Outlook Archive.pst File

I have my Outlook "archive.pst" file saved on my server and for some reason I am now unable to open it up in Outlook.

When I try to access the file from within Outlook (ie. Open Outlook Data File) I get a msg box that says the file "is in use and cannot be accessed. Close any appln that is using the file and then try again."

OK - but there is no other appln using the file and why all of a sudden can't I open my archive file?

When I check the archive.pst file on the server I cannot rename or move/copy it - so something is locking the file. It is not attributed as Read Only.

Appreciate any ideas on why this pst file is being locked and most important how I can acess it.

 

Uh oh Gemo, it looks like we missed your post. Sorry about that. Did you ever get this solved? Does anything here help you?

 

I have the same problem on a Windows XP machine. The problem does not occur when I use a Windows 2000 machine.

 

It may depend on how the archive.pst is being used. It is possible and I have seen it used this way: to use the archive.pst as an additional personal folder. When used in this way is will behave just as the standard personal folder (outlook.pst) does and effectively be open while Outlook is open. While it is open you won't be able to do anything with the file.

If this is the case, your first job it to work out who has it configured that way. Get users to shutdown Outlook and see at what point the archive.pst becomes available. Once you've tracked down the installtion of Outlook that has the archive.pst set as personal folder, you need to delete the personal folder service entry in outlook. If you don't know how to do that, post back with the version of Outlook you are using and someone should be able to give you instructions.