WTH? No Outlook with Office 2007? Is there a workaround? 2003 incompatible with Win8?

[Matt_Stevens]

This is crazy frustrating. My parents used Outlook from Office 2003 for years and years. They know and understand the program. I used it myself forever until I went with Office 2010, which included Outlook.

Their old PC was shot so they bought a new one with Windows 8. Office 2003 is incompatible with Win8 so I decided to install their copy of Office 2007, which they had purchased for a laptop, but never used.

Well I was in for a shock when I found there is no Outlook with Office 2007. WTF!! I have spent hours looking online and cannot find any answers, other than "Microsoft removed it, but put it back with 2010 after all of the complaints."

Well mom and dad don't have any more money and i sure am out of cash to help. They have 2003 and they have 2007 and they paid for both.

They need to use Outlook since they understand it AND because their rural area frequently loses net access so the inability to get into email and look at notes, receipts, cooking things they were emailed, would be bad for them.

Can anyone help me here? Is there a way to download it and add it to Office?

They CANNOT switch to gmail or yahoo mail so I respectfully ask people not to tell them to do that. We need a solution here.

They even have their own domain name! It's hosted with GoDaddy. It's paid for up until 2015. It made giving them email so easy and allows me to tinker and fix things they f**k up (they are, after all, old).

I would try installing outlook 2003 but I have read it causes errors with Windows8's update and ruins the OS. Is there a solution for that as well?

Many thanks

 

[notposting]

I know we bought 2 different versions of 2007, one was the 3 pack Student & Home which DID NOT include Outlook...and the Ultimate (??) which did include it. Not that it helps, but that's probably the case here. Not the best arrangement by MS.

 

[lxskllr]

Thunderbird. They have to learn something new, but that's life. My mother learned it, and she can barely turn a computer on.

 

[bruceb]

Outlook should have been in Office 2007 .. I know it is included with Office 2007 Ultimate. It sounds like you have either a Home or a Student edition, which may not have come with it.

 

[Nothinman]

This is crazy frustrating. My parents used Outlook from Office 2003 for years and years. They know and understand the program. I used it myself forever until I went with Office 2010, which included Outlook.

Their old PC was shot so they bought a new one with Windows 8. Office 2003 is incompatible with Win8 so I decided to install their copy of Office 2007, which they had purchased for a laptop, but never used.

Well I was in for a shock when I found there is no Outlook with Office 2007. WTF!! I have spent hours looking online and cannot find any answers, other than "Microsoft removed it, but put it back with 2010 after all of the complaints."

Well mom and dad don't have any more money and i sure am out of cash to help. They have 2003 and they have 2007 and they paid for both.

They need to use Outlook since they understand it AND because their rural area frequently loses net access so the inability to get into email and look at notes, receipts, cooking things they were emailed, would be bad for them.

Can anyone help me here? Is there a way to download it and add it to Office?

They CANNOT switch to gmail or yahoo mail so I respectfully ask people not to tell them to do that. We need a solution here.

They even have their own domain name! It's hosted with GoDaddy. It's paid for up until 2015. It made giving them email so easy and allows me to tinker and fix things they f**k up (they are, after all, old).

I would try installing outlook 2003 but I have read it causes errors with Windows8's update and ruins the OS. Is there a solution for that as well?

Many thanks

You bought the wrong SKU, simple as that.

 

[Matt_Stevens]

Well thanks for the truly helpful answers. I didn't buy anything. They did. The tools at Best Buy told them to buy that version of Office because it was exactly the same as they had with 2003. Wrong, clearly.

Now if you have nothing helpful to say, then don't bother saying it. I am trying to find a solution for them. Solutions. Not snide remarks.

EDIT: Solutions can mean something I can download for them to give them similar email access and feel to what they had, where they can use the .pst backup file from their Outlook 2003.

 

[Nothinman]

Well thanks for the truly helpful answers. I didn't buy anything. They did. The tools at Best Buy told them to buy that version of Office because it was exactly the same as they had with 2003. Wrong, clearly.

Now if you have nothing helpful to say, then don't bother saying it. I am trying to find a solution for them. Solutions. Not snide remarks.

EDIT: Solutions can mean something I can download for them to give them similar email access and feel to what they had, where they can use the .pst backup file from their Outlook 2003.

The posts are helpful because you're wrong about Office 2007 not including Outlook. Office has always has different versions that have different apps in them (Access, Outlook, Contact Manager, etc). Outlook is all that will reliably use a PST so the solution is to either return it and buy the proper version or see if you can buy Outlook by itself to go with it.

