If you want to use multiple accounts in Outlook and one is an Exchange server, the Exchange account always wants to be the default data file. While you can set any email account as the default account for sending mail, you may not be able to set the data file as default in the Account Settings dialog.
While this was fixed in Outlook 2016 (when you have only 2 accounts in your profile), if you use an older build (such as is available with the retail version), you will need to use the following steps to change the default if you have a business Microsoft Exchange account.
When you try, you might receive and error message that reads:
The selected Outlook data file (.pst) format cannot be used. Outlook data files (.pst) must use the same format as offline Outlook data files (.ost). Select a matching Outlook data file (.pst) or turn off cache mode in the Account Settings.
However, you can set another data file as default if you add the Exchange account to the profile from the Control Panel's Mail applet and follow specific steps. If the Exchange account was the first account added to the current profile, you'll need to make a new profile.
Note: It doesn't matter which account is added to the profile first but you absolutely must add the Exchange or Outlook.com account to the profile from Control Panel and disable cached mode (Step 2) on the account before closing the dialogs.
If using a Google Apps account, let Google Apps create the profile and open Outlook (at least) once to sync the account. Close Outlook and add the Exchange or Outlook.com account to your profile from the Control Panel.
- Open the Control Panel and search for Mail
- If your profile opens directly when you click the Outlook icon, click Email Accounts. If you are creating a new profile, or have more than one profile, click Show Profiles then add a new profile or select the correct profile.
- Add the Exchange (or Outlook.com) account to the profile.
- Click the Change Account Settings box (Manually Configure settings in older versions) after your account is configured and then click the Next button.
- Uncheck the Use Cached mode option to disable cached mode. If the Use Cached Exchange mode is grayed out, click More Settings, then Advanced and untick Use Cached Exchange Mode.
- Click Data Files and set the desired data file as the default.
- Close the Account Settings dialog to return to Mail setup dialog (screenshot in Step 2) then click Data Files button to re-open Account Settings dialog.
- Verify the default data file is correct.
- If you get the message that you can't set the other data file as default, double-click on the Exchange data file and untick Use Cached Exchange on the Advanced tab again.
- From Email tab, double click on the Exchange account and re-enable cached mode.
- Close the dialogs and return to the Mail applet. Reopen the profile and verify the correct account and data file is set as default.
- If you created a new profile, set it as the default profile.
- Close the dialogs.
- Restart Outlook.
Kassem Ismail says
Amazing, thank you, im been googling two days and this one fixed it
Boz says
I realise this page is quite old now but, Diane, I have a question for you. I am running Outlook from Office Pro 2021. I have several emails including my the one associated with my Microsoft account (outlook.com), a yajhoo address and a couple of gmail addresses. I am trying to set up some mail merges to be sent from one of the gmail accounts but, whatever I do, the sending address defaults to my Microsoft account. I have read that a work around is to use the default data file to match the default email and be the email you are trying to send from. So that is why I want to change the default data file - and that is where I run in to the "the selected outlook data file" error. My account is not a business one but can you offer any work around? Or any way to "fix" the MS mail merge not using the "default" email account? Many thanks for any tips!
Sandra says
Very helpful post. I added the exchange account via applet as directed. that account doesn't appear in outlook list. additionally, every time I open outlook, I get two error messages:
does this mean I have to choose between being able to choose a default data file and having to go thru the two error messages every time i open outlook?
thank you.
Bill says
Very clear instructions that did the trick for me! Thanks very much!
Johnny says
As stated in the article, if using Exchange Active Sync, EAS, as one account and another as a regular Exchange account, Outlook always selects the Exchange account as the default. You can change the default email account but not the default data file.
By using MFCMapi it is possible to set EAS as the default data file store:
Open MFCMapi and log on. Select the EAS account you want as the default data file store, right-click it and select Advanced->Set default store.
It might even be possible to set an IMAP account as the default with this method but I haven't tested it.
Trey says
This is the actual answer. Thank you
Mick says
Diane, thank you and a question:
I'm MS 365 on Windows 10 desktop. I have 2 IMAPS and trying to add 1 Exchange. The 2 IMAPs worked fine until I added the Exchange, and began experiencing lots of problems which I think relate to the data files. Adding the Exchange made it the default data file. I want one of the IMAPs to be the default but couldn't change it within Outlook.
Your solution of adding Exchange from Control Panel might be the answer but I want to understand before trying it: If I use your method, does it result in 2 profiles (one with the IMAPS and one with the Exchange) or just 1 profile (with all 3 accounts)? Is there any risk of losing my IMAP contacts/calendar data?
