PSTs from Outlook 2007 to Office Home and Business 2024 Outlook Classic

Question

I posted a question on how tot get my Outlook 2007 outlook.pst and my various archive.psts created in Outlook 2007 to Outlook Classic on Office Home & Businedd 2024, but my question was deleted for a violation. I have no idea what the violaton was, so let me try a scaled back version:

I recently upgraded from Windows 10 to Window 11. I had been running Office 2007 for years, primarily Outlook  and Excel.  Even though it was almost 20 years old, and no longer supported, it worked fine for my purposes. Because my Outlook 2007 was acting a bit flakey with the upgrade, I also decided to upgrade to Office Home and Business 2024.  I was mainly concerned that I would still have access to my current and archived .psts, and their folder structure, and it was my understanding that all my  2007 .psts would be compatible with Outlook 2024.

So how do I get all my prior Outlook.pst  and various archive.pst’s  and their folder structure onto Outlook Classic . And am I correct in assuming that Outlook 2024 does not create pst’s, they use another data extension, so that my prior pst’s and their folder structure is not possible in Outlook 2024 ?

 Thanks,

Answer 1

Outlook 2007 .pst files are compatible with classic Outlook in Office Home and Business 2024, and the folder structure inside those .pst files is preserved.

To use the old Outlook 2007 .pst files in Outlook Classic 2024, there are two main options:

1. Open the .pst files directly (keeps them separate)

This is simplest and preserves everything as-is in separate data files.

1. Locate the old .pst files from the Windows 10/Outlook 2007 setup. Typical locations are:
   • C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Outlook Files\
   • Or (older setups) C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\ Look for files like Outlook.pst, archive.pst, etc.
2. Copy those .pst files to a safe folder on the new Windows 11 machine (for example, Documents\Outlook-Old).
3. In classic Outlook 2024:
   • Select File > Open & Export > Open Outlook Data File.
   • Browse to each .pst (Outlook.pst, archive.pst, etc.) and select Open.
4. Each .pst will appear in the folder list as its own store, with all original folders and items intact.

If only occasional access to old mail is needed, this method is usually enough. Items can be dragged and dropped between the old .pst trees and the current mailbox if desired.

2. Import the old .pst contents into the current Outlook profile (merges into one mailbox)

If all old content should live under the current mailbox instead of separate .pst trees:

1. In classic Outlook 2024, select File > Open & Export > Import/Export.
2. Choose Import from another program or file, then Next.
3. Choose Outlook Data File (.pst), then Next.
4. Browse to the old .pst file (e.g., Outlook.pst) and choose how to handle duplicates.
5. Select the destination:
   • To merge into the main mailbox, select that mailbox.
   • Or choose Import items into the current folder if importing into a specific folder.
6. Select Finish and let Outlook complete the import.
7. Repeat for each archive.pst if needed.

This preserves the folder structure inside each .pst while moving the content into the current mailbox or chosen folders.

About Outlook 2024 and .pst files

• Classic Outlook (the full desktop Outlook included with Office Home and Business 2024) fully supports .pst files for POP accounts, archives, and manual data files.
• New Outlook for Windows has limited .pst support today. It can open and work with .pst files and can export to .pst, but bulk importing into a mailbox from .pst is not yet supported. Classic Outlook is still required for full import scenarios.
• Outlook also uses .ost files for cached Exchange/Outlook.com/Microsoft 365 accounts, but that does not prevent using .pst files for archives or POP data.

So prior Outlook 2007 .pst files and their folder structures are usable and supported in classic Outlook 2024. They can either be opened as separate data files or imported into the current mailbox as needed.

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References:

• Import email, contacts, and calendar from an Outlook .pst file
• Open and find items in an Outlook Data File (.pst)
• Open and close Outlook Data Files (.pst)
• Find and transfer Outlook data files from one computer to another
• Export emails, contacts, and calendar items to Outlook using a .pst file

Answer 2

Thankl you so very, very much . It is greatly appreciated. I'll be giving that a try hopefully later today or tomorrow.

Another question for now - I also exported my calendar and contacts as csv's and my rules to an external drive. Will I be able to import them onto Outlook Classic ? And if so, how to do that ?

Thanks again.