I backed up my contacts (and everything else in My Documents) because tech
supportn wants to do a system restore. Anyway, when I click on the .pst file
I get the Windows can't open file- needs to know what file created it spiel.
Bottom line is my Contacts are not retrievable.

Open Outlook. Now whilst in Outlook try File | Open | Outlook data file and
browse to the .pst file.



I hope this helps you at least a little bit!

Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Outlook trainer and author of Productiv_IT with Outlook
www.acorntraining.com.au
Canberra, Australia

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we
can find information on it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson
"Mango" wrote in message
...
I backed up my contacts (and everything else in My Documents) because tech
supportn wants to do a system restore. Anyway, when I click on the .pst
file
I get the Windows can't open file- needs to know what file created it
spiel.
Bottom line is my Contacts are not retrievable.

Hi Judy. I'm not sure what that means. I'm not very computer savvy. I did
what you said, and there was an Outlook file there, but what does that mean?
What I did before was try to save my Contacts to a folder on my hard drive
for backup. I followed the instructions given for doing this exactly, and
sure enough there was a .pst file created where I specified it to go. The
problem is that when I try to open the file, it says Windows cannot open file
because it needs to know what program created it. I don't know if this is an
Outlook problem or a Windows XP issue. At any rate, I can't do a system
restore until I get it resolved because I don't want to enter all those
contacts by hand. Besides this is a pretty simple thing to be able to do,
isn't it? I'm running a Windows XP Media Center computer with Office 2003.
One other thing, when I got the error message, there was an option to click
on a tab to see a drop down list of the possible programs I could specify to
open with the file. Outlook was not there. Which is weird because Word &
Excel were, and they all came bundled together in Office. I have a feeling
I'm just not doing something right here.
-Mango

"Judy Gleeson (MVP Outlook)" wrote:

Open Outlook. Now whilst in Outlook try File | Open | Outlook data file and
browse to the .pst file.



I hope this helps you at least a little bit!

Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Outlook trainer and author of Productiv_IT with Outlook
www.acorntraining.com.au
Canberra, Australia

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we
can find information on it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson
"Mango" wrote in message
...
I backed up my contacts (and everything else in My Documents) because tech
supportn wants to do a system restore. Anyway, when I click on the .pst
file
I get the Windows can't open file- needs to know what file created it
spiel.
Bottom line is my Contacts are not retrievable.

follow my instructions. Do not use Windows to try to open it.

Open Outlook. Click the exact buttons I have described and Outlook will
open the file.


Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Outlook trainer and author of Productiv_IT with Outlook
www.acorntraining.com.au
Canberra, Australia

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we
can find information on it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson
"Mango" wrote in message
...
Hi Judy. I'm not sure what that means. I'm not very computer savvy. I did
what you said, and there was an Outlook file there, but what does that
mean?
What I did before was try to save my Contacts to a folder on my hard drive
for backup. I followed the instructions given for doing this exactly, and
sure enough there was a .pst file created where I specified it to go. The
problem is that when I try to open the file, it says Windows cannot open
file
because it needs to know what program created it. I don't know if this is
an
Outlook problem or a Windows XP issue. At any rate, I can't do a system
restore until I get it resolved because I don't want to enter all those
contacts by hand. Besides this is a pretty simple thing to be able to do,
isn't it? I'm running a Windows XP Media Center computer with Office 2003.
One other thing, when I got the error message, there was an option to
click
on a tab to see a drop down list of the possible programs I could specify
to
open with the file. Outlook was not there. Which is weird because Word &
Excel were, and they all came bundled together in Office. I have a feeling
I'm just not doing something right here.
-Mango

"Judy Gleeson (MVP Outlook)" wrote:

Open Outlook. Now whilst in Outlook try File | Open | Outlook data file
and
browse to the .pst file.



I hope this helps you at least a little bit!

Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Outlook trainer and author of Productiv_IT with Outlook
www.acorntraining.com.au
Canberra, Australia

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where
we
can find information on it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson
"Mango" wrote in message
...
I backed up my contacts (and everything else in My Documents) because
tech
supportn wants to do a system restore. Anyway, when I click on the .pst
file
I get the Windows can't open file- needs to know what file created it
spiel.
Bottom line is my Contacts are not retrievable.

