blog: move outlook folder on a different partition

[nikos]

here's the comment area for today's post found at:
http://www.zabkat.com/blog/19Oct08-redi ... folder.htm

[RickyF]

This looks interesting. I will have to experiment with it.

For non-Exchange Server setups I always move the PST file on my clients' and my machines to the Documents (neé My Documents) folder. This facilitates backups since all the important data files will reside in one directory structure.

My method is not as elegant as Nikos'.

• 1. I close Outlook and check Task Manager to make certain that Outlook is not still running, since it often remains running in memory.
  
  2. I navigate to the Outlook PST folder and move it to Documents.
  
  3. I restart Outlook.
  It displays an error message about not finding its data file. I point Outlook to the data file moved in the previous step. Outlook reports another error or two, which can be ignored.
  
  4. I close and restart Outlook. Everything is now fine.

I have done this since Outlook 2000 was released. There may be better ways to accomplish this but this always works.

[lian]

It works only with Vista ?

[nikos]

no, folder junctions work from windows 2000 (i think) but you need NTFS formatted partition

[Thracx]

While folder junctions are great for a lot of reasons, I thought it worth noting that you can tell Outlook to use a different folder to store your pst files in.  I've been doing it for years.

The option is in the 'Mail' Control Panel option.  Here's a quick guide that I found for doing it.  Note that you just change the folder itself - it does not migrate the data files for you so you'll still have to do that manually.

Although I think the option to change the folder is actually available from within Outlook, it's best to have Outlook closed and use the Control Panel to change it just to be safe.

My custom location is buried in my custom configuration files which get loaded whenever I reinstall Windows, so I don't recall where this path is stored in the registry, but if someone wants to know how I persist my custom location just let me know and I'll go dig it up

[nikos]

this is similar to RickyF's hack: first bring outlook into a panic by moving its file then specify the new location. Even xplorer2 is better than that for its settings  :P

[Thracx]

this is similar to RickyF's hack: first bring outlook into a panic by moving its file then specify the new location. Even xplorer2 is better than that for its settings  :P

hah, yeah, RickyF's method is somewhat odd but it still works - but the method I mentioned above involves changing Outlook's settings, then moving the files, simple as can be.  Outlook never needs to panic!

In other words there is a normal option to change Outlook's pst folder, it's just hidden a little deeper in Windows like many of the good settings out there :-)

[fgagnon]

FWIW, when I used Outlook, I always did as Thracx describes.
It's straightforward, but you just need to know where to find the setting in the Outlook menus.

[johngalt]

Nice blog Nikos - FWIW I run most of my OS this way - all my special folders are on a separate drive, as well as my Mozilla-based apps' profiles....

Makes a reinstall of the OS a *lot* easier....

I even have X^2's settings exported via he registry on same separate drive - for making X2 reinstalls a breeze