How to move location of .pst file in Office Outlook 2010

Andrew Hart · 15 Dec 2017

OK, used Option Two, and downloaded and ran the Restore the Default My Documents Folder Location batch file and rebooted the computer. Now my user profile on the C: drive reads Users\ash1\Documents but the H: drive still has this folder 'My Documents\Outlook Files' and this still contains the .pst file. However if I follow Megahertz07's trick (it shows 'Libraries\Documents then right clicking on Documents and selecting 'Properties' brings up the 'Documents Properties' dialog box with the ability to click on the 'Location' tab and when this is selected it also shows 'C:\Users\ash1\Documents' with a 'Move' tab.
So should I click on the Move tab and select a folder and location and if so what name should I give that folder and do I have to put such a folder in the desired location (ie prepare the folder name on the desired location in advance) or will that be taken care of automatically?
Sorry about the RED colour - don't know how that happened or how to correct it-oops, corrected itself.

Andrew Hart · 15 Dec 2017

OK, used Option Two, and downloaded and ran the Restore the Default My Documents Folder Location batch file and rebooted the computer. Now my user profile on the C: drive reads Users\ash1\Documents but the H: drive still has this folder 'My Documents\Outlook Files' and this still contains the .pst file. However if I follow Megahertz07's trick (it shows 'Libraries\Documents then right clicking on Documents and selecting 'Properties' brings up the 'Documents Properties' dialog box with the ability to click on the 'Location' tab and when this is selected it also shows 'C:\Users\ash1\Documents' with a 'Move' tab.
So should I click on the Move tab and select a folder and location and if so what name should I give that folder and do I have to put such a folder in the desired location (ie prepare the folder name on the desired location in advance) or will that be taken care of automatically?
Sorry about the RED colour - don't know how that happened or how to correct it-oops, corrected itself.

Barman58 · 15 Dec 2017

I always move the "User folders" on my systems, just to keep things simple I create a blank folder in the destination with the same name as the original - C:\Users\Documents becomes d:\My Stuff\Documents And so on I then move the folder using the location tab and accept to move contents (Files)

I corrected it

Andrew Hart · 15 Dec 2017

I just prepared a detailed reply and somehow lost it. I'm getting very tired but will start again Barman58.

Andrew Hart · 15 Dec 2017

I downloaded and ran the 'Restore the default My Documents Location' batch file and followed instructions to reboot. Now the C: drive shows C:\Users\ash1\Documents (ash1 is my user name and note that the profile shows Documents not My Documents) and the H: drive still shows H:\My Documents\Outlook Files and this folder still contains the .pst file. Also under Libraries we have Documents and under that we have Documents and not My Documents as was the case when I originally followed Megahertz07's method of moving the My Documents folder. However if I right click on the 2nd (lower) Documents and select Properties and then Location (yes 'Location' tab is back) then once again the Move button is again available and it also shows the current location of 'Documents' (not 'My Documents') as 'C:\Users\ash1\Documents. So can I attempt a 'move' and what will the new location folder be called and will this in fact move the My Documents folder (together with its sub-folder 'Outlook Files') from the H: drive to the new location on the I: drive? Also do I have to prepare the I: drive in advance of the move by adding a new folder on the I: drive (presumably called 'My Documents'?) or will that be taken care of automatically?

Barman58 · 15 Dec 2017

The move operation needs an existing folder to be moved to, although this does not need to be the same as the original it makes sense to make then the same or similar, windows will move to any folder but us humans are better with logical names for things the My Documents / Documents name is one that has changed a few times over the years and versions I use the two names interchangeably as the location I use for documents is the same folder as I have used since Vista through all the versions.

so you need to create an empty folder called Documents (or your preferred name) in a suitable place in your I drive and then use the move command in the C:\users\ash1\Documents right click Location Tab to move the files, you need to choose the location on I: that you have created and also agree to move the current contents to the new locations ( you are moving the codes that make documents special, and also the files and folders in the documents folder )

Once this is done copy the folder that contains the PST somewhere safe and we can then look at correcting the issue with the PST

I see the time with you is getting on so it may be best to do this tomorrow I have to pop out for a short while but will be here later and tomorrow to hopefully bring this to a successful close :)

Andrew Hart · 15 Dec 2017

Thank you ever so much. Its 1.00 am here Down Under so I will leave it until the morning and will be ready to continue after that. I don't know your local time but if you can let me know that and your preferred hours for helping poor ignorant sods like myself that would be great.

