Topic: Outlook melt down; no way to index files

[thegallery]

Hi All, I'm back with a big issue that I can't figure out. (I hope you've all been well!).

I've had the same email address for 14 years and basically used outlook over that time. I have probably 20gigs of various PST archive files, and one main file right now that's about 8 gigs. I'm currently running Outlook 2010 Trial version.

Ever since I moved to Outlook 2010 (initially beta version) I've had trouble indexing files. Mainly the inbox was not indexing correctly and I couldn't search it. The problem seemed to get worse though over time and I had more and more trouble finding things. I tried everything you can imagine from rebuilding the data files to installing again. etc... I even tried Google Desktop with no luck; it could not index my pst files even though I looked at numerous sites to solve the problem.

With Outlook 2010 Trial version now the index is completely broken. Again I've tried everything. It says I currently have 150,000 outlook files indexed but I can't find anything.

I tried to switch to Thunderbird but  it can't import Outlook 2010 either as it does not see it. (I've researched and tried everything imaginable here too).

I’ve had my address so long that even with junk filters and spam assassin on the server I still get over 200 emails a day in my inbox. My inbox is essentially my delete box and Itake the emails I want out of it. It’s completely backward! But now with the lack of index I can’t even find emails I got from 2 days ago.

So now let’s jump ahead to what I want: I want to change my email. Yes, after 14 years, I’m going to change my email address. I want to go web based, (probably gmail), though with my own pop3 email address. Actually I’ll probably get two three addresses; personal, business and public for sites, etc..

But I don’t want to make any move until I know I have my current email files sorted. Ideally I would combine all my pst files into one huge pst file. Goggle storage is quite affordable and if I could transfer all 20+ gigs into a folder on gmail and index it all; great. (I want to retain attachments too!).

But if I have to do this offline that is an option I can deal with too. I’m pretty sure I can still use outlook to combine all the pst files, but even if I had one gigantic one many smaller ones, I need some system where I can index and search the files.

Again, I’ve really tried so many things to no avail. I don’t know where to begin next. I want a simple efficient way of doing all this too. I can’t bear to think of the time I’ve been wasting and the time I will be spending to make it happen. I really need to wipe the slate clean and move on, and that’s a tricky thing to do after all this time…

So who’s got the magical simple answers for me? !!

[Rik]

Take a look at Mailstore Home, it's freeware.

http://www.mailstore.com/en/mailstore-home.aspx

[Simon]

Does your ISP offer an email service?  Otherwise, I've found GMX.com to be one of the few free email services to offer POP3 access.

[sam]

Can google even read in a PST file?

[sam]

actually - yes it can:

http://tools.google.com/dlpage/outlookmigration

[sam]

so with this you could probably just migrate one pst file over at a time?

Why not produce one small pst file, create a gmail address and see if it works for the first file.

[davy51]

Here are a couple I use some are paid but worth it


Fastmail

https://www.fastmail.fm/mail/?MLS=MB-*;SMB-CF=16734873;SMB-MF-DR=20;UDm=49;Uid=ac131dc388c0cae69437!1275098867;MSignal=LN-Main*N-1*logout

Bluebottle
http://www.bluebottle.com/


Google apps--Gmail with your own domain

http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html

all three will do what you want and do much better with spam

[thegallery]

Take a look at Mailstore Home, it's freeware.

http://www.mailstore.com/en/mailstore-home.aspx

Looks great Rick but it can't see my Outlook, just like Thunderbird can't. It simply says I have to have Outlook installed first, and obviously I do have it installed already

And sadly the option to read my PST files directly only comes with their server edition which costs 300 euros 

[thegallery]

two things I noticed. One is there is a setting in Outlook 2010 to make it my default email program. If I click an email link on a web page that works. But under the Control Panel settings where you can "Set Default Programs" (Forget exact name), Outlook again does not exist.

I'm starting to think that this is related to the same problem that all the other programs have, that they can't see outlook installed so they think there is nothing there to import. So far this is true of Google Desktop, Thunderbird, Mail Store, and now even Windows Live Mail.

And I'm not sure if this is related but my data files for Outlook are not in the App Data folders, but in C/Users/MyName/MyDocuments/OutlookFiles      I'm guessing this might not be a standard location, but again, no idea why this would mean programs or functions can't see the outlook installation.

Also I should note that I'm looking at all the responses, which I much appreciate, but right now just trying one thing at a time.

[Simon]

How did you install Outlook?  Have you tried a repair reinstallation?

[Rik]

And I'm not sure if this is related but my data files for Outlook are not in the App Data folders, but in C/Users/MyName/MyDocuments/OutlookFiles      I'm guessing this might not be a standard location, but again, no idea why this would mean programs or functions can't see the outlook installation.

My files are on Drive E, so that shouldn't be the problem. Have the settings become scramble in Outlook itself?

[thegallery]

google migration and other options aside, I had one small temporary victory. I created a new profile and everything became search-able and indexed again. However, as quickly as it was working it broke...   I went back to my normal profile, and once again indexing is working!

I don't know why and I'm frightened to do anything. I still seem to have no option to import or export the pst files to thunderbird or other mail readers. And my trial of Office runs out at the end of November. I DO NOT WANT TO PURCHASE OFFICE AGAIN, especially as it will only be so I can access my years of PST files. I'm not sure what to do.

But for now I'm going to concentrate on creating the new email address and letting my contacts and update important website IDs.

Next will be to look into the google migration...

[thegallery]

Error installing the google migration tool 

[sam]

argh

any particular error?

Have you tried MS support?

[thegallery]

sorry for the absence. The minor good news is that after installing Outlook yet again I have been able to index my current pst files. Bad news is I still can't do anything with them. I can't import or export them anywhere. No other programs sees that Outlook exists.

My trial ends December 31, and I have no solution. I really really don't want to buy Outlook yet again; it's just time for me to move on. I suppose I could just save all the pst files and hope for a solution in the future, but I really need continued access to them now.

I'm guessing I could find an old copy of Outlook 2003 and run that, but I'm worried I'll mess something up going backward. I'm just not sure what to do and I have a feeling there are thousands of others, including companies, looking for a similar solution.

In all this effort I did come across a few programs that are meant to be able to access your PST files, but I'm unwilling to spend $50+ on a solution that may or may not work. And I've already forgotten what I tried with limited success up to this point.

Anyway, just piping back in to let everyone know my frustration. I don't have the time or energy or money to keep dealing with this, but I don't have an alternative either   I may have to post the job on Elance... !