Thanks for trying to help me. I did do exactly what you said to do, and there
was no .pst file there, just an icon with the label "Outlook". Forgive me,
but don't I need to save a .pst file to my hard drive for the purposes of
backing up? Isn't that what backing up is all about? Having a copy of your
contacts outside of Outlook? I follwed the instructions for doing this on the
Microsoft Online help site. I saved the file to My Documents folder, and it's
in there along with all the other stuff like my Excel client profiles and
invoices, etc. My goal is to put all this data and pictures in My Documents
and then burn it all on a CDR for reloading after a system restore. I'm
assuming that a system restore would erase Office off my computer and that I
will have to reload it, but maybe I'm wrong. I'm just trying to make sure I
saved it correctly and that it will reload before I erase anything. So here's
this Office data file sitting there in My Documents, and when I try to open
it, just to make sure it's all there, I get the error message described above.
"Judy Gleeson (MVP Outlook)" wrote:

follow my instructions. Do not use Windows to try to open it.

Open Outlook. Click the exact buttons I have described and Outlook will
open the file.


Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Outlook trainer and author of Productiv_IT with Outlook
www.acorntraining.com.au
Canberra, Australia

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we
can find information on it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson
"Mango" wrote in message
...
Hi Judy. I'm not sure what that means. I'm not very computer savvy. I did
what you said, and there was an Outlook file there, but what does that
mean?
What I did before was try to save my Contacts to a folder on my hard drive
for backup. I followed the instructions given for doing this exactly, and
sure enough there was a .pst file created where I specified it to go. The
problem is that when I try to open the file, it says Windows cannot open
file
because it needs to know what program created it. I don't know if this is
an
Outlook problem or a Windows XP issue. At any rate, I can't do a system
restore until I get it resolved because I don't want to enter all those
contacts by hand. Besides this is a pretty simple thing to be able to do,
isn't it? I'm running a Windows XP Media Center computer with Office 2003.
One other thing, when I got the error message, there was an option to
click
on a tab to see a drop down list of the possible programs I could specify
to
open with the file. Outlook was not there. Which is weird because Word &
Excel were, and they all came bundled together in Office. I have a feeling
I'm just not doing something right here.
-Mango

"Judy Gleeson (MVP Outlook)" wrote:

Open Outlook. Now whilst in Outlook try File | Open | Outlook data file
and
browse to the .pst file.



I hope this helps you at least a little bit!

Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Outlook trainer and author of Productiv_IT with Outlook
www.acorntraining.com.au
Canberra, Australia

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where
we
can find information on it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson
"Mango" wrote in message
...
I backed up my contacts (and everything else in My Documents) because
tech
supportn wants to do a system restore. Anyway, when I click on the .pst
file
I get the Windows can't open file- needs to know what file created it
spiel.
Bottom line is my Contacts are not retrievable.

Now the rest of the story comes out! Initially you only said you couldn't
open the .pst and that that meant you couldn't get to your Contacts.

Anyway, when you do get the PC rebuilt and need to open the PST file that
you have saved, follow my instructions. Open it from within Outlook.
Regardless of wether you put it on a CD, memory stick or a drive. It cannot
be opened from Windows.


Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Outlook trainer and author of Productiv_IT with Outlook
www.acorntraining.com.au
Canberra, Australia

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we
can find information on it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson
"Mango" wrote in message
...
Thanks for trying to help me. I did do exactly what you said to do, and
there
was no .pst file there, just an icon with the label "Outlook". Forgive me,
but don't I need to save a .pst file to my hard drive for the purposes of
backing up? Isn't that what backing up is all about? Having a copy of your
contacts outside of Outlook? I follwed the instructions for doing this on
the
Microsoft Online help site. I saved the file to My Documents folder, and
it's
in there along with all the other stuff like my Excel client profiles and
invoices, etc. My goal is to put all this data and pictures in My
Documents
and then burn it all on a CDR for reloading after a system restore. I'm
assuming that a system restore would erase Office off my computer and
that I
will have to reload it, but maybe I'm wrong. I'm just trying to make sure
I
saved it correctly and that it will reload before I erase anything. So
here's
this Office data file sitting there in My Documents, and when I try to
open
it, just to make sure it's all there, I get the error message described
above.
"Judy Gleeson (MVP Outlook)" wrote:

follow my instructions. Do not use Windows to try to open it.

Open Outlook. Click the exact buttons I have described and Outlook will
open the file.


Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Outlook trainer and author of Productiv_IT with Outlook
www.acorntraining.com.au
Canberra, Australia

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where
we
can find information on it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson
"Mango" wrote in message
...
Hi Judy. I'm not sure what that means. I'm not very computer savvy. I
did
what you said, and there was an Outlook file there, but what does that
mean?
What I did before was try to save my Contacts to a folder on my hard
drive
for backup. I followed the instructions given for doing this exactly,
and
sure enough there was a .pst file created where I specified it to go.
The
problem is that when I try to open the file, it says Windows cannot
open
file
because it needs to know what program created it. I don't know if this
is
an
Outlook problem or a Windows XP issue. At any rate, I can't do a system
restore until I get it resolved because I don't want to enter all those
contacts by hand. Besides this is a pretty simple thing to be able to
do,
isn't it? I'm running a Windows XP Media Center computer with Office
2003.
One other thing, when I got the error message, there was an option to
click
on a tab to see a drop down list of the possible programs I could
specify
to
open with the file. Outlook was not there. Which is weird because Word
&
Excel were, and they all came bundled together in Office. I have a
feeling
I'm just not doing something right here.
-Mango

"Judy Gleeson (MVP Outlook)" wrote:

Open Outlook. Now whilst in Outlook try File | Open | Outlook data
file
and
browse to the .pst file.



I hope this helps you at least a little bit!

Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Outlook trainer and author of Productiv_IT with Outlook
www.acorntraining.com.au
Canberra, Australia

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know
where
we
can find information on it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson
"Mango" wrote in message
...
I backed up my contacts (and everything else in My Documents) because
tech
supportn wants to do a system restore. Anyway, when I click on the
.pst
file
I get the Windows can't open file- needs to know what file created
it
spiel.
Bottom line is my Contacts are not retrievable.

Yes, my mistake. I see now, the file is on the hard drive but you can only
open it from Outlook. I get it now. One interesting thing I learned while
messing around creating and opening files is that once you open it into
Outlook, and then delete it, it's gone. Even though the icon is still there
in My Documents, it appears it doesn't leave a copy behind. Thank you for all
your help and patience.

"Judy Gleeson (MVP Outlook)" wrote:

Now the rest of the story comes out! Initially you only said you couldn't
open the .pst and that that meant you couldn't get to your Contacts.

Anyway, when you do get the PC rebuilt and need to open the PST file that
you have saved, follow my instructions. Open it from within Outlook.
Regardless of wether you put it on a CD, memory stick or a drive. It cannot
be opened from Windows.


Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Outlook trainer and author of Productiv_IT with Outlook
www.acorntraining.com.au
Canberra, Australia

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we
can find information on it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson
"Mango" wrote in message
...
Thanks for trying to help me. I did do exactly what you said to do, and
there
was no .pst file there, just an icon with the label "Outlook". Forgive me,
but don't I need to save a .pst file to my hard drive for the purposes of
backing up? Isn't that what backing up is all about? Having a copy of your
contacts outside of Outlook? I follwed the instructions for doing this on
the
Microsoft Online help site. I saved the file to My Documents folder, and
it's
in there along with all the other stuff like my Excel client profiles and
invoices, etc. My goal is to put all this data and pictures in My
Documents
and then burn it all on a CDR for reloading after a system restore. I'm
assuming that a system restore would erase Office off my computer and
that I
will have to reload it, but maybe I'm wrong. I'm just trying to make sure
I
saved it correctly and that it will reload before I erase anything. So
here's
this Office data file sitting there in My Documents, and when I try to
open
it, just to make sure it's all there, I get the error message described
above.
"Judy Gleeson (MVP Outlook)" wrote:

follow my instructions. Do not use Windows to try to open it.

Open Outlook. Click the exact buttons I have described and Outlook will
open the file.


Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Outlook trainer and author of Productiv_IT with Outlook
www.acorntraining.com.au
Canberra, Australia

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where
we
can find information on it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson
"Mango" wrote in message
...
Hi Judy. I'm not sure what that means. I'm not very computer savvy. I
did
what you said, and there was an Outlook file there, but what does that
mean?
What I did before was try to save my Contacts to a folder on my hard
drive
for backup. I followed the instructions given for doing this exactly,
and
sure enough there was a .pst file created where I specified it to go.
The
problem is that when I try to open the file, it says Windows cannot
open
file
because it needs to know what program created it. I don't know if this
is
an
Outlook problem or a Windows XP issue. At any rate, I can't do a system
restore until I get it resolved because I don't want to enter all those
contacts by hand. Besides this is a pretty simple thing to be able to
do,
isn't it? I'm running a Windows XP Media Center computer with Office
2003.
One other thing, when I got the error message, there was an option to
click
on a tab to see a drop down list of the possible programs I could
specify
to
open with the file. Outlook was not there. Which is weird because Word
&
Excel were, and they all came bundled together in Office. I have a
feeling
I'm just not doing something right here.
-Mango

"Judy Gleeson (MVP Outlook)" wrote:

Open Outlook. Now whilst in Outlook try File | Open | Outlook data
file
and
browse to the .pst file.



