Sharing the .pst file

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learnsomethingneweveryday - 07 Oct 2004 15:55 GMT

I helped a friend install a wireless network in his home. He has several
desktop computers and a laptop, all on the wireless router except his main
desktop. We installed Office XP (2003) on his desktop and on his laptop. He
would like to use the same .pst file on the laptop that he used on his
desktop. It's currently on his desktop. I have already figured out that
he'll have sharing violations if he is running Outlook on both comoputers
trying to use the same .pst file. If we shut down the desktop Outlook, can
we access the .pst file using the laptop Outlook? If the answer is yes, how
is it done? I'm a little out of my league with this.

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Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook] - 11 Oct 2004 02:11 GMT

Just use File | Open on the laptop to open the .PST file when it's not being
used on the desktop. (He should only have to use File | Open once, and then
the .PST should be there every time he opens Outlook thereafter). As long
as he remembers to shut Outlook down on one machine before opening it on the
other he won't get any sharing violations.

One word of caution, however -- Microsoft doesn't support the use of a .PST
file over a network connection because of the increased risk of file
corruption should the connection go down while Outlook is using the file.
Your friend better make sure he has a good, current backup of the .PST file
if he chooses to do this.

He might also want to check out the .PST synchronization options on this
page: http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/sync.htm

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Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

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> I helped a friend install a wireless network in his home. He has
> several desktop computers and a laptop, all on the wireless router
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> file using the laptop Outlook? If the answer is yes, how is it done?
> I'm a little out of my league with this.

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