kjp

So my new computer (old one died) has Windows 7 on it. Old one was running Outlook 2002 (XP), using POP to get emails from Yahoo, and Outlook to manage contacts / calendar / tasks, syncing with my phone (a now oldish Nokia).

Outlook 2002 doesn't work very well in Windows 7 with POP. You need to enter your password every time you start Outlook - very annoying. Also, mid next year, Outlook 2002 will get it's support cut off: ie: no security patches. I'm not planning to buy Outlook, and don't want to use the software dodgily. So I need to think about how I manage emails / calendar / contacts.

The other factor is I'll be getting a new phone next year (middle of the year if not before). I intend to get something better than what I have now; something that at least has wifi and ability to send emails/web access/write basic journal entries, when, for example, I'm overseas (or at home, for that matter).

I have a gmail account that I can use. I've heard and seen very good things about HTC Desire using gmail email/calendar/contacts as a data source.

My old emails are in outlook format .pst files. Typically one file per year. I intend to eventually remove Outlook from my computer (as it won't be kept up to date). So the outlook archive files need to be converted into something accessible. The gmail email uploader does not like Outlook 2002 (only 2007, I think or later). It is possible to open up outlook 2002 pst files in Thunderbird, and, via IMAP, put these into a gmail account. It's possible to export emails from gmail to individual .eml files on my computer. Thunderbird also stores it's emails in a mbox format. I think, that I prefer to keep emails in two locations / formats. I think that this will be, for old messages: mbox and eml on my local computer. For everything else, gmail and eml. I probably would retain Thunderbird on my pc to use as a eml, mbox file reader, but use gmail as my primary emali manager.

I think that I prefer emails in the 'cloud': internet access is everywhere and always available these days (especially if I get a good phone). I don't particularly like the idea of Thunderbird as my primary email/contact/calendar manager. Calendar function is not native in that program (it's an add on).

A trial run of uploading my contacts to gmail highlighted the fact that my contacts are a mess. This needs sorting out. I need to consider whether I will have my "old" contacts in gmail or not. Probably: that way there is only one contacts source. My existing phone won't easily sync with gmail: it would be a several step process. Newer phones will: especially Desire: as it is Android O/S.

I usually do a clean up of emails at the start of every year. So, I think I will:
* stop using Outlook to get emails. Use yahoo until I have cleaned everything up; then gmail (?)
* Make sure I have all old emails in two formats (probably either gmail plus mbox; gmail plus eml; or mbox plus eml).
* While I'm sorting out the above, I'll still utilise Outlook until I clean up my contacts and calendar
* Look at getting a new phone
* When I do get a new phone, use gmail (maybe, if not yahoo) for contacts and calendar (certainly my playing around with these for gmail, they seem to be pretty good)

I'll probably be replacing the rest of office 2002 with the latest version of openoffice. I don't anticipate any problems with word or excel. Access might be an issue for one or two self written databases.