Description of user profiles and information services in Outlook

In Microsoft Outlook, information services enable you to control how e-mail systems address and deliver your messages, as well as how your messages and folders are stored. This article describes the information services that are available with Outlook, and how to add them to your user profile.

User profiles

A user profile is a group of settings that define how Outlook is set up for a particular user. For example, a profile may include access to a mailbox on Microsoft Exchange Server, and specify that the Outlook Address Book appear in the Address Book dialog box. A profile can contain any number of information services.

You need some additional information to create a profile that only your Internet service provider (ISP) can provide, or your system administrator. This information includes your account name, password, and the server names required to connect to the e-mail server. Please contact your ISP, or systems administrator to obtain this information.

Generally, you only need one user profile. If you sometimes need to work with a different set of information services, it may be helpful to create an additional profile to use those services. If more than one person uses the same computer, each person should have a separate profile to keep personal items secure.

You can copy an existing user profile, rename it, and then modify it as needed to create your profile. You can have Outlook start with the same profile every time, or you can select a profile to use each time you start Outlook.

How to add a user profile

Use the following steps to add a user profile to your computer:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Mail icon.
3. Click Show Profiles.
4. In the Mail dialog box, click Add.
5. Follow the prompts of the Inbox Setup Wizard.

How to receive a prompt for a user profile

If you have set up more than one profile on your computer, you can have Outlook prompt you for the profile that you want to use when it starts. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Close Outlook.
2. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
3. Double-click the Mail icon.
4. Click Show Profiles.
5. Select Prompt for a Profile to Be Used, click Apply, and then click OK.

Information services

Information services are settings that make it possible to send, store, receive messages, and specify where to store addresses. Before you can use an information service, you must add it to your user profile.

You can have multiple information services in a user profile. For example, you can have multiple sets of personal folders (.pst) files in a single profile, and you can have Internet E-mail and Exchange Server in the same profile. However, you cannot always have two of the same e-mail services in a profile, for example, two Exchange Server services. Personal folders (.pst) files and Internet e-mail are the exception. If the service does not allow a duplicate in your profile, for example the Exchange Server service, when you try to add the second copy of the service ,you may receive the following error message: You can specify the delivery location for incoming messages, the location of your Personal Address Book, and the use of any personal folders (.pst) files that you create with information services. You can also set up information services to connect to other e-mail systems. For example, you may have two information services in your user profile, Exchange Server for sending and receiving messages and a Personal Address Book for storing personal distribution lists.

Microsoft Exchange Server

The complete Outlook feature set is available with Exchange Server, which supports a server-based message store, message transport, and global address book. In this configuration, Outlook offers advanced e-mail features, group scheduling, personal information management, document explorer, and custom groupware applications.

NOTE: The Exchange Server service is included with Outlook, but you must acquire an Exchange Server client access license separately.

Internet e-mail

With the Internet E-mail service, Outlook functions as a full-featured e-mail client integrated with desktop information management, and the Outlook document explorer. You store messages locally in a .pst file, and remotely connect to and download messages from an Internet e-mail service provider (ISP). You can store e-mail addresses in the Outlook Contacts folder or a Personal Address Book.

How to add an information service

To add an information service to a user profile in Microsoft Outlook 2002 or in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, follow these steps:

1. On the Tools menu, click Email Accounts
2. Select Add an Email Account, and then click Next
3. Select the appropriate e-mail service, and follow the prompts to add specific information for the information service that you selected.

If the information service that you want is not in the list, you may have to install it separately.

To add an information service to a user profile in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, follow these steps:

1. On the Tools menu, click Account Settings.
2. On the E-mail tab, click New.

Additional services

Descriptions of the additional information services are as follows.

Outlook Address Book

The Outlook Address Book is created from contacts in your Contacts folder and includes an entry in the E-mail field or in the Fax telephone number field. You can have multiple e-mail addresses for each contact.

When you update your contacts in the Contacts folder, the Outlook Address Book is updated at the same time. The Contacts folder appears as a separate entry under Outlook Address Book.

A new feature in Outlook allows you to create distribution lists from your contacts. To do this, open your Contacts folder, and then click New Distribution List on the Actions menu.

Personal Address Book

A Personal Address Book is best used to store personal distribution lists to which you frequently address messages, such as a list of everyone on the racquetball team. If you use Exchange Server, you can also add an address for a public folder to the Personal Address Book. Personal Address Book files have a .pab extension and can be stored on a disk.

NOTE: The ability to create a distribution list from your contacts may eliminate the need for a Personal Address Book.

Personal folders (.pst) files

Personal folders (.pst) files are folders that you create to store messages on your hard disk or on another server. You add a main personal folders (.pst) file as a service to the user profile and then give it a file name. Personal folders (.pst) files have a .pst extension.