Understanding Outlook updating vs migration vs new install
A common description used by people reporting a problem that goes along the lines with “…….I upgraded my version of Office and …………” without providing any additional information as to what they actually mean by the word “upgrading” which on the surface may seem like a trivial issue. However, it’s important to know since what happens and what a person needs to know when “upgrading” or “migrating” (moving to a new machine) or configuring a new installation of Outlook.
New Install
This is exactly as the description implies – Outlook has never been installed on the system involved and each email account must be configured individually
Upgrading (same machine)
This involves a newer version of Office (Outlook) being installed on the same machine currently being used. It can otherwise be referred to as an “in-place” upgrade.
In this scenario, the Outlook profile in use by the existing Outlook version will be used by the newer version. In the cases that involve any earlier version of Outlook to any version of Outlook ‘2010 (or earlier), actually no changes occur and nothing needs to be done by the user.
In the case of any earlier version of Outlook (‘2010 or earlier) that gets upgraded to OL’2013/’2016, a copy of the existing will be made during the upgrade process and used when Outlook is opened.
At the same time, any accounts configured using IMAP will incur a change in the data file used for the Imap account. In OL’2010 (and earlier), two PST files will always be involved for each IMAP account. One PST file for the email folders and one designated as the default data file containing the default contact/calendar folders. the exception to this would be if the data file associated with an Outlook.com or any Exchange account was defined as the default data file for the profile which in this case would be an .ost file. Starting with OL’2013/’2016, IMAP accounts use an OST file for email folders but the same default data file will be used as defined in the earlier Outlook profile.
If this upgrades involves a side-by-side installation of Outlook (side-by-side = 2 versions installed) where one version is OL’2010 or earlier and OL’2013+, then there two apps will exist in the Control Panel to manage the Outlook profiles used by the earlier version and the one used by ‘2013+. Once both Outlook versions are installed, changes made to any Outlook profile for each installed Outlook version will be specific to that version. More specifically, if you have OL’2016 installed along side OL’2010, any profile changes made to OL’2016 will not be reflected in OL’2010 and vice versa.
Upgrading (new machine)
This type of “upgrading” is in fact the same as performing a with the important difference being that there is likelihood that data files need to be moved from the old machine to the new machine with a “newer” version of Office(Outlook) being installed.
In this scenario, the following data should be copied over to maintain the same type of environment:
- For POP3 accounts – would include any PST files associated with each POP3 account
- For IMAP accounts – the PST file configured as the default data file to retain the default contact/calendar folders (if applicable)
- For Outlook.com/Exchange accounts – no action required
- All stand-alone PST files as required
Should be noted that the “sequence” in which the email accounts are configured has an impact in so much as that the first email account configured will determine the default data file for the Outlook profile.
(see How to find/copy the right PST files)
One of the biggest mistakes typically made by people is exporting data from the old machine and then importing that data in the new Outlook configuration. While there are exceptions, there is seldom a requirement to go through an export/import process when moving data files from one machine to another.
One of those exceptions would be for any PST files still in the ANSI format. This will really only apply to PST files created by Outlook ‘XP (2002) or earlier carried over through multiple versions of Outlook. To determine if the PST file is ANSI
- right-click on the root of the PST file (before copying the file)
- select data file properties –> <Advanced> button
- if the format description includes (“97-2002”) – it’s an ANSI file and should be converted
If it’s an ANSI PST file, the following should be done before copying the PST file to the new machine especially if the target Outlook version involves ‘2013/’2016.
- close Outlook and run ScanPST on the file
- open Outlook and perform a PST2PST export which will create a UNICODE PST file
Migrating to a new machine
This involves the same steps as described for <Upgrading (New Machine)> with the only difference being that the same version of Outlook is being used.
Category: Migrating Outlook, Understanding Outlook
