Files and Settings guide for Outlook. This guide is not for the faint hearted but still is useful if you are interested in the location of a specific file or its purpose and whether or not is possible to migrate it to another computer. If you are looking for a way to just backup your Outlook data, please take a look at Backup and Restore all Outlook data instead. If you are looking for a way to conveniently backup your Outlook data and settings or want to move your Outlook data and settings to another computer, the blog post Backup Outlook settings is recommended instead. If you are in IT support or just are interested to find out which files Outlook uses and where it stores its settings; this is the guide for you. How this guide works. In the “Folder locations” section, you’ll find an overview of the folders Outlook uses to store files in or read files from. Aside from its location a short description is provided and a list of files types which are stored in that specific folder. These folder names are also referenced in the “File names” section. The “File names” and “Registry locations” include a “Migrate?” column to inform about the possibilities to move to another computer or user profile in the following way; possiblenot needed (automatically recreated)not recommended (dependencies)not possible. Not recommended. This means that the single file could hold dependencies on other settings, making it not usable after the migration or could break something else. It could also mean that the file holds data or settings which is automatically recreated after the migration and therefore not required to migrate. If you want to move these files, it is recommended that you use a backup/restore tool that supports migrating these settings by also copying or taking out certain dependencies. For that, please see this blog post. Restoring it on the same computer for the same user is basically always possible unless otherwise specified. Required Windows View settings. To be able to view all files, folders and file extensions, you might need to make 3 changes first in; Control Panel- > Folder Options- > tab View. Show hidden files and folders (selected)Hide extensions for known file types (disabled)Hide protected operating system files (disabled; only needed to see contents of the Protect folder)After finishing this guide, it is recommended to turn the above options back to their original settings. Folder locations. Unless otherwise specified, no advise is given to migrate the entire folder to another machine because of its mixed contents. Look at the list of individual files to determine if you can move the contents of the folder as a whole or not. Name and example files. Description contents and Locations. Main installation folder*. Installation files and folders. For the main part this folders consists out of *. Windows: C: \Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office< version number> \6. Windows: C: \Program Files (x. Microsoft Office\Office< version number> \Shared installation folder*. Additional installation files and folders which are often shared between Office applications or other applications. For the main part this folders consists out of *. Windows: C: \Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\6. Windows: C: \Program Files (x. Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Roaming Profile settings< profilename>. Outl. Prnt. Vba. Project. OTM*. pab. Contains files and settings of the user which are being synced back to the server when Roaming Profiles is enabled in a domain. Windows XP: C: \Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Windows 1. Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista: C: \Users\%username%\App. Data\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook\Local Profile settings< profilename>. Freeware Outlook Add-ons. Add-on products to enhance or extend the functionality of Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express. Name Contents and Location Migrate; Main Outlook settings (user) Most settings for options you can set in Outlook are saved here. Some keys will refer to folder paths. Get rid of annoying security alerts in Microsoft Outlook! Advanced Security for Outlook allows you to determine the violator as well as specifying the status for this. Contains files and settings of the user which are not being synced back to the server when Roaming Profiles in enabled in a domain. Windows XP: C: \Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Windows 1. Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista: C: \Users\%username%\App. Data\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\Roam. Cache. Stream. Other (Office) applications can also use this location to store their own form design settings and data. Windows XP: C: \Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft\Forms\Windows 1.
Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista: C: \Users\%username%\App. Data\Roaming\Microsoft\Forms\Forms Local Cache. Here are forms cached which are not native or local to the Outlook environment. Usually these are custom forms from Public Folders. This folder holds a subfolder for each cached form. These folders are named after the message class and have a tmp- file within that folder. Windows XP: C: \Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\FORMS\Windows 1. Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista: C: \Users\%username%\App. Data\Local\Microsoft\FORMS\Protect. Folder with system files holding encrypted information. The folder is named after the Security ID (SID) of the user. It is used by Outlook 2. Protected Storage registry key. It is not possible to migrate this folder but removing this folder can solve mail account password issues on Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Windows XP: C: \Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft\Protect\Windows 1. Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista: C: \Users\%username%\App. Data\Roaming\Microsoft\Protect\Signatures. Your signatures are being stored here in 3 formats; HTML, Plain Text and Rich Text The folder could hold additional data for your signature such as CSS, themes and images. For more on signatures see this guide. Windows XP: C: \Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft\Signatures\Windows 1. Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista: C: \Users\%username%\App. Data\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures. Templatesnormal. dotnormalemail. Default folder to store templates in. This folder is shared with other Office applications and could hold additional files. Windows XP: C: \Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates\Windows 1. Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista: C: \Users\%username%\App. Data\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates. Stationery*. htm*. Contains files used for personal stationery. Windows XP: C: \Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft\Stationery\Windows 1. Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista: C: \Users\%username%\App. Data\Roaming\Microsoft\Stationery\Proof. Holds additional personal dictionaries in the ANSI format (Outlook 2. Windows XP: C: \Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft\Proof\Windows 1. Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista: C: \Users\%username%\App. Data\Roaming\Microsoft\Proof\UProof. Holds additional personal dictionaries in the UNICODE format (since Outlook 2. Windows XP: C: \Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft\UProof\Windows 1. Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista: C: \Users\%username%\App. Data\Roaming\Microsoft\UProof\Local Office Settings. Holds various local Office settings including your customizations to the Quick Access Toolbars and Ribbons in Outlook. For an overview of qat- files used by Outlook 2. Outlook 2. 01. 0 and Outlook 2. UI- files instead. Windows XP: C: \Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\Windows 1. Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista: C: \Users\%username%\App. Data\Local\Microsoft\Office\Roaming Office Settings. Holds various roaming Office settings which are being synced back to the server when Roaming Profiles is enabled in a domain. Plain Text Auto. Correct entries created via Outlook are kept here as well. Windows XP: C: \Documents and Settings\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\Windows 1. Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista: C: \Users\%username%\App. Data\Roaming\Microsoft\Office\Secure Temp (OLK)This is the Temp folder for Outlook where it stores files to when they are directly opened from within Outlook instead of being saved to disk first by the user. The folder name is variable and its exact location is exposed in the registry. Windows XP: C: \Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\< variable> \Windows 1. Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows Vista: C: \Users\%username%\App. Data\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\< variable> \File Names< profilename> refers to name of the profile you have configured for Outlook. By default this is either “Outlook” or “Microsoft Outlook Internet Settings”. Name. Description contents and Locations. Migrate?*. pst. Personal Message Store Main data file for Outlook containing all you Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Notes and Journal items. In addition to that it can contain “hidden” data or settings such as Views, Rules, Categories (since Outlook 2. Auto. Archive settings, etc. When you have Auto. Archive enabled, you’ll have a file called archive. If you connect to a Share. Point List, then you’ll also have a file called “Share. Point Lists. pst”. IMAP accounts also uses this file format to cache their data in. Additional automatically created pst- files are appended with a number e. Further information about the pst- file can be found here. Corruption of the main pst- file can prevent Outlook from loading correctly and could also lead to data loss. Therefore you should backup these files on a regular basis. Possible. Location: Local Profile Settings*. Offline Message Store Similar to a pst- file but represents an offline cache of an on- line mailbox intended to enable offline access and to reduce network traffic or to increase Outlook performance when using a slow connection. These files were originally used only to cache an Exchange mailbox but the Outlook Connector also uses this file format to cache Live Hotmail mailboxes. By default the file is called outlook. Exchange and < Live ID>. Outlook Connector e. Additional automatically created ost- files are appended with a number e.
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November 2017
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