Upgrading Office 2003->Office 2007 trial: what happens to my Outlook 2003 .pst file?

[Billie]

I am using Office 2003 and I want to upgade by downloading and installing the Office 2007 Pro trial Edition. What is going to happen to my current emails and contact database stored in my current .pst file? Is the data automatically get updated to Outlook 2007? If not, then how will I transfer the pst file to Outlook 2007? I just checked that first we need to uninstall Outlook 2003, so is that true? Thanks for any information.

[Harsh^ini]

If its trail I think it will not overwrite your Office 2003. Apart from this, I’m sure that any office product does not touch user data. So if you want you can just remove only Outlook 2003 which is a requirement if you want to run Outlook 2007. Also outlook 2003 pst files are same as Outlook 2007. So you don’t need to worry about your emails and contacts.

[rowanld]

No matter it will affect the existing user data, contact, database or PST files. You must always take a secure backup copy of all your important data. SO copy your backup folder at some another safe place before you install the Office 2007 Trail.

[Mr. Boo Bear]

I also want to add that, you can try to create a backup simply in Outlook 2003. And to backup your data, which is stored in a personal store file called pst, go to File > Data File management > select the proper pst file in the list and click on open folder > copy and backup the pst files from there. Now incase you have any issues, then you can always have a backup.

[Billie]

Actually, the main problem is when I install Office 2007 will the Outlook data be installed in Outlook 2007? If it will not, then how can I get the former Outlook 2003 data into Outlook 2007? I want to have continuous access to my Outlook both before and after the upgrade and my business depends upon the email and contact database, and if it is not there then I cant do anything then.

[Dr.Jones]

You do not need to run a trial of anything on a business critical production machine. Your Outlook data wont be touched. It might open just fine in Outlook 2007 without any manual configuration.