Moving your OST in Outlook 2007 or 2010
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Sometimes where Outlook chooses to place your OST just isn't right
For Exchange users who work in a disconnected mode a lot (and those with slow or intermittent connections to the server at home or in the office) the OST or Offline Storage / Cache mode in Outlook is an absolute blessing.
You can work disconnected and then sync back to the server to send/receive your email, update your calendars etc. I spend a lot of time with my laptop in cafes between meetings and being able to sync over WiFi or my cellphone as a modem (and have the connection downgrade and trickle just headers and let me select what's important if the connection is slow) is a life saver
But sometimes when you set up Outlook the default location for the OST isn't always optimal. For me recently it tried to put it on my fairly full C: drive which I try and keep for just the OS and Application files - all personal data should live on the D: Drive
Moving the OST
Luckily, it's not to difficult to move the OST from the default location to anywhere you want it
Refer to the picture above, and follow the simple steps (don't forget to restart Outlook when prompted)...
- Go into Tools | Account Settings
- [A] On the Data Files tab select the data file for the account
- [B] Turn off "Cached mode" on the "advanced" tab
- [C] Disable "Offline use" on the "offline folder" settings popup
- And then.... you can move the .ost (in Explorer) and reference the new location to have Outlook work with it
- When you've finished don't forget to re-enable "Offline use" and turn "Cached mode" back on - otherwise you'll only be able to work when connected to the remote server
When you have finished this process Outlook may spend a moment re-synchronising your local data with the server, but if you have moved and used a recent OST then the process will be no longer than a normal send/receive.
Don't forget to keep your OST tidy
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Thanks... nice, simple and workabe solution
unreal - thanks a lot!
Easy, only once you know how - thanks.
Gord
Thank you, realy good.
Sehr schön,
ich danke dir!
great! that was simple! thanks!
Thanks for that!!!
A lot easier than the old method of manual regedit that I use to use! Thanks!
Very useful advice. Thanks!
--Bill
How many years did it take for MS to get the hint?-M
Outlook is no fun. Every time I try to move my ost, it is no good at all. Just don't do it.
@Quinn - did you follow the instructions above? I've used them several times at it works fine. What version of Outlook are you using?
This was very useful. Thanks for the advice.
I had trouble with this, but after multiple pop error boxes when trying to restart outlook it finally worked. Make sure you close Office Communicator if you use it.
Hmm, the tip does not seem to apply to IMAP-accounts...?
Great, You've helped me alot. Thank You :)
thx a lot!!.. really helped..
Just what I was looking for! Thanks so much.
Genius!
A good advice, thanks.But in my case, i can't disable Exchange Cache Mode - the checkbox is disabled. Do you have any hint?
Thanks - Simon
Perfect. I had been told it was not possible and feared trying a manual move of files and some regedit botch.
Thanks a million.
@Simon - if the checkbox is disabled you need to go "offline" first (disconnect from your Exchange server) - you can't do an update while connected...
hi is there any way that i can restore my previoust ost file as i have lost online data but luckily had backup of ost in my harddisk...now i imagine it should contain old emails
This was great advice. Thanks for posting and making it so findable.
Thanks buddy,
You saved me from some gray hairs ;O)
But why oh why do MS insist on making this sh*t so difficult? It's not rocket science, it's computer science.
1.) Not everyone stores EVERYTHING on the C:\. Work it out! Let the software be configured differently from the blessed defaults - God forbid anyone would want to change a default setting. I mean why would you? They're perfect right. NO!
2.) Not everyone wants to store application data in the 200 deep directory structure (presumably for easy access) at C:\Documents and Settings\AUser\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\SomeStupidApp\Yada\Yada\Yada\...
3.) Also, what happened to usability studies? Where "real" users interacted with the system and tried "common" stuff. Presumably there was a requirement to move the config files but it was never tested.....by anyone...much??? Lovely work.
Rant rave gimme a soap box....
@MollyX ... I hear ya! I started out ranting and... now I work there :)
The good news is I now see how much feedback - like this - is taken into account when making decisions in product development... so never stop (and check out https://careers.microsoft.com/ ... who knows, you might find the perfect role to fix this)
Can't thank you (and Bing, for finding it so quick!) enough. Exactly what I was looking for and struggling with.
