Impossible unless you have access to your old hard drive.

To expand, if eg you had Office 2003 & you installed an earlier version then
allmost certainly Outlook would not be able to open your previous data file.
If buying / installing either 2003 or later there will be no problem.

"James Bond" wrote in message
...
Thanks. How would I determine which versions of Office was used
previously?
--
Bond, James Bond


"DL" wrote:

Generally Yes, but the version of Outlook you used and the version of
Office
you buy may have some barings

"James Bond" wrote in message
...
My hard drive failed and I purchased and installed a replacement hard
drive
from Del.. I then re-installed, with the assistance of Dell Techincal
Support, Windows XP. I then contacted Symantec for assistance in
restoring
the data which I had backed up to an external hard drive. I do not
have
the
original disks for my verion of Office so I have lost Excel, Word and
most
importantly Outlook. If I purchase and install a new copy / version of
Office will I be able to access my old e-mails, contacts, etc which are
stored as .PST files?
--
Bond, James Bond