Information Technology Solutions

Create a personal folder

If your mailbox is full and you do not want to delete your messages, you can create personal folders (.pst files) on your local computer’s hard drive to store your messages.

Using personal folders reduces the amount of space your mailbox occupies on the central mail server and prevents you from receiving email messages indicating that you have exceeded your mailbox quota. Although using personal folders can free up space in your mailbox and online archives, storing messages on your hard drive comes with the following risks:

  • If your hard drive fails, you will lose your personal folders and the emails they contain. The IT Solutions department cannot recover emails stored in personal folders.
  • If your personal folders are larger than 2 GB, there is a risk of file corruption. The larger the file size, the greater the risk of data corruption. You can, however, create multiple smaller‑sized personal folders to reduce this risk. If personal folders become corrupted, you could lose the emails they contain, and IT Solutions cannot recover emails stored in corrupted folders.
  • If you are using personal folders, you must notify the Workstation Management Group before upgrading or servicing your computer. Changes to your computer could result in the unintentional deletion of your personal folders, and IT Solutions cannot recover emails stored in deleted folders.

IMPORTANT: IT Solutions does not provide support for personal folders in Outlook. If you choose to follow these instructions to create personal folders, you do so at your own risk.

To create a personal folder in Outlook, follow these steps:

  1. Click the File tab.
    outlook file tab
  2. In the Backstage menu, click Account Settings, and then select Account Settings in the drop‑down menu.
    account settings in backstage view
  3. On the Account Settings window, on the Data Files tab, click Add.
    account settings window – add button
  4. On the Create or Open Outlook Data File window, type a name into the File name field, and then click OK.
    Create or Open Outlook Data File window – file name field
  5. Once your newly created personal folder appears in the list on the Data Files tab, click Close.
    close when finished
  6. Navigate to your Outlook folders, and you can start using your new personal folder.
    outlook data folder

NOTE: You can create subfolders within your newly created personal folder and store emails directly to your computer’s hard drive. Although the items stored in your personal folder do not count towards your mailbox quota, IT Solutions does not provide support for personal folders.

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RRC Polytech > Information Technology Solutions > Help Resources > Staff Email > Outlook Desktop Application > Create a personal folder

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