Thanks that was a great hint, Quick and easy to follow. Saved my neck because i have a mac with a windows virtual machine running on vmware fusion and since Entourage sucks.... i wanted outlook setup. But I created my C drive filled up and i have another partition but the VM wouldn't let me extend it . so i wanted to point my 2 gig OST to the d drive.
Brilliant help, nice and concise. Thanks!
Very Use full info. Able to move the Data from C drive to E Drive.
Thanks a lot
Thanks so much. Just a note...you may need to Apply the changes of removing Cached Exchange Mode before being able to click on Disable Offline Folders. Otherwise, the tutorial was perfect.
Thanks
You, sir, are a STAR! Thanks :o)
macro shit
Well done.
Ya, it works but when i do so i was stuck in the middle of the process and due to power supply i missed the important data then repair OST File software helped me to short out the problem. You can try it from - www.repairostfile.com
THANKS A TERA .. MORE THAN PROFESSIONAL
Easier way if you're online: Close Outlook, rename the ost file, restart outlook and it automatically create an outlook.ost file and sync with the server.
Very good hub. Continue for sharing this type of information. If are interested to know more about this topic you can visit this hub: http://hubpages.com/hub/Compact-OST-file-to-manage
Thanks! Short, but brilliant article.
I did in little bit different way. I closed outlook first and then used Control Panel Mail application for all the actions. Also I think it is useful to mention that you may experience a problem while copying files because of Windows Search service or Microsoft Communicator application.
In such cases, many of the times the ost file becomes inaccessible, especially when you update the MS Outlook client for the newer version. The newer version of outlook can not locate the ost file results in ost file corruption. the only thing you can do when you get the ost file corrupted is to convert the ost file in to its equivalent pst version. After converting the ost file into pst file
you can easily access the pst file using your newer version of outlook
Brilliant ! Thanks.
Thanks man! You really saved my life! This has been a very big problem for me to move a large mailbox from drive c to an another partition! Thanks! You are THE BEST!!!! :))
USE SysTools exchange OS recovery tool and convert ost to pst file a very easily.
ost recovery and ost to pst conversion tool
1. repair ost file
2.convert ost to pst file
OST to PST Conversion tool is an effective Email Conversion Software tool to convert emails, contacts, calendar, tasks, notes, attachments etc from unusable OST (Exchange Server Offline Storage File) to PST (Microsoft Outlook Personal Storage) File Format easily..http://www.ostconvert.com
Thanks for the article. It did not help with 2010 though.
Exactly what i am looking for thanks for the information i found some related articles on http://www.ostpstconverter.blogspot.com
Thanks. Unlike many of the steps on the web for doing this, this version actually retains the contents of the OST (other guides don't keep the OST file, so Outlook has to rebuild it). The last thing I wanted was to have to rebuild my huge OST file afterward.
I found an helpful resource at http://www.techtwitt.com
Thanx a lot
With Outlook 2007, moving the OST will cause search to stop functioning. I had to use this procedure to restore search functionality by including the new OST file location in the indexing folders.
With Outlook 2007, moving the OST will cause search to stop functioning. I had to use this procedure http://www.thenetworktechnician.com/2009/06/how-to to restore search functionality by including the new OST file location in the indexing folders.
Superb advice and guidance !!
Thanks for the great post, COnvert OST to PST tools really proves bebeficial in recovering data from an corrupt Outlook ost file
thanks
for more outlook help check out http://howtooutlook.com
Note that the OST file is a replication of the Exchange Server data, and as such would not normally need to be backed up. It will be refreshed or re-created when you reconnect to your Exchange Server. You might want to move it if your C:\ drive is tiny. . .
Will NOT work with hotmail.ost files, at least those that involve the Outlook Connector, which is the only way to get IMAP with Hotmail (Live Mail just uses a different form of Connector - neither will work!)
Great post. One such link that helped me in achieving great recovery results is http://www.convert-osttopst.com
Thanks for the tips. In my case, this ost repair tool did a great work: http://www.recover-computerdata.com/ost-pst-conver
Ajay 4 years ago
This was really brilliant advice. made my day :)