Where Outlook 2007 saves information 

The following is a list of locations where Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 saves information.

Some of the folders might be hidden folders. To display hidden folders, do the following:

·         Windows Vista    

1.         In Windows, click the Start button, and then click Control Panel.

2.         Click Appearance and Personalization.

 Note   If you are using Control Panel Classic View, double-click Folder Options, and then continue with step 4.

3.         Click Folder Options.

4.         On the View tab, under Advanced settings, under Files and Folders, under Hidden files and folders, select Show hidden files and folders.

·         Microsoft Windows XP    

1.         Click the Start button, and then click Control Panel.

2.         Click Folder Options.

3.         Click the View tab, and then click the Show hidden files and folders option.

Your configuration may not include all of the following files. Some files are created only when you customize Outlook features.

Personal Folders file (.pst)

Personal Folders files (.pst) contain your e-mail messages, calendars, contacts, tasks, and notes. You must use Outlook to work with the items in a .pst file.

When you archive Outlook information, items are saved in a .pst files.

 Note   Microsoft Exchange Server accounts store your information on the mail server. For Cached Exchange Mode or to work offline, copies of your items are saved in an Offline Folders file (.ost). See the Offline Folders file (.ost) section for more information. Also, some organizations allow you to export or archive your items to a .pst file.

Windows Vista     drive:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Microsoft Windows XP or Microsoft Windows Server 2003     drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Offline Folders file (.ost)

The .ost file is synchronized with the items on the server running Microsoft Exchange. Because your data remains on the Exchange server, you can recreate this .ost file on your new computer without having to back up the .ost file.

Windows Vista     drive:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003     drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Personal Address Book (.pab)

Windows Vista     drive:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003     drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

 Note   Personal Address Books (.pab) are no longer supported by Office Outlook 2007. When you upgrade to Office Outlook 2007, you are prompted to import any .pab file into Contacts. If you choose not to import the .pab file, you can import it later by using the Import and Export command on the File menu.

Offline Address Book (.oab)

The Office Address Book (.oab) is used by Microsoft Exchange Server accounts. The Offline Address Book contains the properties of a user, such as e-mail addresses, that Outlook requires in order to send an e-mail message and display information about the user. By using the Offline Address Book, Outlook does not have to connect to Exchange in order to resolve names or open the records for each user. This reduces network traffic and improves performance.

You do not need to back up or restore this file. This is file is created and updated by Outlook.

Windows Vista     drive:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003     drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Command bar and menu customizations (.dat)

Windows Vista     drive:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook\outcmd.dat

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003     drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\outcmd.dat

Navigation Pane settings (.xml)

Windows Vista     drive:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Outlook\profile name.xml

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003     drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\profile name.xml

This file includes Shortcuts, Calendar, and Contact links.

Registered Microsoft Exchange extensions (.dat)

Windows Vista     drive:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003     drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Outlook Contacts AutoComplete (.nk2)

AutoComplete is a feature which displays suggestions for names and e-mail addresses as you begin to type them. These suggestions are possible matches from a list of names and e-mail addresses that you have typed before, known as the AutoComplete name list.

Windows Vista     drive:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003     drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Rules (.rwz)

Windows Vista     drive:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003     drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

 Note   If you upgraded to Office Outlook 2007 from a version of Outlook earlier than Microsoft Outlook 2002, you might have an .rwz file on your computer's hard disk drive. The .rwz file is no longer needed, and the information about rules is now kept on the server running Microsoft Exchange, and in the Personal Folders file (.pst) (Personal Folders file (.pst): Data file that stores your messages and other items on your computer. You can assign a .pst file to be the default delivery location for e-mail messages. You can use a .pst to organize and back up items for safekeeping.) for POP3 (POP3: A common protocol that is used to retrieve e-mail messages from an Internet e-mail server.) and IMAP (IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol): Unlike Internet e-mail protocols such as POP3, IMAP creates folders on a server to store/organize messages for retrieval by other computers. You can read message headers only and select which messages to download.) e-mail accounts. So you can delete the file.

If you use the Rules Import and Export feature, the default location for .rwz files is drive:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents.

Print styles (Outlprnt with no extension)

Windows Vista     drive:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003     drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Signatures (.rtf, .txt, .htm)

Windows Vista     drive:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Signatures

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003     drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\Signatures

Stationery (.htm)

Windows Vista     drive:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery

Windows Vista 64-bit with Office Outlook 2007 32-bit     drive:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003     drive:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery

Custom forms

Windows Vista     drive:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Forms

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003     drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Forms

Dictionary (.dic)

Windows Vista     drive:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\UProof

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003     drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\UProof

Templates (.oft)

Windows Vista     drive:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003     drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates

Send/Receive settings (.srs)

Windows Vista     drive:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003     drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook

Message (.msg, .htm, .rtf)

Windows Vista     drive:\Users\user\Documents

Windows XP or Windows Server 2003     drive:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents