# Can I share calendars and contacts without Exchange Server?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-share-calendars-and-contacts-without-exchange-server/401369>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 23, 2007, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-share-calendars-and-contacts-without-exchange-server/401369 "2007-04-23T21:37:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Surbey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-share-calendars-and-contacts-without-exchange-server/401369/1 "2007-04-23T21:37:26Z")

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So I want to share calendars and contact information in Outlook 2003 but I don’t want to run Exchange server. They are all on one machine so I don’t need to share anything across a lan.

Any ideas?

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**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-share-calendars-and-contacts-without-exchange-server/401369/2 "2007-04-24T00:41:39Z")

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So who are you going to share them with?

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**Author:** ![Surbey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-share-calendars-and-contacts-without-exchange-server/401369/3 "2007-04-24T04:43:56Z")

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another user on this computer

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**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\
**Post date:** [April 24, 2007, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-share-calendars-and-contacts-without-exchange-server/401369/4 "2007-04-24T04:51:36Z")

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Sure. Create a .pst to which you both have access. I’m assuming that by “another user on this computer” you mean that only one of you would be accessing the file at a time.

Once created, you’ll have to add both a calendar and contact folders to the .pst, but that’ll allow you to share.

[Here are some pretty instructions on how to add the .pst.](http://spike.wharton.upenn.edu/consult/email/personal_folders.cfm) Once it’s created, you can right-click on the new Personal Folder (in Outlook) and choose “New Folder” to create a Calendar and, then, a Contacts subfolder. You’ll then have to log in with each separate user profile and add that new .pst so that they, too, will have access.

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**Author:** ![Surbey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-share-calendars-and-contacts-without-exchange-server/401369/5 "2007-04-25T04:47:05Z")

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thanks Skip. I played around with it some more and I got it. I did it the same way you described so you were dead on!