The following articles were included in our Exchange Messaging Outlook (EMO) newsletter published on November 7, 2024.
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Today's Highlights »
- Backing up to OneDrive and PST files
- Bulk Delete Calendar Events
- Using Multiple Outlook.com Accounts in a Browser
- Tip: Sharing Files from Office Apps
Backing up to OneDrive and PST files
I talked about moving PST files in last week’s and commented on not storing PST files in OneDrive. This article is specifically related to using PST files and enabling OneDrive to backup your documents folder.
The default location for PST files is in the Outlook Files subfolder in the Documents folder, which is stored in C: > Users > %username%. When you enable OneDrive to back up the Documents folder, the contents of the folder, including the PST file, is moved into the OneDrive folder, which is under C: > Users > %username% > OneDrive. This moves your PST files, causing Outlook to error you restart it.
The quick fix is to click OK on the error message then the Browse button and browse to find the PST in the OneDrive folder. This is fine if the PST is on the smaller side. Note that they only sync when Outlook is closed so you should wait for the sync to finish after closing Outlook and shutting down the computer. Huge PST files will take longer to sync back to OneDrive.com (and take up a lot of space in OneDrive) and it's better to keep them out of OneDrive.
My recommendation is to close Outlook and move the PST back to the original location the restart Outlook. It should restart without errors once the PST files are moved back to where it is looking for them.
Alternately you can move the PST to another folder outside of OneDrive. If you do this, you will need to click Browse in the error dialog to show Outlook where to look for the PST.
In either case, if you set the ForcePSTPath registry value with the new folder pst, any PST files you create in the future will default to this folder. Instructions to set the ForcePSTPath reg key
If you aren’t offered a Browse button to find the PST, you’ll need to add the PST yourself. If Outlook opens, go to File > Open & Export > Open Outlook data file and add the PST back. Then go to File > Account Settings > Account Settings. If you are using a POP account, select the account on the Email tab and click Change folder at the bottom. Select the Inbox in the PST you just added and close the dialog. On the Data files tab, select the PST that is in OneDrive and click Remove.
If the PST was your default data file and you don't get the browse button, you’ll need to open Control Panel, find Mail (Microsoft Outlook) then edit the profile. After adding the moved PST and setting it as the delivery location for the account on the Email tab, select it on the Data files tab and set as Default data file. Try removing the other PST. If it errors, you’ll need to restart Outlook then remove the PST in File > Account Settings > Account Settings > Data files tab.
Bulk Delete Calendar Events
I hear from quite a few users who tried to open a Calendar *.ics file and mistakenly imported it into their calendar instead.
How easy it is to clean up the resulting mess depends on which email client is being used.
Classic Outlook: change the view to the List view, add the past modified or created date to the view, sort by the modified or created date (but not group by the field). Then select the first event with the mouse, hold Shift and select the last one then press Delete.
Outlook for Mac: Change the calendar to use the month. From the View menu, select List (or use the shortcut Control + Command + 0). Hold Command and click on events to select; if all events are together, select the first then hold Shift and select the last one. Press Delete. Click the < or > buttons because the calendar month to move to the previous or next month and repeat the steps.
While deleting the events month by month is not as efficient as classic Outlook for Windows, it’s better than deleting the events one at a time.
Outlook on the web and new Outlook: If you don’t have a copy of classic Outlook or Outlook for Mac to use, you’ll need to delete the events one at a time. Sorry.
Using Multiple Outlook.com Accounts in a Browser
A common complaint from users with multiple outlook.com and Hotmail account: “When I open the browser, it always brings up my default address. How do I open the other account?”
This is easy, with several options to choose from. One a lot of users choose is to log out of the account.
If you don’t want to log in and out all the time, you can click on the image or initials on the top right and open another account. This is not my favorite because sometimes I think I’m in one account and it’s the other one.
My preference is to use different browser profiles, one for each account. I can stay logged in and know which account I’m logged into. Or, if you have more than one browser installed, use a different browser for each account.
You can also use the “browse as guest” option or open a private browser window instead, but either will log you out when you close the browser.
At least one browser, Ghost Browser, keeps the cookies for each tab isolated, allowing you to open multiple accounts, each in a different tab.
Tip: Sharing Files from Office Apps
When you share files from Word or Excel using the sharing button in the upper right, the file is saved to and shared from OneDrive. You need to have the account you want to send from set up in Office as a connected service in File > Accounts.
If you want to add a note, you need to have the account added to new Outlook too; if the account is not added to new Outlook, the share will be sent but your note will not be included.
Also, if you just saved the file right before sharing it, wait a few seconds to send, to give it time to sync up to the server.
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