Mac OSX and Microsoft Entourage PST File Issue
Hello Experts,
I am fairly new to the Mac world and lets just say I still have tons to learn.
Here is what I have...It is a Mac Book Pro with OSX and Microsoft Entourage 2008 installed on the machine. The mailbox is attached to an Exchange 2003 Server.
Here is my problem...I am trying to figure out a way to attach a PST file to this users "Mail Profile" in Entourage, but am having little success. After much digging I have discovered that you cannot simply open a .pst file like you can in Outlook on a Windows Machine. I also just discovered this morning that MS has a pst importer tool out there for Entourage, but apparently that is not supported on the new Mac or OSX. Now I am back to square one of how do I get this pst file imported into Entourage. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Justin
I am fairly new to the Mac world and lets just say I still have tons to learn.
Here is what I have...It is a Mac Book Pro with OSX and Microsoft Entourage 2008 installed on the machine. The mailbox is attached to an Exchange 2003 Server.
Here is my problem...I am trying to figure out a way to attach a PST file to this users "Mail Profile" in Entourage, but am having little success. After much digging I have discovered that you cannot simply open a .pst file like you can in Outlook on a Windows Machine. I also just discovered this morning that MS has a pst importer tool out there for Entourage, but apparently that is not supported on the new Mac or OSX. Now I am back to square one of how do I get this pst file imported into Entourage. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Justin
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3) you're getting confused with windows .. Outlook on OSX does not link to PST files .. it imports them into its own archive .. which is a completely different format on OSX. Entourage and Outlook on OSX do not save mail or data in a PST file they use a different file/folder format that combines a database and storing mails in a folder structure.
ASKER
Ok, let me make sure I follow you. Basically you have to import the data into Entourage or Outlook 2011, and it will then create a different file that is in a format that they can recognize? It does not however put the e-mail in your mailbox?? In other words once this process has been completed I should be able to go and find the new file, and then could take that file and back it up somewhere if need be. Then lets say later down the road I have to reinstall Entourage or Outlook 2011 (I had to wipe out my MAC) I could re-import that file back into the application (Since it is now already in a format that they recognize) right??
Thank you for being patient with me.
Justin
Thank you for being patient with me.
Justin
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ASKER
Ok...I finally had some time to play around with PSTConverterPro, and it looks like that will do the trick.
You said ...(it will create data files and folders inside your Entourage profile). For some reason I am having trouble locating where this is actually saved on the computer though. In order for me to backup the file. Do you happen to know off hand where Entourage stores these files??
That is good to know also. Thank you for that additional tip!
Justin
You said ...(it will create data files and folders inside your Entourage profile). For some reason I am having trouble locating where this is actually saved on the computer though. In order for me to backup the file. Do you happen to know off hand where Entourage stores these files??
That is good to know also. Thank you for that additional tip!
Justin
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ASKER
Ok...I found the following MS User Data/Office 2008 Identities/Main Identity/
I have Database, Mailing List, Rules, Signatures, and Summary.plist at that location. However, I do not see the "Test.rge file that I imported into Entourage (which it put under "On My Computer") by default inside of Entourage.
Are you saying that the "Test.rge" file is now safely under "Database", and as long as I update that then I should be good?
Justin
I have Database, Mailing List, Rules, Signatures, and Summary.plist at that location. However, I do not see the "Test.rge file that I imported into Entourage (which it put under "On My Computer") by default inside of Entourage.
Are you saying that the "Test.rge" file is now safely under "Database", and as long as I update that then I should be good?
Justin
Everything should be in the database. Look at the file size before and after importing data to see the difference.
ASKER
Oh ok...I didn't even think to look at that. I will delete the folder back out of Entourage, and then check the database size. Then re-do the import and see what happens. It will be later today before I will have a chance to look at that, but will let you know what I find. Hope you have a great day!
Justin
Justin
ASKER
Good Morning,
Here is what I was able to find over the weekend. The first thing I did was check the database size at the location we talked about previously, and for argument sake we will say it was 400MB. I then opened up Entourage and deleted the folder that I had imported, and made sure it was also deleted from the "Deleted Items". Then I closed out of Entourage, and rechecked the database size only to find that it was still 400MB. This told me that it didn't appear that the folder is actually stored in the database, and must be somewhere else. So, the hunt began again for where this folder was located. After much digging and turning up nothing I finally said let's try the import again and see what happens. I re-imported the converted .pst file back into Entourage, and then closed the program. This time however, when I went back to check the database size it had increased by the amount that the .pst file was. Weird...
It looks like the folder is in fact stored in the database file, but for whatever reason it just did not import correctly the first time, or something else happened. I will just make sure that each time I have to import a file to check and see what the database file size it and then make sure it increased the correct amount after each import.
I appreciate all of your help and hard work with this! I will close this question later today. Hope you have a great week!!
Justin
Here is what I was able to find over the weekend. The first thing I did was check the database size at the location we talked about previously, and for argument sake we will say it was 400MB. I then opened up Entourage and deleted the folder that I had imported, and made sure it was also deleted from the "Deleted Items". Then I closed out of Entourage, and rechecked the database size only to find that it was still 400MB. This told me that it didn't appear that the folder is actually stored in the database, and must be somewhere else. So, the hunt began again for where this folder was located. After much digging and turning up nothing I finally said let's try the import again and see what happens. I re-imported the converted .pst file back into Entourage, and then closed the program. This time however, when I went back to check the database size it had increased by the amount that the .pst file was. Weird...
It looks like the folder is in fact stored in the database file, but for whatever reason it just did not import correctly the first time, or something else happened. I will just make sure that each time I have to import a file to check and see what the database file size it and then make sure it increased the correct amount after each import.
I appreciate all of your help and hard work with this! I will close this question later today. Hope you have a great week!!
Justin
Deleting stuff from Entourage does not necessarily guarantee that the database will reduce in size as it might be keeping backup or legacy data .. importing will definitely increase size however!!
ASKER
Good Point...I will make sure I keep that in mind as I continue to work on this project.
Thanks,
Justin
Thanks,
Justin
ASKER
Thank you for your quick response! Also, I will answer your questions in the order you posted them.
1) Ok...Did not realize there was absolutely no way to do that. Good To know.
2) The PST Files were generated in Outlook 2007.
3) I am trying not to have to buy office 2011, but if that is my only option then I may pursue that one. I have read some that it is possible to import PST files with 2011, but can't get a good grasp on what that means. It sounds like from what I read that it just basically attaches them to a different section under your Mail Profile, but doesn't actually attach them to your mailbox. Thus all the data remains in the PST file on your local computer and not in your mailbox. Am I understanding that correctly, or am I still getting that confused with Windows?
4) Will have a look at that as soon as I can get some time.
Justin