This page shows you how to change an Exchange mailbox account name (the name in the From field when composing a new message and in File, Account Settings, Email) and the Exchange Mailbox (including Outlook.com accounts) data file name shown in the Navigation pane.

Vote for the feature suggestion at Outlook UserVoice: Provide a feature to Customize Account Names for email accounts configured in Microsoft Outlook 2016

Using Outlook 2010 and newer with an Exchange server or Outlook.com mailbox, you cannot edit the Folder list name you see in the Navigation pane, but it's easy to change using a macro or script. You can also change it using MFCMAPI or by editing the registry.

The instructions to rename the data file display names and account names for IMAP, POP3, and Personal Folders are Rename email accounts and data files in the folder list.

Change the Account Name in Outlook 2013 and older

Outlook 2016 no longer allows you to change Exchange or Outlook.com account names in File, Account Settings. However, you can either edit the registry or use a macro to change the name. Note that changing the account name doesn't 'stick' in current versions of Outlook 2016. Use the macro method to change it when it reverts back to the email address.

Use these steps to change the Exchange server or Outlook.com account name that is shown on the File, Account Settings, E-mail tab and in the From field when you are composing a message.

1. Open File, Account Settings, E-mail tab.
2. Double click on the account or select it and click Change.
   
3. Click More Settings
4. Type a new name in the Exchange Account field on the General tab
   
5. Click Ok, then Next, and Finish.

Change the Account Name in Outlook 2016

To change the name by editing the registry, press Windows key + R to open the Run command then type regedit into it and press Enter.

Before making any changes, export the profile from the registry. Right-click on the Profiles key and choose Export or see Backup Profile for a quick command line method.

1. Browse to the Outlook profile key. In Outlook 2016, it's at
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Profiles\
   Outlook 2013: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles\
2. Find your profile (most people only have one profile) then find the account's keys: Look at the keys that have subkeys - the account will be in a key named 0000000nn and your email address will be in the account name field on the right (the screenshot was taken after I changed the account name). On my computer, the account is under these subkeys:
   profilename\9375CFF0413111d3B88A00104B2A6676\00000002
   
3. Right click on the Account name value and choose Modify.
4. Type in a new name then close the dialog.
5. Restart Outlook for the change to take effect.

Macro to change the Account name

You can use a macro to change the name (but for most people, editing the registry will be easier.)

To use this macro, you need to install redemption.
Download Redemption Developer version

After installing Redemption, add a new module and paste the macro into the VBA editor. Change the oldName and newName values in the macro, using the account name as shown in File, Account Settings or in the From field of a new message for oldName variable and the desired name as the newName variable.

Public Sub changeAcctName()
Dim session
Dim oldName As String
Dim newName As String

oldName = "diane@domain.com"
newName = "OutlookMVP"

Set session = CreateObject("Redemption.RDOSession")
session.MAPIOBJECT = Application.session.MAPIOBJECT
Set Accounts = session.Accounts
For Each Account In Accounts
  If Account.Name = oldName Then
    Account.Name = newName
    Account.Save
  End If
Next
End Sub

Change Multiple Accounts at Once

This version of the macro uses an array to change multiple account names at once.

Public Sub ChangeAcctNamesAll()
Dim session
Dim oldName As String
Dim newName As String

Dim arrOldName As Variant
Dim arrNewName As Variant

' Set up the array
arrOldName = Array("me@slipstick.com", "me@cdolive.com", "you@slipstick.com")
arrNewName = Array("Diane (Slipstick)", "Diane (CDOLive)", "Information")

' Go through the array and look for a match, then do something
For i = LBound(arrOldName) To UBound(arrOldName)

Set session = CreateObject("Redemption.RDOSession")
session.MAPIOBJECT = Application.session.MAPIOBJECT
Set Accounts = session.Accounts
For Each Account In Accounts
  If Account.name = arrOldName(i) Then
    Account.name = arrNewName(i)
    Account.Save
  End If
Next

Next i
End Sub

Change the Folder List name using a macro or script

This macro (or script) works on all data files, however, its generally easier just to change the names using the user interface, when supported. Unfortunately you don't have that choice with Exchange Server or Outlook.com accounts as there is no UI.

Using the macro or script, type the current display name, as seen in the navigation pane, in as the oldName and the desired name as the newName then run the macro or script. You'll need to restart Outlook for the change to take effect.