Andrew Hart · 15 Dec 2017

I created a new empty folder on the I: drive named 'My Documents' and then used the Move command and told it to move all the files as well. Well, I'm not sure to what extent that was successful. My Documents (with all its sub-folders (including 'Outlook Files' containing the .pst file and several other sub-folders like My Music, My Pictures, My Videos and several others placed there by other programs like Adobe Photoshop) and all the files in those sub-folders - there are no files in the root directory of My Documents) still exists on the H: drive. I will need to move all of those sub-folders (including their files) in H:\My Documents to I:\My Documents so that the respective programs which put them there will know how and where to find them, BUT how do I do that? If I get that wrong programs like Photoshop may stop functioning.
Additionally, the Libraries\Documents now displays a new sub-folder of 'Outlook Files' which was never there before the Move exercise. However, right-clicking on 'Libraries\Documents\My Documents and choosing Properties then Location reveals, in the 'My Documents Properties' dialog box, this: 'I:\My Documents'. I suppose that's correct and what I wanted to achieve, is it?
Finally, Outlook, when invoked from the Start menu, now seems to be downloading emails and I can send emails to myself. So that's an improvement.
So the remaining things which need attention would seem to include at least the following:
1. Correctly moving all the sub-folders in H:\My Documents (including the all-important 'Outlook Files' containing the .pst file) to I:\My Documents.
2. Somehow getting Outlook to look for the .pst file on the I: drive instead of on my failing H: drive before the H: drive starts to loose any more sectors. Just a few days ago Check Disk reported , when I was booting up at the start of the day, that it had removed 2607 'orphaned files'. Looks like I might have to recreate and relocate those from backups.

Barman58 · 16 Dec 2017

Seems like we have got to a point where the email is working with Outlook :)

You should be able to use whatever method you prefer to move any folders that are in H Drive to the I drive (drag and drop, Cut and Paste, Copy and Paste ).

I am a little concerned to see the My Music, My Pictures, My Videos folders under My documents The "My..." folders would normally be found at a similar level to My Documents, as they are also "special" folders that are there to hold other media files (and also appear in libraries automatically ) What I would do for these special folders is to check the properties for a Location Tab, If there is not a location tab then they are remnants and can be moved as regular folders, If they have a Location Tab then I would suggest that you go through the same procedure that you did to get the My Documents folder working correctly ( I would also suggest that you place the New empty folders at the same level to the New Documents folder)

To move the Outlook store folder from H to I, shut down Outlook, copy the .PST file, (or the folder), from the H Drive to its required location on the I Drive - then open Control panel, (press WinKey then type control, and you should see control panel appear in the list of options), and select the Mail icon - clicking on this will open the Mail Set-up panel

How to move location of .pst file in Office Outlook 2010-mail-panel.png

Choose the second item Data Files Then the Second Tab

How to move location of .pst file in Office Outlook 2010-location-panel.png

this should show the pst on the H drive click on Add and navigate to and select the PST on the I drive.

Now select the I Drive PST and set it to default "OK" out of any dialogs

This should get the system to use the PST on I

Once this is working you can go back into this system and remove the PST on H from this list and also finally remove the PST from the H Drive

Andrew Hart · 16 Dec 2017

I decided to start by trying to move the My Music folder from H:\My Documents\My Music to I:\My Documents so as to create I:My Documents\My music, that is, to mimic what was on the H: drive. So I right-clicked on My Music in H:\My Documents\My Music and chose Location. That displayed the Move button and I clicked on it. I then navigated to I:\My Documents and clicked 'Apply'. What happened was that 'My Music' was created on the I: drive alright but as a folder immediately below the root folder of I: (thus I:\My Music) and not as a sub-folder of I:\My Documents (thus I:My Documents\My Music) AND now there is no longer any My Documents folder on the I: drive (thus I:\My Documents). So near the top of the main Explorer window I now have this folder arrangement: 'Libraries\Documents\My Music' instead of 'Libraries\Documents\My Documents'. What the hell is going on?
Nor did I understand in the 3rd paragraph of your kind reply what you meant by this statement: "The "My..." folders would normally be found at a similar level to My Documents...". I am 100% positive that on my system My Music, My Pictures and My Videos have always been sub-folders of My Documents and so they cannot be described as being " at a similar level to My Documents". I'm starting to feel incredibly stupid because you obviously know what you are talking about and I just don't seem able to comprehend what I should be doing.
I hope you will forgive my ignorance and continue to help me.
CORRECTION-NEW INFO: Oh dear me. I forgot to place an empty folder called 'My Music' On the I: drive before invoking the Move command. Is that what the problem is? If so, can I rescue the situation?