I hope this helps you at least a little bit!

Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Outlook trainer and author of Productiv_IT with Outlook
www.acorntraining.com.au
Canberra, Australia

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know
where
we
can find information on it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson
"Mango" wrote in message
...
I backed up my contacts (and everything else in My Documents) because
tech
supportn wants to do a system restore. Anyway, when I click on the
.pst
file
I get the Windows can't open file- needs to know what file created
it
spiel.
Bottom line is my Contacts are not retrievable.

that's OK.
good luck with all the quirks in Outlook.

Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Outlook trainer and author of Productiv_IT with Outlook
www.acorntraining.com.au
Canberra, Australia

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we
can find information on it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson
"Mango" wrote in message
...
Yes, my mistake. I see now, the file is on the hard drive but you can only
open it from Outlook. I get it now. One interesting thing I learned while
messing around creating and opening files is that once you open it into
Outlook, and then delete it, it's gone. Even though the icon is still
there
in My Documents, it appears it doesn't leave a copy behind. Thank you for
all
your help and patience.

"Judy Gleeson (MVP Outlook)" wrote:

Now the rest of the story comes out! Initially you only said you
couldn't
open the .pst and that that meant you couldn't get to your Contacts.

Anyway, when you do get the PC rebuilt and need to open the PST file that
you have saved, follow my instructions. Open it from within Outlook.
Regardless of wether you put it on a CD, memory stick or a drive. It
cannot
be opened from Windows.


Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Outlook trainer and author of Productiv_IT with Outlook
www.acorntraining.com.au
Canberra, Australia

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where
we
can find information on it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson
"Mango" wrote in message
...
Thanks for trying to help me. I did do exactly what you said to do, and
there
was no .pst file there, just an icon with the label "Outlook". Forgive
me,
but don't I need to save a .pst file to my hard drive for the purposes
of
backing up? Isn't that what backing up is all about? Having a copy of
your
contacts outside of Outlook? I follwed the instructions for doing this
on
the
Microsoft Online help site. I saved the file to My Documents folder,
and
it's
in there along with all the other stuff like my Excel client profiles
and
invoices, etc. My goal is to put all this data and pictures in My
Documents
and then burn it all on a CDR for reloading after a system restore. I'm
assuming that a system restore would erase Office off my computer and
that I
will have to reload it, but maybe I'm wrong. I'm just trying to make
sure
I
saved it correctly and that it will reload before I erase anything. So
here's
this Office data file sitting there in My Documents, and when I try to
open
it, just to make sure it's all there, I get the error message described
above.
"Judy Gleeson (MVP Outlook)" wrote:

follow my instructions. Do not use Windows to try to open it.

Open Outlook. Click the exact buttons I have described and Outlook
will
open the file.


Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Outlook trainer and author of Productiv_IT with Outlook
www.acorntraining.com.au
Canberra, Australia

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know
where
we
can find information on it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson
"Mango" wrote in message
...
Hi Judy. I'm not sure what that means. I'm not very computer savvy.
I
did
what you said, and there was an Outlook file there, but what does
that
mean?
What I did before was try to save my Contacts to a folder on my hard
drive
for backup. I followed the instructions given for doing this
exactly,
and
sure enough there was a .pst file created where I specified it to
go.
The
problem is that when I try to open the file, it says Windows cannot
open
file
because it needs to know what program created it. I don't know if
this
is
an
Outlook problem or a Windows XP issue. At any rate, I can't do a
system
restore until I get it resolved because I don't want to enter all
those
contacts by hand. Besides this is a pretty simple thing to be able
to
do,
isn't it? I'm running a Windows XP Media Center computer with Office
2003.
One other thing, when I got the error message, there was an option
to
click
on a tab to see a drop down list of the possible programs I could
specify
to
open with the file. Outlook was not there. Which is weird because
Word
&
Excel were, and they all came bundled together in Office. I have a
feeling
I'm just not doing something right here.
-Mango

"Judy Gleeson (MVP Outlook)" wrote:

Open Outlook. Now whilst in Outlook try File | Open | Outlook data
file
and
browse to the .pst file.



I hope this helps you at least a little bit!

Judy Gleeson
MVP Outlook
Outlook trainer and author of Productiv_IT with Outlook
www.acorntraining.com.au
Canberra, Australia

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know
where
we
can find information on it.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson
"Mango" wrote in message
...
I backed up my contacts (and everything else in My Documents)
because
tech
supportn wants to do a system restore. Anyway, when I click on
the
.pst
file
I get the Windows can't open file- needs to know what file
created
it
spiel.
Bottom line is my Contacts are not retrievable.