PST from Outlook 2013 is now IMAP folders in 2016

[Liz Schneider]

I am troubleshooting for my out of town sister who has a new laptop, configured for her by Best Buy.

She previously had Outlook 2013 and within her single PST file, she retrieved mail from multiple accounts.

With the new Outlook 2016, Best Buy told her that the only way to manage the multiple email accounts was via IMAP, so they have set her up with multiple Inboxes, one for each email address.

She is going NUTS trying to figure out which mail she sent from, how to coordinate the mail inside the 50+ folders she used for sorting, etc. It feels like complete chaos for her (and would for me as well, that's why I have never fooled with IMAP).

Is it true what they said? is she indeed not able to retrieve all her mail into one inbox, managing just one draft folder, one deleted items, one sent mail folder (and then all the other folders she created pertaining to certain groupings of messages.

This has been in place for a couple of weeks so she has obviously been receiving mail in that time frame. I just don't know where to go with this and want to do it quickly before more mail comes through (that may be lost if we can somehow get her back to one folder). She reads a small amount of mail on a phone but has no need for synchronization between multiple devices. The "leaves messages on server for 30 days" is all that she needs, for the most part.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

With the new Outlook 2016, Best Buy told her that the only way to manage the multiple email accounts was via IMAP, so they have set her up with multiple Inboxes, one for each email address.

Not true. If she prefers the way she had it before, she can do it, but will likely need to set up the accounts manually - auto account setup will set it up as imap if the server supports imap. You'll need the server names and port # to set up the accounts. You can get all of this info from the profile in the old computer, if its still accessible.

IMAP is server-side - so all mail that arrived within the last 2 weeks is still on the server.

If you haven't already, copy the old pst from the old computer. Put it in the Documents\ Outlook Files folder.
Close Outlook, go to Control panel and search for Mail.
If the old pst is not in the profile, Click Data Files then Add and add the old pst to the profile. Set it as default.
Click Email Accounts then remove each imap account.
Click Add, then the option at the bottom to manually add the accounts. You'll need to type in the server names and will likely need to set the port numbers (under More Settings).

The article at Create a New Outlook Profile - Outlook Tips does not fit with your scenario, but the screenshots may be helpful - step 2 under "Use your existing personal data store" shows where to select the pst - you'll select the same pst for each account.

 

[Liz Schneider]

thank you, Diane. Very reassuring. So mail that was brought in via imap is still on server, is the time frame on server a setting in that it may not have been 2 weeks for her? When I remove IMAP account, is the IMAP file still there, in case some piece of mail didn't make it through? Trying to figure a way to note what came through to be sure nothing is lost. BTW, she said it was Outlook 2010 that she had before. (and I use Outlook with POP3 retrieval myself so know all the manual server settings, thanks for that reminder)

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Because imap is server-based account and mail syncs back and forth with the server. There is no time frame, it's always on the server until deleted. POP3 is a download-only account and mail is (typically) removed from the server - you can set it to leave it on the server for any length of time (default is 14 days).

You could leave the imap account in the profile until the mail is downloaded via pop3 - eyeball the folders and see if any is missing, then remove the IMAP account. Repeat for each account. Also, if there are 'this computer only' folders in any of the imap folders, make sure they are empty before removing the account.

 

[Liz Schneider]

So what would happen to mail in Sent Folders and Draft folders from IMAP accounts? Would the sent mail be delivered to the POP3 PST folder? I see that her old PST file has already been "linked" into Outlook and is showing up in her list of accounts in left sidebar, it just isn't receiving any new mail. Wondering if I should drag all Sent/Draft mail from the various IMAP folders into that account, and THEN mark that account as default and let all the mail flow into it?

 

[Liz Schneider]

Her computer is on Windows 10. The way to add accounts looks far different than the link you sent. The Win10 versio does not give opportunity to connect with a specific existing PST

 

[Diane Poremsky]

So what would happen to mail in Sent Folders and Draft folders from IMAP accounts? Would the sent mail be delivered to the POP3 PST folder? I see that her old PST file has already been "linked" into Outlook and is showing up in her list of accounts in left sidebar, it just isn't receiving any new mail. Wondering if I should drag all Sent/Draft mail from the various IMAP folders into that account, and THEN mark that account as default and let all the mail flow into it?

Yes, drag the sent and drafts over to the pst file.

Right now, with the IMAP account, sent mail is probably syncing up to the server. If she needs copies of those messages in outlook, drag them over to the sent items folder in the pst before removing the account.

Just marking the pst as default won't change the mail flow, you need to set the accounts up as pop3 and select the inbox as the delivery location. IMAP accounts will always use their own data file.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Her computer is on Windows 10. The way to add accounts looks far different than the link you sent. The Win10 versio does not give opportunity to connect with a specific existing PST

Is that is Outlook desktop or the Windows Mail app? The Mail app won't use a pst.

 

[Liz Schneider]

Is that is Outlook desktop or the Windows Mail app? The Mail app won't use a pst.

This is Outlook 365/2016 desktop. Under Email, Calendar and Contact, there is an account set up for her personal email address with the Outlook Logo next to it.

I tried adding an account right there, using one of her email addresses, but see no where to point to an existing PST.

 

[Liz Schneider]

Diane,
The whole search of where to add the POP3 emails was looking outside of Outlook, as guided by one of the links you sent. From within Outlook I see that I can add accounts and select where to deliver messages. Crossing my fingers on that and trying now.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

You can add them inside or outlook or in the Mail applet in Control panel. But with pop3, it doesn't really matter because you won't need to restart outlook after they are added.