How to get back an Outlook 2003 Profile?

August 2, 2005 12:49 PM

I just changed universities and my new IT Department's instructions to enable me to access my new e-mail address (via Outlook 2003) caused me to delete old my old e-mail. Their instructions, which I blindly followed, instructed me to delete the "outlook" profile in Control Panel --> Mail. I did so, and installed their Microsoft Exchange e-mail. I assumed it would just add to my other POP e-mail accounds that were already configured and working in Outlook. I assumed wrong. So now I have none of my old e-mail, or my old contacts anymore. Is there anyway to get this invaluable stuff back?

Their instructions were to go to Control Panel --> Mail and delete any other profiles that were there before setting up their MS Exchange e-mail service. Now my entire Outlook is different (looking) and I have none of my old e-mail. Help please.

posted by ruwan to computers & internet (3 comments total)

Depending on how you had Outlook set up originally, there is likely to be a file ending in .pst that contains all of your old email. Take a look at c:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\ and see what is in there. This is the default location on our XP anyway.

Deleting the profile should not affect the stored email.
posted by spynotebook at 1:30 PM on August 2, 2005

It sounds as though you have been changed from using Outlook as a POP client to using Outlook as an Exchange client.

If your old e-mail, address book, etc. were saved in a .pst file, you should be able to import them. Search for files with .pst and .pab extensions in the location mentioned above.

If you had never explicitly saved them out to these file formats, you might be out of luck.
posted by briank at 1:39 PM on August 2, 2005

You could try Restoration. I have not personally used it but it has lots of good reviews and it is free.
posted by nimsey lou at 3:39 PM on August 2, 2005