Troubleshooting

I Can't Access My Personal Folders File

I exported my Contacts folder to a Personal Folders file to transfer it to my assistant. I had to save it on a CD because we don't have access to a network drive. When my assistant tried to open it in Outlook, she received the message "Properties for Information Store must be defined before use." What's wrong?

One limitation of Personal Folders files is that Outlook needs read and write access to Personal Folders files. If you're trying to access the Personal Folders file while it's still on a CD, Outlook cannot write to the file and will generate the error you received. After you copy the Personal Folders file to your hard drive, you must also remove the read-only flag for the Personal Folders file. When a file is backed up on a CD, it's marked as Read Only. To clear the read-only flag for a Personal Folders file, right-click the file and select Properties. Then uncheck the Read Only box and you should be able to access the file.