A Script version is here. This will be easier for most people to use as you just need to double click on the file to make the change (after editing the old and new names in the file.)

To use the script, download the script, edit the folder names then save it and change the extension to vbs. Double click to run it. Close Outlook and reopen it. (You don't need to change the Macro Security Settings in the Trust Center when using the script but will need to change macro security to use the macro.)

If you aren't using the description field (most people don't), the macro can add the original name to the description field. If you make a mistake, you can set the oRoot.Name to oRoot.Description to recover. To check the description field, right click on the root folder and choose Properties or Data File Properties.

Option Explicit
 
Public Sub ChangeFolderContainer()
Dim colStores As Outlook.Stores
Dim oStore As Outlook.Store
Dim oRoot As Outlook.folder
Dim oldName, newName As String

oldName = "Diane Poremsky"
newName = "Diane P"

'On Error Resume Next
    Set colStores = Application.Session.Stores
    For Each oStore In colStores
    Set oRoot = oStore.GetRootFolder
        Debug.Print (oRoot)

If oRoot = oldName Then
oRoot.Description = oRoot.Name
oRoot.Name = newName
End If

Next

Set oRoot = Nothing
Set oStore = Nothing
Set colStores = Nothing
End Sub

Change Multiple Names at Once

This version of the macro uses an array to change multiple datafile names at once time.

Public Sub ChangeRootFolderNames()
Dim colStores As Outlook.Stores
Dim oStore As Outlook.Store
Dim oRoot As Outlook.Folder

Dim arrOldName As Variant
Dim arrNewName As Variant

' Set up the array
arrOldName = Array("me@slipstick.com", "me@cdolive.com", "you@slipstick.com")
arrNewName = Array("Slipstick", "CDOLive", "Not Me")

' Go through the array and look for a match, then do something
For i = LBound(arrOldName) To UBound(arrOldName)

    Set colStores = Application.session.Stores
    For Each oStore In colStores
    Set oRoot = oStore.GetRootFolder
        Debug.Print (oRoot)

If oRoot = arrOldName(i) Then
oRoot.Description = oRoot.name
oRoot.name = arrNewName(i)
End If

Next
'On Error Resume Next

Next i

MsgBox "Please Restart Outlook"

Set oRoot = Nothing
Set oStore = Nothing
Set colStores = Nothing
End Sub

Use MFCMAPI

Before making any changes, export the profile from the registry. See Backup Profile for a quick command line method.

If you don't use to use the script to change the display name, you can use MFCMAPI to edit the PR_DISPLAY_NAME property.

1. Download MFCMAPI and open it.
2. Click Session, then Logon. If you have more than one profile, select the desired profile.
3. Select the Exchange account in the list.
4. In the lower screen, double click on PR_DISPLAY_NAME to open the Property Editor.



5. Type a new name in the Ansi field.



6. Click Ok to close the dialog.
7. Click Session > Logoff.
8. Close the MFCMAPI window.

Edit the Registry

If you know what you are doing, you can edit the registry to change the display name of an Exchange data file in the Folder list. This will not change the name in the From field, only the name in the folder list. (To change the name in the From field, go to File, Account Settings, double click on the account then More Settings. Make the name change on the first tab.)

Before editing the key, export it so you can easily fix it if the display name is messed up. (As it likely will be the first time you try editing it.)

Find your profile in the registry. (Outlook 2016's profile is under \Office\16.0\.)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles\profile-name\[big number]
DWORD: 001f3001

Many of the profile keys will contain this DWORD. The Exchange accounts will include the Exchange organization in readable format on the right, as seen in this screenshot.

Rather than deleting the account name and reentering it, I replaced the letters, using spaces it fill in if the email address was longer than the desired display name. You need to use the same number of binary data as the original entry.

Restart Outlook to apply the name change.

Note that my successful entry has the exact same number of binary values as the original:

If the editing was not correct, the data file name displays with Chinese characters:

Backup the Outlook Profile Registry Keys

You can backup the registry using a command line.

1. Open the Run command (Windows key + R).
2. Type or paste the correct command line in the Open field and press OK.
3. The Profile keys will be saved to your Documents folder.
4. If you need to restore the profile, close Outlook and double click on Outlook-profile.reg.

To export Outlook 2013 profile keys:

REG EXPORT "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Profiles" %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Outlook-profile.reg /y

To export Outlook 2016 profile keys:

REG EXPORT "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Profiles" %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Outlook-profile.reg /y