 

[WilliamM2]

Well someone did suggest Thunderbird...

You could also use windows live mail. Very similar to Outlook.

Outlook 2013 seems to work fine on Windows 8 for me as well.

 

[seepy83]

If they really need Outlook, then they should buy Outlook. They can buy Office Home & Business (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook) for $220, or they can buy just Outlook for $110.

 

[Matt_Stevens]

I didn't know what Thunderbird was. I am researching it now and it looks like it might be a solution.

And again, the Office 2007 was purchased long ago. No way to return it (you cannot return software anyway). It seems insane that Microsoft removed Outlook from the program.

I will also look at Windows Live Mail. What is essential for them is they do NOT have to log onto the internet to look at mail already received. They have frequent incidents of no Net access. The service in their area is truly abysmal.

My current thinking (as of 5 minuts ago) is go through the process of installing Outlook 2003 on their old as heckcomputer (I did wipe it and reinstall Vista). Import their .pst file into Outlook. Once it's all set THEN install Thunderbird and IMPORT everything.

Then I back up with Thunderbird and install Thunderbird on their new Win8 PC, and finally import that Thunderbird backup file from the old system.

That make sense? I think it will work.

P.S. They are on a fixed income. They spent the money they had available on a new PC. They just cannot afford to spend more money. Especially THAT much money!

 

[Chiefcrowe]

If they can't afford it then i would definitely also recommend thunderbird. I was able to convert from outlook pretty easily and my profile has migrated through 3 computers and a couple of different OSes.

 

[Matt_Stevens]

I would love to try it, but right now I am going INSANE trying to do this by installing Office 2003 on their old computer so that I can install Thunderbird on that computer, import everything, create backup that I can use on the new system.

But Outlook keeps giving me duplicates that don't work. I cannot for the life of me find the PROPER way to do this. All the instructions online are wrong and they all differ.

 

[smakme7757]

I think only the business editions of Office 2007 came with Outlook as far as i remember. As for migrating from Outlook to Thunderbird i found mail importing was pretty painless, plenty of guides on the web for that. However importing of contacts was another story.

But as a free alternative Thunderbird is a solid application which is more or less considered "finished".

By the way if you all use Office you can pickup Office 365 for $100 a year for 5 PC's if you split the cost of it between you and them then it would be $50 a year for the best Microsoft has to offer. Including Outlook. But it's understandable if money is tight.

My Grandfather swears by Office (and outlook) and he is also on a fixed income although he was an accountant so he doing ok for a pensionist. I just gave him one of my activations to my subscription and he is a happy old timer apart from learning all the new stuff in Office 2013.

 

[Evander]

I would love to try it, but right now I am going INSANE trying to do this by installing Office 2003 on their old computer so that I can install Thunderbird on that computer, import everything, create backup that I can use on the new system.

But Outlook keeps giving me duplicates that don't work. I cannot for the life of me find the PROPER way to do this. All the instructions online are wrong and they all differ.

Maybe you could install the Office 2013 60 day trial edition on the new system then move then import those mails into Thunderbird:
http://www.askvg.com/direct-download-link-microsoft-office-2013-professional-plus-free-trial/

 

[Whisper2]

Who says that Office 2003 is incompatible with Win 8? I installed Office 2003 (Outlook Excel, Word & PowerPoint) when I installed Win 8 x64 last October. I use Outlook every day. It works just as well with Win 8 as it did with Win 7, Vista, & XP.

It may be incompatible with Win 8 RT but it certainly works with the normal desktop version.

 

[radhak]

Maybe you could install the Office 2013 60 day trial edition on the new system then move then import those mails into Thunderbird:
http://www.askvg.com/direct-download-link-microsoft-office-2013-professional-plus-free-trial/

That's the best way to go, as recommended by Mozilla : http://kb.mozillazine.org/Import_.pst_files.

As it points out, remember to install the 32-bit version.

That page also has other suggestions (that may or may not be useful to you) just to import into thunderbird :

a. use any other machine that has Outlook
b. use Gmail's IMAP
c. use Linux

Whatever you do, persist with the Thunderbird solution; does not make sense for you to pay more money just to get Outlook.

 

[Matt_Stevens]

I just thre my chair across the room. Honeslty i have never been so frustrated in my life. Not even when building a massive editing system. This seems IMPOSSIBLE.

The old computer is now OUT because the .pst file was deleted and there i no way to recreate it. I tried using the backup one, but then there is NO WAY to add an email address to it. It just creates another personal folder.

I'm trying to download the Office 2010 trial and going through hell in doing it. Won't get into details. Oh and I didn't have a choice on 32 vs 64 bit. It just started downloading whatever it felt like.

