Technical computer question.

[crazy mark]

My old PC running xp and outlook for mail died. I had office 97 on it. I have tried to open my .pab file every which way I can think of. The HD wasn't fried. Even tried using my wife's pc with the same xp and office 97. Of course when I try to find a program the all want money even though they say they are free. Any help would be appreciated. The .WAB has nothing in it. Thanks, Mark

[kencha]

The drive may not be fried, but the file could be corrupted. Your saying that you can't do anything with it on the wife's computer running the same software has me leaning in that direction.

Sorry, I don't know of a free utility for windows to read/convert/whatever a .pab file. Libpff (https://github.com/libyal/libpff) comes with utilities that should be helpful, if you know anyone running Linux, though.

Hopefully someone else will have an easier answer for you.

[Cmm_3940]

I understand you are trying to recover your .pab (personal address book) file, and outlook 97 on another computer won't import it?

you could install Thunderbird (free) and see if it is able to import the file. If so, you could then either stick with Thunderbird for your email (recommended), or re-export the file as csv which anything should be able to read. If the file is damaged, I don't know of any free solutions.

[crazy mark]

Thanks> Don't know anybody. All the other stuff but outlook stuff is back to normal. I may try getting an old PC that still runs and load win 95 or me on it for a try. Win 8.1 is a very hard system to learn. I'll try thunderbird on my wife's pc as I am getting her a new laptop anyway.

[MaryB]

Outlook uses .pst for a file extension... if you can locate that file it has ALL of your email and to restore it just import that file. At least newer outlook uses it, I just had a second computer failure and did just that

[bangerjim]

It's called "external USB drive back-up"! Get one and use it (they are dirt cheap) when/if you ever get this mess figured out. Do progressive back-ups so you have a previous file that will not be corrupted it that ever happens. Having at least 5 historical versions of the file will allow you to go back in time and at least use an uncorrupted version. You will loose any data you have added since that older file was saved.

And I would totally suggest you move into the 21 century and get a new computer running modern software! I have not used XP and Office 97 since.........well...........1997!

bangerjim

[Echo]

I used 97, and it worked fine. I used 2000, and it worked. Pi$$es me off that Microsoft builds in obsolescence - for example, I have a great HP 1115 printer. New software doesn't have drivers for it, so a cluge had to be developed.

[bangerjim]

I used 97, and it worked fine. I used 2000, and it worked. Pi$$es me off that Microsoft builds in obsolescence - for example, I have a great HP 1115 printer. New software doesn't have drivers for it, so a cluge had to be developed.

Just tech moving forward! I just threw away (goodwill donation) 6 perfectly good HP 6 color printers because MS and HP will not support the color printing drivers for WIN7 and higher.

Oh well.....tax write-off

"If 'ya wanna play.......'ya gotta pay." :violin:

banger

[scarry scarney]

I have had good luck in using an old HP printer on my windows box. Do the add printer, and then select "Windows Update online" option (or something like that).

[brassrat]

HP was adamant when telling me that no software was available when I got a new laptop. My printer/ scanner and scanner were too old, he said. He was F.O.S. and I told him. Their All-in-one was junk and never worked but the scanner still works fine.

[crazy mark]

It's called "external USB drive back-up"! Get one and use it (they are dirt cheap) when/if you ever get this mess figured out. Do progressive back-ups so you have a previous file that will not be corrupted it that ever happens. Having at least 5 historical versions of the file will allow you to go back in time and at least use an uncorrupted version. You will loose any data you have added since that older file was saved.

And I would totally suggest you move into the 21 century and get a new computer running modern software! I have not used XP and Office 97 since.........well...........1997!

bangerjim


It was backed up. New PC is win 8.1 and Office 2013. That is the problem. Matter of fact all my data was saved except the old outlook stuff that won't open in the greater newer (puke) stuff., .WAB.PST and PAB

[bangerjim]

It was backed up. New PC is win 8.1 and Office 2013. That is the problem. Matter of fact all my data was saved except the old outlook stuff that won't open in the greater newer (puke) stuff., .WAB.PST and PAB

I know. I have old stuff from the dark ages on 5.25 floppies and ZIP drives that I wish I could access. But not today. Well........if have not needed it in 10 years, probably don't need it anyway.

For at least one generation old, most software will convert ancient files to modern versions. You are going back many many generations! Good luck.

[Andy]

Makes me worried that you can't access it when trying that same hd on your wife's computer with the same program. Not an expert but I would be worried the file itself is corrupted.

[David2011]

The .pab file format is ancient in Microsoft terms. I liked it much better than their new "we know better than you" all-in-one .ost file that incorporates the address book. The only way I know of accessing it is to have an appropriate MS compatible email program installed. I've been doing corporate I.T. For over 20 years.

David

[popper]

Protectee files need administrator permission to open, even in the directory you have to enable 'seeing' all file extensions. If mail directory is changed, registry (dos window regedit.exe) needs to be corrected - the location of installed files.

[Ken in Iowa]

My old PC running xp and outlook for mail died. I had office 97 on it. I have tried to open my .pab file every which way I can think of. The HD wasn't fried. Even tried using my wife's pc with the same xp and office 97. Of course when I try to find a program the all want money even though they say they are free. Any help would be appreciated. The .WAB has nothing in it. Thanks, Mark

MS updated the .pst file format from ANSI to Unicode with Outlook 2003. For whatever reason, they did not change the file extension so this caused a certain amount of grief. The old ANSI format was limited to 2 GB. The new Unicode version can be much larger and is much more reliable. I would suggest importing the old type into the new. http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/convert-ansi-pst-to-unicode-pst/

It appears .pab or Personal Address Book file support was phased out in Outlook 2007. However It can be imported into the Outlook contacts folder which lives in the .pst file along with mail, calendar, etc. https://support.office.com/en-in/article/Display-a-Personal-Address-Book-pab-in-your-Outlook-Address-Book-04b498e2-7ee5-464b-8b6c-61a38582bb69


I have had many occasions where I had to build a legacy (obsolete) computer with obsolete software versions to access data and export it for use in new systems. I still have quite a collection of old MS Office and Works software. In this case Office 2003 would be a good choice.