You can’t rename or move a Personal Folders .pst file while Microsoft Outlook is running or through the properties for the PST file in either Tools | Services or Outlook Today.

If you are using Outlook 2003, 2007 or 2010, we recommend going into Control Panel, Mail and pointing Outlook to the moved pst instead of waiting for Outlook to prompt you to locate the moved pst. See New Method for details.

New Method (Recommended)

This method can be used for POP3 or IMAP accounts, as well as Sharepoint and Subscribed Calendar data files.

First, close Outlook then make sure Outlook is not listed in Task Manager, Processes tab a few minutes after you close it.

1. Open the profile (Control panel, Mail) and click on Data files.
2. Select the account and click Open Folder to open the folder containing the PST.
3. Move the PST to the desired location. The PST files used by POP3 accounts can be renamed.
4. Switch to the Data Files window and double click on the account’s data file.
5. Now you’ll get the ‘can’t find’ error and can tell outlook where to find it.
6. Close the dialogs and you are ready to restart outlook.

A video  tutorial is available at How to move the IMAP personal folder (*.pst)

Old Method

Find the current location of the PST by looking at the properties for Personal Folders in Tools | Services or for, Outlook 98/2000 in Internet Mail Only mode, in the properties for Outlook Today. Then, follow these steps:

1. Use File | Exit (Exit and Log Off in Outlook 98/2000 in Corporate/Workgroup mode) to quit Outlook.
2. Move the file to the new location. (You can also use this technique to rename the file.)
3. Restart Outlook. When you’re prompted for the location of the now-missing PST file, point to the file in its new location.

If you are moving a .pst file to a different machine that is running Outlook, see:

• Moving Outlook to a new computer

Note: this method only works with POP3 or standalone PST files. See How to move the IMAP personal folder (*.pst) if you need to move an IMAP or SharePoint PST files. Files used by the Outlook Connector cannot be moved using these methods.

Notes | More Information

Outlook Connector files

Outlook Hotmail Connector creates a pst, ost, or nst file in %localappdata%\microsoft\outlook folder and you can’t move it using normal methods. It is possible to repoint the folder or file using symbolic links or junction points. You could also use a registry hack to move the user profile folder (this will affect all files in the user profile).

For more information, see Symbolic Links (MSDN), Junction Points (MSDN), and How to Move Shell Folders (and contents).

Notes

If you try to locate a PST file with Start | Find on a Windows system, you need to be aware that Windows treats PST files as hidden files. In Windows Explorer, use Tools | Folder Options | View to make sure that hidden files are shown.

Moving the file may cause both Outlook Bar shortcuts to be regenerated. You should also check your Rules Wizard rules to make sure they’re still moving data into the right folders.

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Last reviewed on Apr 12, 2012