When Outlook uses Exchange, you have strict control over how email is delivered and processed. Exchange mail can be delivered in one of two ways:
■ To server mailboxes with local copies ■ To personal folders
Exchange mail can be processed by any of the information services configured for use in Outlook. These information services include the following:
■ Microsoft Exchange ■ Internet email
Let’s look at how you use each of these delivery and processing options. Using server mailboxes
When you are using Outlook 2007 or later with Exchange 2013 or Exchange Online, server mailboxes with local copies are the default configuration option. With server mailboxes, new email is delivered to a mailbox on the Exchange server, and users can view or receive new mail only when they’re connected to Exchange. When users are connected to Exchange, Outlook retrieves their mail and stores a local copy on their computer in addition to the email stored on Exchange.
The local copy of a user’s mail is stored in an offline folder .ost file. With Windows 7 or with Windows 8 and later, the default location of a .ost file is
%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Outlook, where %LocalAppData% is a user-specific
environment variable that points to a user’s local application data. Using server mailboxes offers users protected storage and the ability to have a single point of recovery in case something happens to their computers.
Using personal folders
An alternative to using server mailboxes is to use personal folders. Personal fold- ers are stored in a .pst file on the user’s computer. With personal folders, you can specify that mail should be delivered to the user’s inbox and stored on the server or that mail should be delivered only to the user’s inbox. Users have personal folders when Outlook is configured to use Internet email or other email servers. Users might also have personal folders if the auto-archive feature is used to archive messages.
REAL WORLD With Windows 7 or with Windows 8 and later, the default location of a .pst file is %LocalAppData%\Microsoft\Outlook, where %LocalAppData% is a user- specific environment variable that points to a user’s local application data. Personal folders are best suited for mobile users who check mail through dial-up connections and who might not be able to use a dial-up connection to connect directly to Exchange. Users with personal folders lose the advantages that server-based folders offer— namely, protected storage and the ability to have a single point of recovery in case of failure. In addition, .pst files have many disadvantages. They get corrupted more frequently and, on these occasions, you must use the Inbox Repair Tool to restore the file. If the hard disk on a user’s computer fails, you can recover the mail only if the .pst file has been backed up. Unfortunately, most workstations aren’t backed up regularly (if at all), and the onus of backing up the .pst file falls on the user, who might or might not understand how to do this.
DETERMINING THE PRESENCE OF PERSONAL FOLDERS
You can determine the presence of personal folders by following these steps:
1. Start Outlook. In Outlook 2007, on the Tools menu, tap or click Account Settings. In Outlook 2010, tap or click the Office button, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option. In Outlook 2013, on the File pane, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Set- tings option.
2. In the Account Settings dialog box, tap or click the Data Files tab.
3. The location of the data file associated with each email account is listed. If the file name ends in .pst, the account is using a personal folder.
CREATING NEW OR OPENING EXISTING PERSONAL FOLDERS
If personal folders aren’t available and you want to configure them, follow these steps:
1. Start Outlook. In Outlook 2007, on the Tools menu, tap or click Account Settings. In Outlook 2010, tap or click the Office button, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option. In Outlook 2013, on the File pane, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Set- tings option.
3. Tap or click Add. If the New Outlook Data File dialog box appears, Office Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst) should be selected by default. Tap or click OK.
4. Use the Create Or Open Outlook Data File dialog box, as shown in Figure 5-4, to create a new .pst file or open an existing .pst file:
FIGURE 5-4 Using the Create Or Open Outlook Data File dialog box to search for an existing .pst file or to create a new one.
■ To create a new .pst file in the default folder, type a name for the Outlook data file in the text box provided or accept the default value. To secure the file and ensure only a person with this password can access the file, select the Add Optional Password checkbox. In the Create Microsoft Per- sonal Folders dialog box, specify a password, verify the password for the .pst file, and tap or click OK.
■ To create a new .pst file in a nondefault folder, tap or click Browse Folders to show the folder view if it is hidden. Browse for the folder you want to use, type the file name in the text box provided or accept the default value, and then tap or click OK. Optionally, select the Add Optional Password checkbox. In the Create Microsoft Personal Folders dialog box, specify a password, verify the password for the .pst file, and tap or click OK. ■ To open an existing .pst file, tap or click Browse Folders to show the folder
view if it is hidden. Browse to the folder containing the .pst file. Select the .pst file, and then tap or click OK. In the Personal Folders dialog box, use the options provided to change the current password or compact the personal folder, and then tap or click OK.
NOTE It is important to be aware that Exchange Server does not ship with any password recovery utility for .pst files. If a user sets a password on a .pst file and forgets it, the Exchange administrator has no way to reset it. You might find third- party vendors who make password-cracking or recovery tools, but they are not guaranteed to work and they are not supported by Microsoft.
5. Tap or click Close. The personal folder you’ve selected or created is displayed in the Outlook folder list. You should see related subfolders as well.
DELIVERING MAIL TO PERSONAL FOLDERS
When you configure mail to be delivered to a personal folder, Outlook saves email messages only locally on the computer. As a result, Outlook removes the messages from Exchange Server after delivery and you can access the messages only on the currently logged-on computer.
If you want mail to be delivered to a personal folder, complete the following steps:
1. Start Outlook. In Outlook 2007, on the Tools menu, tap or click Account Settings. In Outlook 2010, tap or click the Office button, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option. In Outlook 2013, on the File pane, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Set- tings option.
2. In the Account Settings dialog box, tap or click the Data Files tab.
3. Select the .pst file to use in the list of data files provided, and then tap or click Set As Default.
4. When prompted to confirm, tap or click Yes, and then tap or click Close.
5. Exit and restart Outlook. Outlook will now use personal folders. If you want mail to resume using server-stored mail, complete the following steps:
1. Start Outlook. In Outlook 2007, on the Tools menu, tap or click Account Settings. In Outlook 2010, tap or click the Office button, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option. In Outlook 2013, on the File pane, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Set- tings option.
2. In the Account Settings dialog box, tap or click the Data Files tab.
3. Select the .ost file to use in the list of data files provided, and then tap or click Set As Default.
4. When prompted to confirm, tap or click OK, and then tap or click Close.
5. Exit and restart Outlook. Outlook will now use personal folders.