You can't open Outlook data files in Windows Explorer. You can only open
them in Outlook: File Open Outlook Data File.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Sandy" wrote in message
...
to find the appropriate programI'm probably not opening correctly then. I
get to the file by clicking Start then Search. I ask it to look in All
files
and folders, including hidden folders. When the two .pst files come up in
search results I click on Outlook.pst, the file with 23.8 MB.
When I double click on that file a message balloon pops up and says "You
are
attempting to open a file of the type 'Office Data File' (.pst). These
files
are used by the operating system and by various programs. Editing or
modifying them could damage your system. If you still want to open the
file,
click Open with, otherwise cancel." If I click Open With, I get two
choices,
Use the web service to find the appropriate program, or select the program
from a list. This is where I am stuck.

Thanks for your help


"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

That error message does not appear when you try to open a PST file
correctly. State the steps you are using to open this file.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Sandy" wrote in message
...
Sorry about my lack of specificity, I'm not that familiar with all the
terms.
When I try to open the Outlook.pst file I get a warning saying
modifying
or
editing the file could damage my system, but if I still want to open
it,
to
tell it what program to use. I don't know what program to use to open
it
and don't want to make the problem worse. I only found the file by
turning
on the display hidden folders feature and then using the search key to
find
.pst files. It found two .pst files, one called outlook1.pst which was
only
513KB and outlook1.pst which has the 23MB and which I think must
contain
all
my contact information.

When I click on the Address Book icon in Outlook, it shows nothing
under
either the contacts or outlook address book headings . That is what I
meant
by contact list - when you open the contact folder it contains
nothing -
no
list to choose from.

Yet, when I start to type in a contact e-mail address in the To: box of
a
new e-mail outgoing message, the rest of the address or addresses that
were
in the contact folder pop up - which must be the autocompletion cache
you
referred to. But where is the autocompletion thing getting the address
from?


I hope this helps you figure out my problem. Thank you.

Sandy


"Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

You have provided far too little information for anyone here to solve
your
problem. This much we can tell you:
1. You are confusing the autocompletion cache with your Contacts data.
The
two are not related.
2. You also appear to be confusing your "contact list" (who knows what
you
mean by that?) with your Contacts Folder. I suspect by "contact list"
you
are referring to what you see in the Outlook Address Book, but that is
only
a guess because you have not told us what you mean by that term.
3. Why you cannot open your PST file remains a complete mystery to us.
Why
can't you and what happens when you try? What makes you think your
file
is
not already open? If you examine your Contacts Folder in Outlook, what
do
you see?

Your problems will be easy to solve if you post more accurate and more
complete information.
--
Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]
"Sandy" wrote in message
...
I have had to reinstall Outlook 2003 after a system recovery. It has
the
old
contact list in there somewhere because when I type a letter in the
to:
box
when creating new mail, the rest of the address pops up. But when I
try
to
look at the contact list itself, it says there are no contacts in
the
folder.
I have located the .pst file on my computer - it has 23 MB of data -
but I
cannot open it. Help! Thanks.