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Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2002 data files appear as Office data files in Windows Explorer

Article ID: 287837 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q287837

For a Microsoft Outlook 2000 version of this article, see 303337

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/303337/ )

SUMMARY

When you install Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or Microsoft Outlook 2002 and then open Windows Explorer, the personal folders (.pst) files are referenced as Microsoft Office data files.

MORE INFORMATION

The following files that are used by Outlook 2002 are classed as Office data files:

Personal Folders (PST) files
Offline Storage (OST) files
Personal Address Book (PAB) files
Nickname (NICK, NK2) files
Rules (RWZ) files

This behavior is by design.

Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft Office XP, and, by extension, Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2002 register their data files with the operating system during installation. Data files in Microsoft Office versions that are earlier than Microsoft Office 2000 were not registered when Office was installed.

You can edit the file type association entry to change the Office data file description. To do this, follow these steps, as appropriate for the version of Microsoft Windows that you are running.

Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows 2000

Double-click My Computer on your desktop.
On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the File Types tab.
Scroll down to and then select the first Office data file that you want to change.
Click Advanced.
In the Description of type box at the top of the File Types dialog box, change Office Data File to Outlook Data File, and then click OK.
Click Close.

Microsoft Windows 98 and Microsoft Windows NT

Double-click My Computer on your desktop.
On the Tools menu, click Folder Options, and then click the File Types tab.
Scroll down to and then select the first Office data file that you want to change, and then click Edit.
In the Description of type box at the top of the File Types dialog box, change Office Data File to Outlook Data File.
Click OK two times.