When you create an Exchange Server account, Outlook defaults to storing your data in your Exchange Server mailbox. However, you can add a PST file to store your data, including Calendar, Contacts, e-mail folders, and other folders. This capability is different from using an OST file as an offline cache. You should understand the ramifications of changing your storage location before doing so.

If you maintain your data on the Exchange Server, the DataGate Exchange Server system administrators backs up your data on a regular basis. Your local system, however, might not be backed up as frequently, if at all, unless you perform the backup yourself or your workstation is included in a regular network backup strategy. Therefore, if you use a PST file to store your data and that file becomes corrupted or lost, you could lose all your e-mail, contacts, and other information unless you have a recent backup.

If you add an Exchange Server account to a profile that already contains a POP3 account, Outlook uses the current store location defined by the profile for Exchange Server. This means your data is stored in the local PST file rather than in your Exchange Server mailbox. Therefore, you should check and perhaps change the location after adding the Exchange Server account.

The best solution is to use your Exchange Server mailbox as the primary storage location and use the OST file—either with Cached Exchange Mode or without—for offline storage. This strategy not only allows your data to be backed up easily by the Exchange Server system administrator, but also gives you the ability to work offline. Plus, your offline data store can act as a backup for your online store. Perhaps most  important, however, is that other users will be able to access your calendar, contacts, and other information more easily (subject to the permissions you set) than if your store were located on your local computer or in a network share.

Reconfiguring your storage location

If you use other accounts in the same profile as Exchange Server, you might want to reconfigure the location where messages from your other accounts are stored. Also, you might want to use message rules to automatically move messages between folders and stores. If you decide that you want to change the location where Outlook stores your data—either to point it to a local file or to restore your Exchange Server mailbox as the location—you can do so by changing the properties for your account.

Follow these steps to configure the storage location for your data:

If Outlook is open, choose Tools, E-Mail Accounts to open the E-Mail Accounts Wizard. If Outlook is not open, right-click the Outlook icon on the Start menu and choose Properties, and then click E-Mail Accounts.

Select View Or Change Existing E-Mail Accounts and click Next.

If you don’t need to create the other PST file (it already exists), go to step 7. Otherwise, click New Outlook Data File.

Click Add, select the type of store file to create, and click OK.

Specify the name and location for the file and click OK.

In the Create Microsoft Personal Folders dialog, specify properties based on the your requirements.

Click OK to create the file.

Click Close to close the Outlook Data Files dialog box.

In the Deliver New E-Mail To The Following Location drop-down list, select the location where you want your data stored. Your Exchange Server mailbox appears in the list as Mailbox—<name>, where <name> is the name of your Exchange Server mailbox.

Click Finish to complete the change. Outlook informs you that you’ve changed the default location for mail delivery as well as the storage location for your other standard Outlook folders.

Click OK and restart Outlook for the change to take effect.