
- #HOW TO CHANGE OUTLOOK OST FILE LOCATION IN OUTLOOK 2016 DOWNLOAD#
- #HOW TO CHANGE OUTLOOK OST FILE LOCATION IN OUTLOOK 2016 WINDOWS#
New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path "C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\outlookcom.ost" -Value "D:\Documents\Outlook Files\outlookcom.ost" Mklink "C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\outlookcom.ost" "D:\Documents\Outlook Files\outlookcom.ost"



Whichever method you pick, the result is the same. To create a Symbolic Link, you can use the MKLINK Command line tool or the New-Item PowerShell (version 5 or later) cmdlet. So, in our case, we are going to create a symbolic link for the ost-file in its original location on the system drive (C:\-drive) which points to the actual file on your data drive.Įven when you only have 1 drive or partition, you can use the method discussed in this guide to move the pst-file or ost-file to another location on that drive such as your Documents folder so that they for instance can be included in your backups more easily. What exactly Symbolic Links are and how they function is a bit too much and too complex to explain for this guide but you can use Wikipedia if you really want to learn more.įor now, you can look at Symbolic Links as advanced shortcuts which keep the original extension of the file that it is pointing to (instead of a lnk-file) which tricks the system into thinking that it is actually working with that file from that location rather than the location it is pointing to. You can control the location of newly created ost-files and pst-files via the Registry. Note: Still using Outlook 2010 or previous with an IMAP account? Then use the ForcePSTPath instead as these versions of Outlook use a pst-file to cache IMAP data in. You do not need to use quotes for this path, even if it contains spaces. Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\ \OutlookĪs the Value you give the path to the folder where you want to keep your ost-files. This Registry key allows you to set the default location for all newly created ost-files when adding an Exchange, or IMAP account to Outlook.

If you have the opportunity to remove and re-add your account and also re-download all your mail again from the mail server, then using the ForceOSTPath Registry value is the recommended way to go.
#HOW TO CHANGE OUTLOOK OST FILE LOCATION IN OUTLOOK 2016 DOWNLOAD#
While you can force the location of ost-files via Registry value, you’ll need to remove and re-add the account and download all mail again.Īn effective and more direct solution is to use Symbolic Links. Especially if you invested in a fast SSD-drive, you usually don’t have GBs of space to waste and rather locate this data on your larger data drive.
#HOW TO CHANGE OUTLOOK OST FILE LOCATION IN OUTLOOK 2016 WINDOWS#
This can lead to issues as these files can grow quite large and the disk or partition on which you have Windows installed might not be accommodated for that. Whereas it is quite easy to set or change the location of pst-files belonging to a POP3 account, changing the location of the ost-file for an Exchange, or IMAP account is much more troublesome.
