The most reliable way to create a .pst file containing data from your Contacts folder is to use the File | New | Outlook Data File method to create a new .pst file, then copy the entire folder into that file.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"GFL4" wrote in message ...
On the desktop, when I open the pst file that I created from the portable by
using the exporting command, the 4000 addresses appear but the category field
is blank. Someone mentioned to me that if I can create the pst file without
using the import/export function, that should do the trick. How do I do
this? Or is there another way to import the address cards with their
category classification to another computer.

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

I'm just going by this description that you posted:

I've created a pst file from my 4000 contact data base on my portable which
has been organized into 100 categories. I want to transfer this file into my
new desktop. Already installed on my desktop is the same 4000 contact data
base but without the categories, imported from my Palm.

Maybe I got mixed up about which items came from the Palm and which didn't. I'm sorry if that's the case.

OK I got that figured out. When I opened this pst file that I created from
the portable, the categories are not there.

No data is there? Or the items there don't contain any category information?
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"GFL4" wrote in message ...
I don't think we are communicating. Why would a pst file that I created from
outlook on my portable by exporting to a pst file, burning to a CD and then
importing to my desktop be a palm problem by opening without contacts? The
fix to the palm problem you speak of (need special software for $70 to sync
categories into palm) would indeed fix the outlook problem I am having but it
has nothing to do with this problem. Assume I have an empy contacts folder
on my desktop. How can I get the portable contacts with categories into my
desktop? That has been the question from the getgo.
"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

OK I got that figured out. When I opened this pst file that I created from
the portable, the categories are not there. So how do I export from the
portable with the categories attached to the message.

That would be an issue for your Palm sync software, wouldn't it? I know nothing about that.

Instead of exporting
to a pst file should I just somehow create a pst file of the contacts, not
through the export function and then copy to a CD and then try to open on the
desktop?

Don't you already have that in the form of the contacts you already have on the new desktop?

"GFL4" wrote in message ...
These are the same records, one with categories and one without. If there is
a way to erase the contact folder on the desktop that holds the records
without the categories, I would be happy to just import the pst file from the
laptop with the categories. So I need a way to import the records with the
categories, which I don't understand how to do.

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

There's no simple one-click solution to what you want to do. You have 4000 contacts with no categories and 4000 with categories and you want to merge them together. Outlook has no feature to do that. Your choices are to write your own VBA code to perform that operation or import all the contacts, duplicates and all, and then use one of the duplicate checkers listed at http://www.slipstick.com/addins/contacts.htm to merge them.

"GFL4" wrote in message ...
I've read Article ID 303937. The problem is not importing the master
category list as I have retyped the category names on the new computer. It
is the classification of the 4000 names into those categories that doesn't
map from the pst file. The article referenced seems to imply that I would
have to paste the masterlist registry value for each of the 4000 records.
And then there is the 255 character limitation. I have 50 categories.

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

The master category list is in the Windows registry on your old computer. See http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/olcat.htm

"GFL4" wrote in message ...
I've created a pst file from my 4000 contact data base on my portable which
has been organized into 100 categories. I want to transfer this file into my
new desktop. Already installed on my desktop is the same 4000 contact data
base but without the categories, imported from my Palm. When I import the
pst file, and allow the file to overwrite any duplicates, the categories
still do not appear. How do I get the pst file to install on the desktop
with the names organized by categories?