THANK you so much in advance.
Mick
Diane Poremsky says
It adds the exchange account to the profile with the IMAP accounts - but will only work with business exchange accounts anymore, not outlook.com accounts - Microsoft no longer lets you set outlook.com accounts in online mode.
I would export the calendar and contacts to a pst or CSV for backup just in case - if anything happens to the IMAP data file, you'll lose them.
Another option is adding the account as pop or IMAP using the manual set up option. It will be email-only though.
Mick says
Thank you! The Exchange is a business exchange, so I'm hopeful this works. I regularly export IMAP calendar/contacts to a pst and will do so before this try.
Speaking of, I saw your suggestion to protect IMAP calendar/contacts by separating them from IMAP e-mail, by creating a local pst. But I'm nervous to try; just not sure about the implications since I also use Companionlink for synching to Outlook to iOS (via google). So any wisdom there is welcome.
Anyway, your expertise is a go-to for me and much appreciated.
Mick
Diane Poremsky says
if you are using companionlink, you are fine - they are in gmail should anything happen to the local data file.
Craig says
This may have solved a long standing issue I have had - thankyou! Now if Outlook had a unified inbox it would be amazing
Steve says
Also Diane, does it really matter if the Outlook.com account is the default data file, are there any disadvantages to it?
Diane Poremsky says
No, except if you have multiple data files you might not have a choice. The big plus with imap accounts is your calendar & contacts will be stored in the mailbox, safely, not in 'this computer only' folders.
Steve says
Hello Diane
Near the start of your article you said "this was fixed for Outlook 2016". I have a new laptop and Office 365 which is updated but this problem is still there, why do you think that is?
Diane Poremsky says
How many iamp accounts are in your profile? If you have more than 1 imap or exchange, you need to use exchange as the default. If you have 1 imap and 1 exchange, you can set the imap as default.
Brandi says
Thank you for the tutorial! I've followed all steps successfully in my Outlook 360, however, when I get to step 9, I continue to get the error that I cannot set the .pst file to default, even though all the Used Cache Exchange are unticked. I've restarted Outlook for the unticked Used Cache Exchange options to take affect, but still unable to set the preferred pst file as my default. Your help is greatly appreciated
Diane Poremsky says
If you use an outlook.com account, you can't use cached mode so the trick won't work.
Luis says
Hi! it is June 2019 and still I cant use an exhange account and a gapps mapi account in the same profile without getting the error when sending emails, it is crazy; there is no way to have a gapps fully funcional accunnt in the same profile as a work microsoft account?
Diane Poremsky says
No, not with the google sync utility. :(
Fran D says
This was working for me for a while, but after a recent office meltdown that required a reinstall of 2016, I can't get the Exchange file to open in Outlook after setting it back to cached mode. I get the following error if I try:
"The set of folders cannot be opened. The Outlook data file whatever.ost cannot be used in this profile. Outlook currently delivers items into an Outlook 97-2002 data file, which does not support multilingual Unicode data. To correct this, change the delivery location to one that supports multilingual Unicode data."
This is incredibly frustrating, because it had been working like a charm before. What is happening now?
Diane Poremsky says
>> Outlook currently delivers items into an Outlook 97-2002 data file
What is set as the default data file? That message indicates its an old pst format.
Did you try creating a new profile?
Fran D says
Yep, that was the issue. Somehow, on the Outlook rebuild an old PST started the process. Made a new profile with a clean, new PST and everything is good again. Thanks.
Jamie O says
I am looking to see if there is a way to set the default data file from .PST to .OST via a registry key or a power shell script. We migrated from POP3 and we have end users where their old .PST file became default to their new Cloud account. See Picture - Need to set .OST to default via registry key / power shell script.
Diane Poremsky says
AFAIK, you'd need to use extended mapi or redemption to change it. i don;'t think you can do it using powershell. Because the profiles are not all identical, you can't make a simple reg key change and pass it out in a logon script.
As an FYI, even though 2013 and 2016 can set the imap data file as default, but its not recommended because of the 'this computer only' folders that are not synced with anything, which could lead to data loss.
Rob says
Diane, thanks for all the great articles and info through the years. Most of the times I wouldnt have gotten anywhere without it. This time however, none of it works and Microsoft Support says it should while Google Support says it cant. It's 2017, what I'm trying to do should be easy and simple to set up.