I don't even know what to ask anymore.

What I do know is that I still am in desperate search for a clear, concise instructional video or tutorial on how to redo Outlook 2003 with a backup .pst file. EVERY single instructional I try ends up giving me TWO folders that do not interact and are useless.

 

[Fardringle]

You don't add an email address to a PST file. A PST file is just a storage location for messages and contacts. As several people here have already said, just create the account in Outlook with the correct email address and POP3/SMTP/WEBMAIL (depending on what type of email account/service you have) mail server settings, then do one of these two things:

1) Import the messages from the old .PST to the new one that was created when you created the new account.
*Click on [File] in the menu bar, then click Import and Export.
*Click Import from another program or file then click Next.
*Click Personal Folder File (.pst) in the list then click Next.
*Click the Browse button and browse to the location of the old .PST file and select the file and click Open.
*Click Next.
*Select the folders that you want to import (or just leave the default "Personal Folders" marked to select everything) and check the box to Include subfolders if you want them. Choose where to put them (usually take the default "Import these items into the same folder in") and make sure the drop down list has the correct name for the new PST file.
*Click Finish.

or

2) Change the delivery location for new messages to the existing PST file.
*Click on Tools in the menu bar, then click Email Accounts.
*Click on View or Change Existing Email Accounts then click Next.
*Under Deliver new e-mail to the following location choose New Outlook Data file and browse to the location of the existing .PST file.
*Click OK on the message that says you need to restart Outlook.
*Close and restart Outlook.

That's all you need to do.


And yes, Office 2003 works perfectly fine in Windows 8.

 

[CA19100]

If buying Outlook is not a possibility -- and it sounds like it isn't right now -- I strongly recommend looking at PostBox. It's based on Thunderbird, but has a much nicer interface IMO. I use it under Windows 8 with no issues.

It has a 30-day free trial, and $10 if you decide to keep it:
http://www.postbox-inc.com/


Edit: Didn't realize you were trying to use the old mail database. Don't think Postbox can help in that respect.

 

[CSMR]

Well I was in for a shock when I found there is no Outlook with Office 2007.

Office is sold with various combinations of applications.

They have 2003 and they have 2007 and they paid for both.

Sell on ebay.

They need to use Outlook since they understand it AND because their rural area frequently loses net access.
Can anyone help me here? Is there a way to download it and add it to Office?

The current Office 365 home premium ($100/year for 5 computers) is a good deal if you have several family computers to install it on.

They CANNOT switch to gmail or yahoo mail so I respectfully ask people not to tell them to do that. We need a solution here.

They even have their own domain name! It's hosted with GoDaddy. It's paid for up until 2015. It made giving them email so easy and allows me to tinker and fix things they f**k up (they are, after all, old).

While I recommend Outlook almost regardless of email account type, email providers apart from Microsoft and Google do not have the resources to create good email accounts. Typically they lack basic modern features like contacts, calendar, activesync for smartphones, etc..
So I would recommend upgrading to a free email account from Microsoft (not Google if you use Outlook) and forwarding from your godaddy hosted email to the new accounts.

 

[bruceb]

Office 2007 Ultimate also comes with Outlook. As an aside, I never trust Best Buy for anything. And in the case of Office software (and most other programs) a quick look at the package tells you what features are in the version you are buying.

 

[cvrefugee]

Well I was in for a shock when I found there is no Outlook with Office 2007. WTF!! I have spent hours looking online and cannot find any answers, other than "Microsoft removed it, but put it back with 2010 after all of the complaints."

I've found something very informational in less than 5 minutes which you said took hours (and you still came to the wrong conclusion).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_2007#Editions

All editions except one come with Outlook. If you spend a second to look at the box it will say which programs are included.

 

[ImDonly1]

If you have a .edu e-mail you can get Office for cheap (maybe $10 or so?).

http://www.microsofthup.com/hupus/home.aspx?dialect_id=en-US&country_id=US

 

[Compman55]

Solution:

1.) Sell the LEGIT version of office 2007 they have currently & buy the next better version (Office 2007 small business) used on ebay / CL as long as it is LEGIT.
2.) Uninstall office 2003 / 2007 and install thunderbird. Would require a learning curve.
3.) Run a virtual machine of windows XP and install office 2003 under it. Will require a valid XP product key as windows 8 does NOT have an integrated virtual XP mode. I run a ton of old XP software under windows 7 XP mode and love it.
4.) Downgrade to windows 7. Office 2003 runs fine under it. Most new computers will be fully comptible with 7.

That is it. Pick whichever option.