Vista - Outlook 2007 Recovery

Unfortunately, I am having to rebuild my computer. On the old system, I was running Vista Home Premium. Now, I am using Vista Ultimate. As everything came crashing down on my old system, I was unable to make backups of everything. However, there is a bright side...the new system is up and running, and I can access what used to be my old 'C' drive. Here's the situation that I need help with: I was (and will be) using Office Outlook 2007 as my email client. I am trying to figure out how to recover the emails that I had on the old system. As I did not get to make a backup before the crash, is there a file that I should try to locate on the old drive (and if so, where would it be located)? I have been able to recover my address book without problems. Any advice (instructions would be welcome). Thanks in advance.

First, makes sure you have "Show hidden files and folders" enabled in the "Folder Options" options under "View" tab. Control Panel, Folder Options. Once that's done, then...

Under your old "C" drive look under "Users", your name, "App Data", "Local", "Microsoft", "Outlook". The file you're looking for is .pst and will be in the "Outlook" folder. Once you've found the file follow these instructions to import it into your new Outlook account...

1. Open Outlook
2. Click the "File" menu, then select "Import and Export"
3. In the "Import and Export Wizard", select the "Import from another program or file" option and click "Next" (Image 5)
4. Select the "Personal Folder File (.pst)" option and click "Next" (Image 6)
5. Browse for the file you backed up earlier, then click "Next" (Image 7)
6. Select "Personal Folder", and make sure "Include Subfolder" is checked.
7. Click "Finish" (Image 8)

Thanks for the help. I was able to find all of the files and follow the directions perfectly. Only problem is, it seems that I must have been previously using Microsoft Mail instead of Outlook. I found the old folder for Microsoft Mail in the same general location. Should I import from here? If so, which file?

I would move those files to Microsoft's Mail folder. Since I don't use Microsoft mail, I can't tell you how to do this. However you could just try doing a copy and past. Make sure you backup the new files (files to be over written) first.

I figured it out. Your help sent me in the right direction. Here's what I did for anyone's future reference. I found the old Microsoft Mail folder on my old 'C' drive (under "Users", your name, "App Data", "Local", "Microsoft", "Microsoft Mail"). I located the file inside called "Local Folders" which I then copied/replaced into the same directory on my new 'C' drive. From there, it was simple to go into Outlook and use the import feature (using the option where it says to import from Microsoft Mail). Worked like a charm. Already making a backup in case of future meltdowns. Thanks again for your help.

With regards to Outlook, make sure you "Import" the .pst file as opposed to outright copying it to the new account. I've found that anything other than importing causes issues.

Glad to hear you got both accounts working.