HowTo-Outlook

Microsoft has released 2 tools under an open source license. These 2 tools will allow developers to edit an pst-file without the need for Outlook to be installed on a machine or even for the machine to be running Windows.

The tools and their projects are hosted on CodePlex;
Download: PST Data Structure View Tool
Download: PST File Format SDK
View: Microsoft Delivers on Interoperability Principles With Office Outlook

The tools follow the earlier released Outlook Personal Folders File Format (.pst) Structure Specification.

Microsoft has begun sending out upgrade notices for the Outlook Connector. However, it appears that the download link given still points to the old Outlook Connector version (version 12.1).

The result is that the installation will prompt you to Repair or Remove the Outlook Connector or that after you install the version given by the download link, you’d still be prompted to upgrade when you start Outlook again.

To get rid of the endless loop, download the latest version of the Outlook Hotmail Connector (version 14.0) from the correct location;
Download: Outlook Hotmail Connector 32-bit
Download: Outlook Hotmail Connector 64-bit
Note: You will only need to install the 64-bit version when you are using the 64-bit version of Outlook 2010.

The installer should automatically upgrade any old version that you might have installed. In case that doesn’t work, uninstall the Outlook Connector manually first via Control Panel-> Add/Remove Programs (Windows XP) or via Control Panel-> Uninstall a program (Windows Vista and Windows 7).

If you are still having issues then, remove the Hotmail account from Outlook, restart Outlook and then add the Hotmail account again.

A new Hotfix has been released for Outlook 2007 that solves 16 issues in total.

The most notable fix is for people that sync with a Windows Mobile device. Here it could happen that a yearly recurring event created on your Windows Mobile device turned into a recurring event of once every 12 years (instead of once every 12 months).

For the full list of issues solved see KB981048

In addition to this language generic hotfix, 2 language specific hotfixes have been released;
KB982337 : Update for the Spanish version of Outlook (es-es).
KB981980 : Update for the English and Hebrew version of Outlook (en-us) (he-il)

Since these are hotfixes and not regular updates, you won’t be offered this update via Microsoft Update but will have to request it. You can do this at the information page of each hotfix.

If you are not (seriously) effected by any of these issues, it is recommended to wait for the next Service Pack or regular Rollup Update which will most likely contain all these fixes as well.