What is the best way to get the data from my PST - presently in the
older Outlook 97-2002 format - into a new PST in the newer Outlook
2003 Unicose format? (I am using Outlook 2003)

I've had Outlook installed as part of MS Office for a few years,
starting with, I believe, OL 97.

Each time I upgraded to a new version, I just ran the installer and
allowed it to use the default. When it sensed, or asked and I
responded, the previous version's data it just "took over" the
existing PST. Always seemed OK to me.

But now that I have had Office/Outlook 2003 installed for over a year,
I get a lot of errors that I did not understand, but I was always able
to keep using everything so I didn't worry much about them. But the
errors are getting more frequent and are beginning to affect me more
and more. Like when I click on To: while composing an email message
to add recipients and some contacts just do not show in there, yet
they are there in my default contacts folder and that is set as the
address book. Also at times, when I am opening, editing, and saving
contacts, after I edit a few Outlook cannot open anymore. I get
memory errors but the memory is actually in good shape.

Now, however, I realize that these errors appear to be, at least in
part, due to using a PST file with an Outlook 97-2002 format.
Scanpst.exe, Inbox Repair Tool, and even reinstalling Office does not
fix the errors. I've read what I can find out about this and it seems
that all of the above-mentioned tools do not touch the user files,
even though they appear to be the problem. That would explain why the
errors persist. However from what I've read, the PST I use cannot be
converted from the OL 97-2002 format to the newer Unicode OL 2003
format. Likewise, all articles claim that importing the existing PST
data into a new Unicode PST is nothing but trouble. Yet apparently
there are ways to somehow get the old PST's data into a new OL 2003
format.

I appreciate any help with this!

--
Jim McGowan