Like someone below mentioned too, I'm using G Suite (and a couple of IMAP accounts in the same Profile) and GSSMO for Outlook 2016. G Suite seems to use MAPI. This all works well until I tried to add an Premium Outlook Exchange Server account to the profile. I replicated your steps described and I succeeded in adding the Premium Outlook account through the Mail applet just fine. I can start Outlook and GSSMO syncs just fine. The issue is, when trying to send an email from any account, Outlook throws a fit saying *The operation failed. The messaging interfaces have returned an unknown error. If this problem persists, restart Oulook". Of course restarting Outlook doesnt change this. I've researched quite a bit online and there seems to be a consensus that one cant have a MAPI account and an Exchange account in the same profile. I cant believe that and MS Support says it's possible to have them co-exist. Others believe it's got something to do with the Global Address Book. Cant fathom how though.
Do you have an idea? If this cant work, having the 2 co-exist in the same profile, what are my options? Dump G Suite for another Premium Outlook account? I need at least 4-5 different email domains being able to work exchange style (sync it all) within the same client/profile so I can switch and work seamlessly. Seriously, how is this such an issue in this day and age?
Diane Poremsky says
I'll need to test it when I get back from vacation, but another user was told by both ms and Google it wasn't possible. She only needed email from Google, so we removed the sync utility and added Google as an imap account. If you need Google calendar and contacts and only email in outlook.com/exchange, they could be added as imap accounts.
Rob says
I've given up on this for now. Neither Google nor MS seem to be willing to solve this issue. Both expect you to switch to them exclusively or use IMAP.
Do you happen to know what the difference between Exchange Server and Outlook.com account types is when adding a new email account on an iPhone? As far as I can gather, both are EAS...?
Diane Poremsky says
They should be the same and it should be EWS (Exchange web services) as they are on the same server - if Notes sync, its EWS. Older phone os's or older 3rd party mail clients might use EAS - if no Notes its EAS.
You can use either Exchange or Outlook.com option - they give both to make it easier for users.
Rob says
Something weird must be happening on the backend side then. I use a custom domain on Premium Outlook and 2 different mailboxes used to work in iOS stock mail app until yesterday. One of the boxes asks for the password constantly and refuses it even though it's the correct one (verified in Outlook and different browsers in OWA). The 2nd mailbox on the same domain works just fine. Both were added through the Exchange option in iOS. I removed the one not working and tried adding it again through the Exchange option. Wont work, keeps trying to verify but throws a can't verify exchange server error. Just for fun I tried adding the mailbox through Outlook.com option and it worked right away.
Now I have one mailbox added through the Exchange option where I can see the eas.outlook.com server option in the settings and the one refusing the correct password added through the Outlook.com option where I cant see any of the server settings in the settings app. Just seems strange this way.
Diane Poremsky says
They could be having problems - i haven't heard anything and the status page shows ok, but that is no guarantee. https://portal.office.com/servicestatus
I have had issues off and on with my business accounts for the past week, often putting my password in several times before i closing the password dialog in frustration and the accounts works.
Rob says
Thanks so far. All seems to be working so I'll leave it be until it breaks again :-)
Ron says
Diane:
I've used your work for years, so thank you for all of the past help!
This solution is not working for me at present. I am using Outlook 2016 (Office 365 Home) on Windows 10. When I reached your step 5, after going into Advanced and removing the "Use Cached Exchange Mode" when I clicked accept, it told me that I needed to restart outlook (though Outlook was not, to me running) and then when I went back "up the chain" to the screen that looks like yours in step 5, the Use Cached Exchange Mode was still grayed out. I then exited the mail applet and tried to open outlook. It would not let me--it just got hung up.
Does what I share here help you help me?
I use Gsuite and GSSMO for work and an outlook.com account for personal matters. I'd like my default desktop Outlook 2016 calendar to be from work, but want to keep my separate outlook.com calendar. Make sense?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Diane Poremsky says
You're using the sync utility from google? That could be throwing a wrench into it - i didn't test the steps with that scenario.
The restart message indicates that the change 'worked'. After you get that message and the one about changing the default for calendar/contacts, close the account dialog and go back to the profile screen (the one in step 2) then open the profile again, go back into the outlook account and set it to use cached mode - before opening outlook.
Ron says
Thank you for the assistance! I've worked it all through, but it continues to get hung up and not work. I think the gssmo is the issue. I'll return to my former approach--not ideal but works well enough.
