OK I got that figured out. When I opened this pst file that I created from
the portable, the categories are not there. So how do I export from the
portable with the categories attached to the message. Instead of exporting
to a pst file should I just somehow create a pst file of the contacts, not
through the export function and then copy to a CD and then try to open on the
desktop?

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

Try opening the .pst file with the File | Open | Outlook Data File command and dragging the items to the Contacts folder.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"GFL4" wrote in message ...
These are the same records, one with categories and one without. If there is
a way to erase the contact folder on the desktop that holds the records
without the categories, I would be happy to just import the pst file from the
laptop with the categories. So I need a way to import the records with the
categories, which I don't understand how to do.

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

There's no simple one-click solution to what you want to do. You have 4000 contacts with no categories and 4000 with categories and you want to merge them together. Outlook has no feature to do that. Your choices are to write your own VBA code to perform that operation or import all the contacts, duplicates and all, and then use one of the duplicate checkers listed at http://www.slipstick.com/addins/contacts.htm to merge them.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.turtleflock.com/olconfig/index.htm
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx

"GFL4" wrote in message ...
I've read Article ID 303937. The problem is not importing the master
category list as I have retyped the category names on the new computer. It
is the classification of the 4000 names into those categories that doesn't
map from the pst file. The article referenced seems to imply that I would
have to paste the masterlist registry value for each of the 4000 records.
And then there is the 255 character limitation. I have 50 categories.

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote:

The master category list is in the Windows registry on your old computer. See http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/olcat.htm

"GFL4" wrote in message ...
I've created a pst file from my 4000 contact data base on my portable which
has been organized into 100 categories. I want to transfer this file into my
new desktop. Already installed on my desktop is the same 4000 contact data
base but without the categories, imported from my Palm. When I import the
pst file, and allow the file to overwrite any duplicates, the categories
still do not appear. How do I get the pst file to install on the desktop
with the names organized by categories?