Outlook 365 data location

[kimmer]

I now have Outlook 365 and I can't find where it stores its files. I have been using Entourage 2008 and I know that all the data are stored in ~/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Entourage 2008 Identities, but I can't find the comparable location for Outlook. I want to know because, sometimes, I want to manually back up the data by copying to a clone (and I can do do that with Entourage). Any ideas?

[kimmer]

Yeah - it hides it all in a database, apparently.

Outlook 2016 for Mac stores messages and other items, such as calendar events, contacts, tasks, and notes, as a SQLite database on your computer. If you turn on Time Machine, it automatically makes copies of every file on your computer on a regular basis. If a file gets damaged or lost, you can use Time Machine to browse through the backups and recover the copy of the file. Otherwise, you can manually archive your messages to an Outlook for Mac Data File (.olm).

File locations:

All Outlook for Mac items can be found in the SQLite database located at: /Users/username/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/Outlook/Outlook 15 Profiles.

To export to an Outlook for Mac Data File (.olm), please use Microsoft's documentation.

And more on that whole thing: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffic...1e-fb05eca009ea

Or this: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library...office.16).aspx

(seems to be some disagreement about Time Machine backups there...)

And this - about exporting messages: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/ex...d5-6bda80ca3106

Yikes - I think I'll stick with Apple Mail. :biggrin:

[kimmer]

Thanks for that, Paddy. I looked in the locations that were listed in your links and the subfolders under the appropriate headings were empty. While there are some things that I like about Outlook, there are others that I don't. Overall, I prefer Entourage.( Sadly, Entourage 2008 is 32-bit and won't work in the next macOS.) I can always start using Mail, of course, but I'll see how it goes. I stick with Office 365 because I much prefer Word to any other word processor that I have tried (and Pages is the worst).

[kimmer]

I assume you have "hidden" file names (those with "_" or "." as the first letter) disabled, at least temporarily? 

[kimmer]

I assume you have "hidden" file names (those with "_" or "." as the first letter) disabled, at least temporarily? :dnkw:

Sorry, I don't understand this. Do you mean showing filename extensions? That's enabled via Finder > Preferences > Advanced.

[kimmer]

I assume you have "hidden" file names (those with "_" or "." as the first letter) disabled, at least temporarily?

Sorry, I don't understand this. Do you mean showing filename extensions? That's enabled via Finder > Preferences > Advanced.

Nope - Jim is referring to files with . or _ at the beginning of the file name. Those are hidden by default in the OS, and if you want to see them, you have to enable that in preferences.

[kimmer]

Further to the above - to see the hidden folders/files, you can follow the steps here: https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac-softw...es-mac-3520878/ - I just use the Terminal command and have mine visible all the time. NOT that that is where these sneaky Outlook files are hiding AFAIK. Weird that the folders everyone is told to look in are actually empty...

More in this thread - including a correction to an older post re: the path to the mysterious mail folder. Also quite a bit of discussion re: Outlook's behaviour etc. which might be helpful:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffic...f2-ee9966b7a0a5

[kimmer]

I used TinkerTool instead of the Terminal command to show hidden and system files. Nothing changed. Those folders were still empty.

[kimmer]

Sorry.

BTW, command-shift-. (period) also works in Finder windows. The same key strokes return things to the default display.

[kimmer]

Well, problem seems to have gone away - so have merged the new thread I started with this one. This forum software is going to be abandoned sooner than later if this nonsense continues, though!

Anyway- from what I'm reading, it appears that Outlook 365 behaves quite differently than Entourage or Mail - local storage of mail is very limited. And I still have no idea WHERE it puts it.

Read on:https://support.office.com/en-us/article/us...97-6856b4c27b36

The particularly relevant bit:

Your web browser determines where on your computer the offline information is stored and how much space it can use. If your offline information won’t fit in the space that’s been set aside, you may be prompted to increase it. If the space can’t be increased, less of your information will be available when you’re offline.

[kimmer]

Trying again to see if posting in this thread works. Very odd behaviour from the board at the moment...