John says
Thank you Diane for this very useful post, however I am using Outlook 2016 on Windows 10 which is causing headaches. I am still having the same issue faced in this article however I cannot select a different default data file selected what ever I try! Obviously the control panel/account setup is very different in Windows 10 and although I followed the process and set it up as close as I could it doesn't even appear in Outlook.
Any chance you could shed some light on this by chance?
Thanks
Diane Poremsky says
Are you getting any error messages? (The control panel, Mail app is identical in all versions of Windows.)
John says
No error messages unfortunately. When I add the account in the mail app under control panel (Email, calendar and contacts under Email & app accounts) the account is authenticated and appears in control panel however I launch Outlook and it is not in there at all. But if I try to change the default data file within Outlook I just get the Mail Delivery Location error as above in your post.
Diane Poremsky says
After adding the account, go back to the main Mail screen where it either shows your profile or has the dialog shown in the screenshot in step 2 - is the account there?
What account types are in your profile?
Jim Chase says
I found a workaround to this - simply set up Hotmail in Outlook 2016 as an IMAP account. I followed the Outlook 2003 instructions here on Slipstick https://www.slipstick.com/outlook/config/configuring-outlook-com-in-outlook/ and it worked fine.
Jim Chase says
This solution is not working for me. I have an IMAP account that I want to be my primary account, with Hotmail as a 2nd account (using build 1611 of Outlook 2016/365 account). I stopped getting emails in my Hotmail inbox, except a notice telling me I had to reconnect my Outlook 2016 to outlook.com. The only way to get email is to delete hotmail account and re-add through default settings - which hotmail.ost is the default data file and eas settings are greyed out. The result of this is that hotmail calendar is the default and anytime I go to calendar in Outlook that calendar shows up first. The calendar tied to my IMAP account is the one where I manage my schedule. Any suggestions?
Diane Poremsky says
You need to have the outlook.com account configured in outlook as either IMAP or POP3 if you aren't using the calendar & contacts -this downloads only mail. However, I would not use the IMAP folders labeled 'this computer only' to store calendar and contacts - if you aren't going to use outlook.com's folders, then use a local pst. If anything happens to the imap data file the contents of the 'this computer only' folders will be lost.
Chris L says
Hi Diane
I have a similar set up wish
I have 4 email accounts -2 of which are POP, a MAPI (3rd party exchange) which is the default and the last and newest is an exchange account.
When I previously set up the 2 POP accounts, I simply changed the location the mail was delivered to, ensuring I had a single Inbox and set of sub folders, which syncs to all my devices
I have recently added the exchange account and have followed your advice here to stop the exchange account being the default, wishing to retain my preferred default account. It appears that all the steps are working however, when I reopen Outlook, nothing in the Exchange server syncs to my device and the set of folders for the exchange account do not open. I receive an an error message indicating that
'the .ost cannot be be used in this profile, Outlook currently delivers to a 97-2002 data file which doesn't support multilingual unicode data .To correct this, change the delivery location to one that supports.......'
I only desire to have my outlook open to my preferred default account rather than exchange and it would be nice to have the mail delivered to that inbox, rather than an independant set of folders.
Is this possible
Brian Lepore says
Hi Diane- any new suggestions on how to get gmail and exchange to play nice with new 2016 rules?
Diane Poremsky says
Sorry I missed this earlier. What is not working? Rules should work ok in exchange, but they can be touchy in IMAP accounts as they run after the full message is downloaded but imap doesn't download the messages in one piece like pop3 does, so rules may be a little slower or fail.
Brandon says
This has worked for me in the past, but my company just switched to Outlook 2016. Now I don't have the option to turn off cached mode (it's grayed out when I add my outlook.com email). Is there another way? I want my work email (google apps) to be my default email and data file.
jchua says
I have configured my Google Apps and Exchange account on the same profile. and get same error message as Brian when I try to send an email. Research online suggests that it is not possible to have a google apps and exchange account on the same profile.
Diane Poremsky says
it *should* work, and used to - i'll test it.
Brian Lepore says
Thanks for the guidance. This works to a point... i'm finding that calendars are great but, when I go to send emails (from either google or Hotmail), typing in a new address causes errors on sending: "the operation failed. the messaging interfaces have returned an unknown error code. if this problem persists, restart outlook". can send to contacts in my address book but not send to new addresses. tried setting it up several different times on 2010 and 2016 with same results. Setting up google and outlook in different profiles woks fine.
Diane Poremsky says
is this with Outlook 2016? Did you try running repair?
