    Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio) (default)
    Speakers (Yeti Stereo Microphone)
    SPDIF Interface (2- Xonar SoundCard)
    Recording Devices
    Microphone (Yeti Stereo Microphone)
    Line (2- Xonar SoundCard)
    Microphone (2- Xonar SoundCard) (default)
    Microphone (Live Streamer CAM313 Microphone)
Do I only have to move the default .pst file? Or all the pst files
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Winsows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP HP Pavilion Laptop 15-eg1xxx
    CPU
    11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1195G7 @ 2.90GHz
    Motherboard
    HP 898C Intel Tiger Lake-UP3 PCH-LP
    Memory
    16.00 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Tiger Lake-UP3 - GT2 Integrated Graphics [Hewlett-Packard
    Sound Card
    Intel Tiger Lake-U/Y PCH-LP - cAVS (Audio, Voice, Speech)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    L2251x Wide
    Hard Drives
    SAMSUNG MZVLQ1T0HBLB-00BH1
    WDC WD20NMVW-11EDZS7
Do I only have to move the default .pst file? Or all the pst files
Depends on what the other .pst files contains ... they may be just the "empty" one created in Outlook when it was first installed, before your account(s) were setup, or they might be archive files containing historical emails. also the possibility that they could be previous emails if there had been a "hiccup" in Outlook and it had to create a new .pst.

you could always just transfer the current one and keep the others as backups - you can always (re) open multiple .pst files from within MS Outlook and view the contents, without importing them into you current email collection.

Note that if your email account was IMAP, these emails would still be on the mail server and you'd never have to worry about backups or transferring them in future changes. Switching to an IMAP account may be worth investigating.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 22H2 (latest update ... forever anal)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Slim S01
    CPU
    Intel i5-9400
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GT730
    Sound Card
    OOBE
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer 32"
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    2 x 1TB SSDs
    PSU
    OOBE
    Case
    OOBE
    Cooling
    OOBE
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    Classic Australian w.a.p.
    Browser
    Brave
    Antivirus
    KIS
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro (latest upadte ... anally always)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion 15
    CPU
    i7-1165G7 @ 2.80GHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
    Hard Drives
    Samsung NVMe 512GB
    + numerous/multiple SSD Type C USB enclosures
    Internet Speed
    NBN FTTN 50
    Browser
    Brave
    Antivirus
    KIS
There are third party software (cost approximately $60) that indicate that they can move:

Files
Settings
Applications
etc.

If you want to do it for free it likely will take more time.

(so it's time versus cost)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4800MQ CPU @ 2.70GHz
    Motherboard
    Product : 190A Version : KBC Version 94.56
    Memory
    16 GB Total: Manufacturer : Samsung MemoryType : DDR3 FormFactor : SODIMM Capacity : 8GB Speed : 1600
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Quadro K3100M; Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
    Sound Card
    IDT High Definition Audio CODEC; PNP Device ID HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_111D&DEV_76E0
    Hard Drives
    Model Hitachi HTS727575A9E364
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
    Other Info
    Mobile Workstation
I also use pop email.

1 Install Outlook 2021 on your new computer and open it once, which will involve setting up your email as pop in it. Then close Outlook.
2 Go to this folder to find the newly created outlook.pst file and either zip it up then delete it or just delete it. This can only be done whilst Outlook is closed.
C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook​
- You can just paste that whole line into the File explorer addressbar to get straight there​
- Apparently, sometimes it is in C:\Users\%UserName%\AppData\Roaming\Local\Microsoft\Outlook but I have not seen that.​
3 Copy your old computer's pst files wherever you want. I keep mine within subfolders of my Documents folder so they get included in my routine backups.
4 Re-open Outlook. It will complain that it cannot find its pst file and then bring up a browsing dialog for you to select your own outlook.pst file. Then it will open it quite happily.
5 You will have to open your other pst files manually using File menu, Open. Once they've been opened once they will be re-opened automatically every time you start Outlook.

6 You will also be able to bring across many of your other Outlook settings - see Locating Outlook data and configuration files - Outlook 2007-2021-365

Best of luck,
Denis
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home x64 Version 23H2 Build 22631.3296
5 You will have to open your other pst files manually using File menu, Open. Once they've been opened once they will be re-opened automatically every time you start Outlook.
But they can be closed by right-click on the header for a particular email account and closing it.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 22H2 (latest update ... forever anal)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Slim S01
    CPU
    Intel i5-9400
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GT730
    Sound Card
    OOBE
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer 32"
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    2 x 1TB SSDs
    PSU
    OOBE
    Case
    OOBE
    Cooling
    OOBE
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    Classic Australian w.a.p.
    Browser
    Brave
    Antivirus
    KIS
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro (latest upadte ... anally always)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Pavillion 15
    CPU
    i7-1165G7 @ 2.80GHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
    Hard Drives
    Samsung NVMe 512GB
    + numerous/multiple SSD Type C USB enclosures
    Internet Speed
    NBN FTTN 50
    Browser
    Brave
    Antivirus
    KIS
5 You will have to open your other pst files manually using File menu, Open. Once they've been opened once they will be re-opened automatically every time you start Outlook.
But they can be closed by right-click on the header for a particular email account and closing it.

They can deliberately be closed using the File menu.
They can deliberately be closed using the Outlook Navigation pane in Folder view.
They can probably be deliberately closed using other methods.
I don't know about using a header though. That sounds to me to be an IMAP/EAC thing but I suppose there might be some particular View in which that applies.

All the best,
Denis
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home x64 Version 23H2 Build 22631.3296
Finished moving to new PC, First thing I did was a backup of old PC
- Checked to see what my default .PST file was
- Exported .PST file
- I then deleted Office from the old PC.
- On new PC went to my Microsoft account and dounloaded and installed Office
- Could not get the license activated. Called Microsoft and they called back in less then 3 minutes I told them what I did and they fixed it took less then 1 minuite ( must have had the right rep)
- Imported the .PST file
- Added all my email accounts
- Made sure all accounts pointed to the same .PST
DONE ALL GOOD
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Winsows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP HP Pavilion Laptop 15-eg1xxx
    CPU
    11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1195G7 @ 2.90GHz
    Motherboard
    HP 898C Intel Tiger Lake-UP3 PCH-LP
    Memory
    16.00 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Tiger Lake-UP3 - GT2 Integrated Graphics [Hewlett-Packard
    Sound Card
    Intel Tiger Lake-U/Y PCH-LP - cAVS (Audio, Voice, Speech)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    L2251x Wide
    Hard Drives
    SAMSUNG MZVLQ1T0HBLB-00BH1
    WDC WD20NMVW-11EDZS7

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