Where is Outlook's contact file stored?

[rcraig]

Hey all:
I know how to set up a personal address book, but the contact's file gives you a lot more options. Where does Outlook store this file? Is it a .pst or .pab file? Also, can you change where this file is stored? Any other insight into how this works or how to change a pab to show what contacts show would be helpful.
Thanks,
RCraig

 

[OhioDude]

Contacts are stored in your personal store (.pst) along with your calendar, inbox, outbox, etc. In order to have contacts show up as an e-mail address book, you need to check the following:

Right-click on the Contacts folder and choose Properties
In the Properties dialog box, select the "Outlook Address Book" tab
Make sure there is a check in "Show this folder as and e-mail Address Book"

The second part of your question is a bit more complex. You can't change the location of your personal store, per se. But you can add a new personal store service and delete your old one. So, if you really want to change where your pst is located, first copy your .pst to the new location. Then do the following:

Choose Tools - Services from the Outlook menu bar
Select your Personal Folders service and choose Remove to remove the old service
Select Add...
Choose "Personal Folders" in the Add Service dialog box and click OK
In the Create/Open dialog box, locate the folder where you copied your personal store
Click OK
Click OK again to close the Services dialog box

The next time you start Outlook, it may give you a message asking you if you want to change the location of your various shortcuts. (I can't remember the exact wording of the message. Sorry.) You should answer yes to have Outlook update your shortcuts to refer to your new personal store.

Hope this makes sense.

[EDIT] Please note that these instructions pertain to Outlook and not Outlook Express.

 

[rcraig]

Thanks OhioDude. You really answered all my questions when you said it is stored in your pst file. I am trying to set up separate profiles for me and my wife and want to be able to access the files from different computers. I know how to do this with the pst and pab files, and since contacts and calendar data is stored in the pst file, this can be done.

I have noticed a few things that hold over from one profile to the next in Outlook, so they are not totally separate like in Outlook Express, but Outlook will let you use a pst and pab file over a network, which Outlook Express will not. So, I guess we will be making the change and start learning the quirks of Outlook.