Brian Lepore says
Hi Diane. yes. 2016 does not work at all with this fix that i can see. 2013 and 2010 worked up to a point as explained above. PST Repair had no effect on things. Is it still possible in current 2016 format? As you know, the account set up in 2016 has changed and to shut off the cache mode is not a checkbox during setup. It's now is in properties. Worst part is that when you shut it off for the hotmail account, it locks up my profile (both loading and via control panel edits).
So, can you confirm this method is still valid in 2016 or how you recommend someone use a Google business email and calendar account as a default in outlook with a personal Hotmail account and calendar at the same time. would be really great if i could see both in the To-Do bar but, i'll take both calendars working and google as default. Appreciate your guidance in this problem Microsoft has created and continues to make WORSE! Seems they really want us to move to other products! ;)
Diane Poremsky says
what build do you have? they fixed outlook so the steps here shouldn't be necessary.
Brian Lepore says
using the latest version of Outlook 2016. my version does not allow you to uncheck the "use cached exchange mode". i try to do it with the "more settings" method and it works but, i now have a bunch of problem when i send emails. It sends duplicate emails from hotmail account and won't send to new addresses on google business account. This is not a standard google mail account but a google mail for my company. does this make a difference? thnx
David Terblanche says
Hi Diane,
I am at a bit of a loss here. I have a similar problem to Howard (but I am not sure your suggestion will solve my problem). I am a consultant / contractor and have multiple email accounts for various clients (the need is to manage the perception that I am part of the organisation). I have no problem managing mail in this manner (by selecting the relevant email in the "from" drop down), but calendar invites are my issue.
All calendar invites get sent from the Exchange Server account (even though I have manually selected a different "send from" account). Same issue when creating the calendar event in the Calendar set up for the non-exchange addresses. In-fact, it sends the mail on behalf of the Exchange address, AND all meeting accept replies come to the Exchange address. I CANNOT have the calendar invite come from the wrong address as it will confuse the client, their staff and it is unprofessional.
These are the three mail address types I want to be able to send Meeting invites from:
(1) client1@EXCHANGEserver.com,
(2) consultingco1@imap.com
(3) personalconsultingco@GOOGLEapps.com
Will your method allow me to have three calendars (I don't mind overlaying them to view all at once)? Critical is I can choose the email address that the calendar invite comes from and I do not mix up the various mail servers.
If I set an Imap account as default, will that try send all the invites for the Exchange server mail via that same account?
Thanks So much
DT
diane poremsky says
if the data file used by the account has a calendar folder, meetings should go on its calendar and you can send meeting requests from that account - if you only have one calendar, meetings will be on its calendar and always sent from that account. If you need to sync the meetings with a phone, they need top be in the exchange account (or google apps - if you are using the sync utility.)
Robin says
H Diane.
Our account has been migrated to 365. We were only wanting to share a calendar with that account as our work email us hosted elsewhere. However when we add the exchange account of the calendar it obviously adds the email account to everyone's outlook as well. Is there a way to only use it for the shared calendar and continue to use out pop email server for mail.
Is the way to do the as you described above? With changing the default with caching temporaraly disabled for the exchange account. Otherwise everone can see and has as default the exchange account.
Sorry for the long winded question. We have been trying t sort it for a week.
Cheers. :)
Howard Bashinski says
I recently added an Exchange account to my profile. Now all my meeting invites create appts in the calendar for this account. How can I use this method to be able to set an IMAP calendar as my default? Will I have to remove and re-install the Exchange account?
THanx!
hb
Diane Poremsky says
You'll need ot try the steps here - which is remove the account and add it back and disable caching then enable caching after you set another data file as default.
Howard Bashinski says
Figured! Thanx.
hb
Ike says
Thank you for this simple yet effective solution, Diane. Finally, corporate gmail and exchange server can live in harmony. Kudos!
Naveen says
Thanks for the tip, however today I tried to reset my default data file to my old hotmail account and still adding a new Exchange Account using the control panel and failed to disable the "cache option". It seems in Outlook 2016, it forces the Exchange Account to be the default. It is really very silly! This whole notion of default calendar needs to be retired. Outlook needs to become simply a great view on top of as many email accounts, calendars that I may have. For now I have simply removed this new Exchange Account from my profile all together. If you have another workaround that works on Outlook 2016, please update the post. Thank you!!!!
Diane Poremsky says
Outlook.com accounts are definitely a problem as they cannot be set to online mode to trick outlook into letting you choose a different one. If you only need email, set the outlook.com account up as IMAP - it will sync mail only.
