Don’t use the Import and Export command on the File menu! If you do, you’ll just have to archive everything again. Instead, open the archive pst directly in Outlook.

• Outlook 2010: File | Open | Open Outlook Data File
• Outlook 2007: File | Open | Outlook Data File
• Outlook 2002 or 2003: File | Open | Outlook Data File…
• Outlook 98 or 2000: File | Open | Personal Folders File (.pst)
• Outlook 97: File | Open Special Folder | Personal Folder

Additionally, you can open the *.pst file in Outlook 2003 and 2007 using the File | Data File Management command.

If you need to move contents of the archive back into your default data file, don’t use Import/Export commands. Select the folders or items and use the Move to Folder command or drag the items to the default data file. Import and Copy will change the last modified date (in addition to creating copies) while moving will maintain the last modified date.

After you have finished working with your archive .pst file, here’s how to put it away:

1. Display the Folder List if you don’t already see it (View | Folder List).
2. Right-click the icon for the archive file, then choose Close from the popup menu.

Note that, if you copy an archived Personal Folders .pst file to a CD, you will not be able to read it. Outlook requires write access to open a .pst file. Even archives must be stored on a medium that you can write to.

Articles that may interest you:

Add a New Data File (*.pst) to Your Profile

How to combine two Outlook data files (*.pst)

Convert an ANSI PST to a Unicode PST

Tips and tricks for managing *.PST files

Last reviewed on Oct 9, 2011