Using Outlook Profiles

An Outlook profile stores information about a user’s accounts and settings. All Outlook users have a single profile, and for most people that is all that is needed. In some circumstances, multiple profiles can be useful. This section explains how to create and use profiles in Outlook.

Understanding profiles

In the first part of this chapter, you learned how to set up your e-mail accounts. Later chapters in this part of the book deal with configuring other aspects of Outlook such as RSS feeds and the screen appearance. All this information constitutes your profile. The vast majority of users never need more than one profile, but in some situations they can be useful, such as the following:

• If you want to completely segregate two or more types of information, such as work and personal, you can create a profile for each.

• If you want to keep your regular POP and IMAP e-mail accounts separate from an Exchange account.

• If more than one person uses the same computer, each person can have his or her own profile.

The third reason is usually a moot point because modern versions of Windows provide for different user accounts for logging onto Windows, which automatically gives each user his or her own Outlook profile. If, however, you want more than one person to use the same Windows logon and have separate Outlook data, you can use profiles.

Please note that creating an Outlook profile is not the same as creating a separate personal folders file. Although a given Outlook profile can have one or more personal folder files, each profile’s folders are kept separate from other profiles.

Creating a new profile

When you first install Outlook, a wizard walks you through the steps of creating a profile. To create a new profile, you use not Outlook but rather the Windows Control Panel, as follows:

1.	Select Control Panel from the Windows Start menu.
2.	Open Mail to display the Mail Setup - Outlook dialog box.
3.	Click the Show Profiles button to open the Mail dialog box. This dialog box lists the existing profiles; the default profile is named Outlook.
4.	Click the Add button to open the New Profile dialog box.
5.	Enter a name for the new profile and click OK.
6.	Follow the onscreen prompts to set up your e-mail account. This procedure is covered earlier in this chapter.

Other actions you can take in the Mail dialog box are the following:

• Remove: Removes the selected profile from the system.

• Properties: Lets you view and edit the properties of the profile including the e-mail account settings and data files.

• Copy: Makes a copy of the selected profile under a new name. This is useful if you want a new profile that has some of the same settings as an existing one. Create a copy, then edit it as needed.

• Prompt for a Profile: If this option is selected and you have more than one profile, Outlook will prompt you to select the profile you want to use each time the program starts.

• Always use the Profile: Select the profile that you want Outlook to use from the list.

Switching profiles

You cannot switch from one profile to another while Outlook is running. If you selected the Prompt for a Profile option (as explained in the preceding section), quit Outlook and restart it; then select the desired profile when prompted.

If you selected the Always Use This Profile Option (also explained in the preceding section), you must perform the following steps:

1.	Quit Outlook.
2.	Select Control Panel from the Windows Start menu.
3.	From Control Panel, open Mail.
4.	Click the Show Profiles button.
5.	Select the Prompt for a Profile option.
6.	Close all dialog boxes.
7.	Start Outlook.