DAN says
Can you explain why one would want a non-exchange account set as default? I assume this would be oriented at users that are not using outlook's calendar/tasks/notes with any of their other devices? My understanding is that outlook doesn't allow IMAP accounts (like gmail) to utilize calendar/tasks/notes which is the main reason I transferred all of my data to my exchange account even thought I strongly prefer to use my gmail.
Diane Poremsky says
It's often because they have a work account set up on a personal computer but want the personal account and data file set as default.
IMAP doesn't support the special folders and prior to outlook 2013, you could set the email account as default but not the imap data file. While you can now set imap data file as default, it's really better to use a pst or exchange as the default data file.
MEL says
You saved me in the nick of time.
Cheers
BDesco says
Good explanation. But when trying to access my hotmail account (which now -2016- runs via Exchange) I got: "The Outlook data file C: Users[...]AppDataLocalMicrosoftOutlook[...].ost cannot be used in this profile. Outlook currently delivers items into an Outlook 97-2002 data file1 which does not support multilingual Unicode data. To correct this change the delivery location to one that supports multilingual Unicode data."
I tried deleted the ost file to let Outlook recreate it.
I tried assigning on older hotmail.ost file to it.
Nothing works.
If I disable the "Cached mode" option, I can access the hotmail mails. But if I try to send a message Outlook crashes. Even on other operations it crashes.
I also noted that in the step 10 above. The dialog box says under 'Mailbox mode':"OUtlook is running in Unicode mode against...".
In my dialog box it says: "... running in non-Unicode mode..."
Any ideas?
Outlook 2010 / Windows 7.
Diane Poremsky says
Do you have a pst file in the profile? If so, it's the old format pst file and you need to make a new pst and import the old one into it. https://www.slipstick.com/outlook/convert-ansi-pst-to-unicode-pst/
Hotmail/Outlook.com does not support cached mode - you can trick it when setting up the profile long enough to set another data file as default but can't use it in online mode.
BDesco says
Thanks for the follow up. I checked (with https://www.slipstick.com/outlook/config/determine-pst-ansi-unicode-format/) all pst files are unicode. Ans also the hotmail messages are stored in an ost file.
I tried to recreate the profile (new profile from Mail in control panel) and left the enable cached mode disabled ( = I skipped step 9 above) as Hotmail/Outlook.com does not support cached mode (as you stated). But it gives the mentioned result: I can access the hotmail mails. But if I try to send a message, Outlook crashes.
Thanks again.
Diane Poremsky says
I was setting up Outlook 2010 for a customer yesterday and ran into the same error - 2 of their 3 accounts were moved to the new outlook.com server but the one with calendar and contacts hadn't moved yet. We ended up setting the others up as imap, which works well since they only need email in those accounts.
BDesco says
Thank you so much!
(for others landing on this page with the same problem: follow the instructions on https://www.slipstick.com/outlook/olc-hotmail/setting-outlookcom-imap-account/)
Diane Poremsky says
I just hit that error today with a client. It looks to be a limitation of Outlook Connector accounts - I didn't think their data files were ANSI but the connector does pre-date Unicode. I'm going to do some testing to see if i can get around it.
David Slight says
Had to go through this again and it worked exactly as shown.
davidslight says
Hi Diane, yes I think that must have been the issue; they were in my local file which Outlook used but for some reason never made it to the server. Scanning my older OST files now ...
Feel free to moderate these comments away as they are really off topic and your method works just fine!
Thanks
davidslight says
FYI, at Step 9, it was not set as the default but I was able to change it (to the Hotmail account).
NB: I also had issues signing in as I needed an App Password and not my Hotmail login as I had 2f enabled.
davidslight says
Sadly, I have to report some data loss. Even in the old profile, at least a month's worth of calendar items are missing in the calendar associated with the Hotmail account. Any hints?
Diane Poremsky says
Are they in outlook.com's calendar online? Were they ever uploaded to outlook.com?
Jeff Orne says
This did not work for me. I tried it several times with different alternative email accounts but when I attempted to set the second account's file as the default I got the same error message as before. ...
The selected Outlook data file (.pst) format cannot be used. Outlook data files (.pst) must use the same format as offline Outlook data files (.ost). Select a matching Outlook data file (.pst) or turn off cache mode in the Account Settings.
Diane Poremsky says
Was the Exchange added to the profile as an online exchange account? It cannot be added in cached mode (the default) - cached mode needs to be set later.