Outlook 2007 won't open .pst file from Outlook 2000

Question

I have been using Outlook 2000 for 10 years and hit the 2GB limit. As a result, Outlook 2000 would not open mail and did not permit me to delete mail to clear space.
I’d been meaning to install my Office 2007 and this seemed like the time to do so. Once installed, I attempted to open my 2 GB PST file in Outlook 2007. No luck.
Messages: “The message interface has returned an unknown error. If the problem persists, restart Outlook.” And “Cannot display information. There is either a problem connecting to the server or an error has occurred.”
Researching on the Web, I found Microsoft guidance that I could create a new data file and import the old (ANSI) .PST file into this new (Unicode) .PST file. When I did
that, during the Import, I encountered another error message: “The file has reached its maximum size. (Followed by two unhelpful sentences – can’t be imported).”
OK, I think, I have to reduce the size of that file. Research yields Microsoft’s “oversized PST and PST crop tool.”
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/296088 I do that and follow the instructions to scan the truncated file with Microsoft’s
scanpst.exe tool, which is included with Office.
Another error: scanpst.exe will not complete its scan. I receive a mysterious error message with no indication what the exact problem is. I created multiple versions
of the truncated .PST file, each smaller than the last, so that the smallest was 1.7 GB. Still errors with scanpst.exe and ultimately no luck.
I have spent more than 10 hours trying to solve this problem and am at wit’s end. I’m a freelance writer, and it’s costing me money. What’s worse,
info on projects I’m supposed to be working on are locked in that PST file! All data is stored locally on a Dell laptop with Windows 7.
Help anybody? Please? Thank you!

Answer 1

Fifteen hours later, I was back in business, having upgraded from Outlook 2000 to Outlook 2007, a process one would expect to take a half-hour tops. I'm no IT pro, but
I am pretty accomplished at fixing problems. This one seemed beyond my reach, as neither of the utilities Microsoft recommended to address the issue, the truncation tool and scanpst.exe, worked -- what a surprise! I engaged a local technician to diagnose the
problem remotely, and over a course of four hours he fixed it using a third-party program called "Outlook Recovery Toolbox." I'd actually downloaded that tool and fooled around a bit, but didn't use it for a full scan as I think that required a purchase, and
who knows if it's malware or what. Well, it worked.
So 15 hours lost. That cost me hundreds of dollars as I am self-employed, plus I have a $150 bill from the technician, which is more than fair for his two hours of labor
(the extra two hours were scanning and importing time). Again, Microsoft managed to turn into an epic ordeal what the consumer expects to be a straightforward upgrade process.
Now I have Outlook 2007, oh boy! The first thing I notice is the inflexible mail header above the message body. WTF is that supposed to be? Who was the Einstein who thought
that up? It renders USELESS like an inch of real estate right in the center of the screen! I find that it can be hidden (not, of course, with a simple, convenient and sensible right click ... oh NOOOO ... but through multi-click options available in the toolbar).
(For background, Outlook 2000 did not have that inflexible mail header -- the header info (subject, date, sender, CC) was part of the email, so if you scrolled down the
email, the header went with it and made the best possible use of available space).
Now here's a twist -- Outlook does not show, in your list of emails, whether an email has an attachment if the email was sent via Lotus Notes. That was a glitch in 2000,
and one I would expect to have been resolved in 2007. BUT NO. So, just moments ago, I have an email/meeting invitation sent from a client using Lotus Notes. Even though I had told Outlook to hide headers, it disobeyed me ... 
why? Because this was a "meeting invite" email, offering me options, in that stupid inflexible header, to Accept, Decline, Propose New Time, & etc. Well, those options only increased the size of that inflexible header, so that the visible area of
the email WAS LESS THAN ONE INCH HIGH. Yes, I can adjust it -- how very productive!
These two Microsoft glitches / manifestations of poor design -- no alerting to attachments from Lotus clients and that horrid header -- very nearly conspired to cause
me to miss a critical attachment displayed only at the very bottom of the email. The document attached needs to be read and commented before the meeting, and only by the grace of God did I happen to scroll, IN THAT 3/4 INCH MAIL WINDOW, to the bottom and happen
to spot said critical attachment.
Do I expect anything more from Microsoft ... other than more grief and stupidity? Sadly, I do not. It is my misfortune in life to have to use Microsoft Word on a daily
basis, as I have for the past 10 years.
Before that, I used WordPerfect and what a wonderful program it was! I recall using WordPerfect to write and design one lovely graphical document in particular that earned
me an A+ in class. WordPerfect was so easy and powerful, with virtually no hassles—just gratification. Is it better to have loved (WordPerfect) and lost, than to have never loved at all?
Unfortunately, since all my clients use Word, I have to as well. Frankly, and I hope this isn’t against board rules, I am merely speaking the truth as I see it—Microsoft
Word is an utterly wretched application that has caused me untold grief and aggravation. Bulleting, text boxes, fickle fonts, the list is very, very long …. But it only gets worse!!!
The whole .doc .vs 
docx is a complete debacle; the “Compatibility Pack” is a cruel joke. If I use Word 2000 on .docx documents, here are some of the inconveniences and frustrations that I encounter:
Bulleting function grayed out
Spelling errors not highlighted
Additional linespaces introduced into printed documents
Mysterious transposition of bold, italics and underlining
Inability to work with text boxes (“Error! Reference source not found!”)
Track Changes not accurately recorded
These are not incidental issues. I’m a spelling bee champion, but unless the spelling highlight function works, I am bound to have a typo or two in a 20-page document.
This affects the quality of my work and my livelihood.
To make matters worse, my Windows 7 often won’t find .docx documents. If I had worked on a .docx document something four months that I recall included the word
“Rumplestiltskin,” the Windows 7 Find function should locate it, but it does not. 
I could go on and on. How about the dismal wireless connectivity in Window 7, vs. XP, which was virtually flawless. But I’m trying to catch up on the 15 hours that I lost yesterday thanks to Microsoft’s
awful Outlook troubleshooting and upgrade functionality.