# Outlook .pst file missing



## Mhjeff (Jan 29, 2006)

Hi,

I just reinstalled windows xp home edition, and did all the updates and so on. I did not reformat the HD. Then I reinstalled Office 2003 and opened up Outlook and tried to load the .pst file. But the only .pst file I could find on my computer is an old one from Nov. 2004 that is about 9mb. Where is the most recent .pst file from yesterday before I had to reinstall windows? I turned on view hidden files and folders and did a search and all it could find was that really old Outlook.pst file in the root dir. from Nov. 2004. I think that is an old file that I exported there back at that time. I checked "C:\Documents and Settings\OFFICE\Application Data\Microsoft\Office and Outlook" and there's some .pip files, .acl files, and an .NK2 file. Some of these files are dated yesterday 2/1/2006. But they're all to small (about 2k to 39k) to be .pst in disguise. I thought that .pst files were only created when you chose to export them from Outlook. If anyone knows what I can do I'd appreciate it. I'm ripping my hair out trying to figure this out. All my appointments, contacts and most importantly my emails have to be on the drive somewhere. If Outlook doesn't keep them in a .pst file until somebody exports that information into a .pst file then where does Outlook keep it?

Thanks,
Matt


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## Mhjeff (Jan 29, 2006)

Ah Hahh!!!

I figured it out. Even if you set your folder options to see hidden files & folders, there's a folder you won't see. "Local Settings" is the name of the folder. In Outlook if you right click on personal folders and then choose properties then advanced, it shows you the path to your .pst file. It's always something like "C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\Application Data\Local Settings\Microsoft\Outlook". But if you try to surf there you won't ever see the "Local Settings" directory. What I did was cut and paste the path in the address bar in "My Computer" and changed the "YourUserName" folder name to the old documents and settings directory for my old windows set up, (yes I had to change folder permissions first, due to "access denied" alert) and voila, there was my old Outlook.pst file. All 53mb of it.
Those guys at MS. They probably did this on purpose so you would end up paying them for tech support.

Anyway even though nobody replied to this post before I figured it out I hope that this will help others out there in the same boat.

Matt


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