How to Create a New Profile

The following tutorial shows you how to create a new profile in Microsoft Outlook. The second part of the tutorial shows how to use an existing personal store (pst) with a newly created profile. For best results, always add the *.pst to the new profile before you open the new profile in Outlook.

1. Open Control panel, then search for the Mail applet. Open it to open the Mail profile dialog. (Type Control panel in the search field to find it, then type Mail in the Control panel search to find it.)
2. Click Show Profiles



3. Click Add.



4. Type a name for your profile.
5. Outlook 2007 and up support "AutoDiscovery". This will set up your email account automatically. Enter your name, email address and password and Outlook will try to set up the profile.



6. After the auto account setup completes, click Manually configure account settings to use an existing pst file for your new mail, to set alternate ports or outgoing server authentication.
7. If auto account setup fails or if you know your ISP doesn't support it, check the option to create the profile manually. You'll need to enter your account information, account type, and email server names. If you are unsure, check your ISP's support site.
8. After the account information is entered, press the Test Account button. If it fails, correct the problem and try again.
9. While you can click Next and exit the wizard after entering the account information, many ISPs require authentication to send outgoing email, so you'll want to click More Settings.
10. More Settings dialog allows you to set a reply to address, configure outgoing server authentication, and connection information. The Advanced tab is used to set custom server ports, time outs, and whether to leave mail on the server.
11. When you are finished, you can either close the Profiles dialog then double click on the Outlook icon to run Outlook, or add another personal folder (or more accounts) to the profile.

Using an existing Personal folders (*.pst)

If you need to set up Microsoft Outlook to use another personal folder (*.pst) do so before you open the profile in Outlook.

1. When you are in the Mail dialog, select the profile and click Properties.
   
2. You can choose either Email Accounts or Data files, both open the same dialog but to different tabs.
3. Click Add on the Data tab.
4. Select the type of PST you are adding. If you aren't sure, choose the Outlook data type.
5. Select the PST you want to add.
6. Select the PST and set it as Default.
7. Finish the wizard and close the Mail dialog.

Now you are ready to start Outlook.

While this tutorial was recorded using Outlook 2007, the steps are similar for all versions.

Create a new profile in Outlook 2010 (and newer) Video Tutorial

This video tutorial shows how to remove a corrupt profile and create a new profile, using Windows 7 and Outlook 2010 or newer. The steps are identical for Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2013 or Outlook 2016. On Windows 8 and 10, search for Mail in the Control panel.

If your profile is not corrupt, you do not need to delete it; you can have more than one profile in Outlook.