Microsoft eases access to Outlook data

From InfoWorld: Microsoft revealed on Monday two open source projects intended to improve interoperability with Microsoft Outlook files and even enable easier migrations from Outlook.

Projects include tools to make it easier for developers to read and write data out of Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders (.pst) files. These files store email, contacts, attachments, and other data.

Available under an Apache license at Microsoft's CodePlex open source projects site, projects include a .pst Data Structure Tool and a .pst File Format SDK. Developers can use the tools in conjunction with .pst file format documentation released earlier this year and available at Microsoft's Website.

The data structure tool gives developers a visual representation of data in the .pst file, said Paul Lorimer, group manager for interoperability in the Microsoft Office group. "[The tool] lets you visually navigate through the different levels of hierarchy," to understand where data is stored in a .pst file, Lorimer said.

The SDK, he said, "is a cross-platform library of code that can read all of the data out of a .pst file," he said.

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