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Outlook 2011 archive file location

Hello,

I have a MacBook Pro Retina Late 2013 with a SSD of 128G. I have a couple of question s to manage my mail outside the SSD:

1. Can I erase the Main Identity shown in the attached image (Picture 1)? it is consuming almost half the the Micrisoft User Data folder.

2. At some point I archived my 2012 emails (Picture 2) and I want to find the file to move it to an external drive.

3. Can I move al the archived emails to an external drive and still be able to see them in my outlook?

Thanks in advance for any help

Picture 1

User uploaded file

Picture 2

User uploaded file

MacBook

Posted on May 3, 2016 8:09 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 3, 2016 8:47 AM

Disclaimer - I have switched to Office 2016 since it was released

Jalinx wrote:


Hello,

I have a MacBook Pro Retina Late 2013 with a SSD of 128G. I have a couple of question s to manage my mail outside the SSD:

1. Can I erase the Main Identity shown in the attached image (Picture 1)? it is consuming almost half the the Micrisoft User Data folder.

I believe the main identity has your profile in addition to the emails - if you delete it you may have to recreate your profile

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Manage-identities-edc1a942-8242-46bd-8a 9b-076553d5494d

Instead of deleting the folder upfront - here is what I would advise

Backup your current system and take note of the date/time

Cut and paste the folder in question to an external location - that way if you find out you made an error you can put it back

Once you have the system working well for a week or two - you can go back and delete the folder from the step above


2. At some point I archived my 2012 emails (Picture 2) and I want to find the file to move it to an external drive.

You can - you have to do it after you close outlook for 10-15 as the folder is locked as long as Outlook is open and running

The next time you open outlook it will tell you it cannot find that folder but also offer to let you "map" the path to the new location - if you do not have that external storage with you all the time - probably be a good idea to collapse the folder so it does not ask for a location


3. Can I move al the archived emails to an external drive and still be able to see them in my outlook?

Yes - see my answer to the previous question


Thanks in advance for any help


3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 3, 2016 8:47 AM in response to Jalinx

Disclaimer - I have switched to Office 2016 since it was released

Jalinx wrote:


Hello,

I have a MacBook Pro Retina Late 2013 with a SSD of 128G. I have a couple of question s to manage my mail outside the SSD:

1. Can I erase the Main Identity shown in the attached image (Picture 1)? it is consuming almost half the the Micrisoft User Data folder.

I believe the main identity has your profile in addition to the emails - if you delete it you may have to recreate your profile

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Manage-identities-edc1a942-8242-46bd-8a 9b-076553d5494d

Instead of deleting the folder upfront - here is what I would advise

Backup your current system and take note of the date/time

Cut and paste the folder in question to an external location - that way if you find out you made an error you can put it back

Once you have the system working well for a week or two - you can go back and delete the folder from the step above


2. At some point I archived my 2012 emails (Picture 2) and I want to find the file to move it to an external drive.

You can - you have to do it after you close outlook for 10-15 as the folder is locked as long as Outlook is open and running

The next time you open outlook it will tell you it cannot find that folder but also offer to let you "map" the path to the new location - if you do not have that external storage with you all the time - probably be a good idea to collapse the folder so it does not ask for a location


3. Can I move al the archived emails to an external drive and still be able to see them in my outlook?

Yes - see my answer to the previous question


Thanks in advance for any help


May 3, 2016 4:31 PM in response to ManSinha

Thanks a lot ManSinha, I have a clearer view of what I need to do.

However:

1. I wrote my question 1 wrong. Instead of "...erase the Main Identity folder..." it should be "...erase the Main Identity [Backed up...", so I can free space of my SSD which was the problem I wanted to solve.

Tell me if the following makes sense:

a. Delete the Main Identity [Backed up 2016-01-0512.58.50]

b. Make a back up of the Main Identity folder and this new folder move it to an external drive to free space but still have a back up if something goes wrong with Outlook.


Thanks again

Halim

Outlook 2011 archive file location

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