Outlook 2000 - Multiple PST's, best practice?

22 Jun 2005 12:33 PM

Richard Tubb

Hi,

I've a client with a single PC used by two staff with two separate logins.
Both members of staff use Microsoft Outlook 2000 to collect POP3 e-mail.
They both have their own private e-mail (.pst file) as well as needing to
access shared e-mail (another .pst) - albeit never simultaneously.

The solution I've put in place at present is to add both .pst files to the
users Outlook profile, and set the "shared" mailbox as the Default Mail
Store. I've setup a rule so that any "private" mail addressed to the
individual is re-directed to their "private" inbox. In addition, any
contacts the user sets up that they wish to remain private, they simply
drag'n'drop across to their own private Contacts folder after creation. This
is a kludge, but it works.

My question is - what would you suggest the best practice is for making sure
any private e-mails or contacts go to their correct PST. i.e. "sent" e-mails
get re-directed to the correct "sent" folder (mails sent from the private
address go into the private sent folder, not the shared sent folder) and so
on.

It doesn't seem possible to set a different "Default Mail Store" for each
individual e-mail box (pst) - are rules the only way to work around this, or
should I be looking for another solution - IMAP mailbox, etc?

Regards,

Richard Tubb.
www.netlinktrading.co.uk

22 Jun 2005 12:52 PM

Vince Averello [MVP-Outlook]

Personally I'd make the private PSTs the default mail store for each user
and move the non-private mails to the shared PST. Less chance to misfile to
private stuff. I think you've got a good thing going, though

Show quoteHide quote

"Richard Tubb" <rich***@netlinktrading.co.uk> wrote in message
news:esQGjaydFHA.1036@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> Hi,
>
> I've a client with a single PC used by two staff with two separate logins.
> Both members of staff use Microsoft Outlook 2000 to collect POP3 e-mail.
> They both have their own private e-mail (.pst file) as well as needing to
> access shared e-mail (another .pst) - albeit never simultaneously.
>
> The solution I've put in place at present is to add both .pst files to the
> users Outlook profile, and set the "shared" mailbox as the Default Mail
> Store. I've setup a rule so that any "private" mail addressed to the
> individual is re-directed to their "private" inbox. In addition, any
> contacts the user sets up that they wish to remain private, they simply
> drag'n'drop across to their own private Contacts folder after creation.
> This is a kludge, but it works.
>
> My question is - what would you suggest the best practice is for making
> sure any private e-mails or contacts go to their correct PST. i.e. "sent"
> e-mails get re-directed to the correct "sent" folder (mails sent from the
> private address go into the private sent folder, not the shared sent
> folder) and so on.
>
> It doesn't seem possible to set a different "Default Mail Store" for each
> individual e-mail box (pst) - are rules the only way to work around this,
> or should I be looking for another solution - IMAP mailbox, etc?

22 Jun 2005 2:49 PM

Brian Tillman

Richard Tubb <rich***@netlinktrading.co.uk> wrote:

> My question is - what would you suggest the best practice is for
> making sure any private e-mails or contacts go to their correct PST.
> i.e. "sent" e-mails get re-directed to the correct "sent" folder
> (mails sent from the private address go into the private sent folder,
> not the shared sent folder) and so on.

For the Sent items, you can create rules that move copies of the sent
messages to their respective Sent Items folder and disable the option of
saving sent items.

> It doesn't seem possible to set a different "Default Mail Store" for
> each individual e-mail box (pst) - are rules the only way to work
> around this, or should I be looking for another solution - IMAP
> mailbox, etc?

As Mr. Averello said, a better choice may be to have the private PSTs be the
delivery locations, since that's the only way to get new Contacts and
Calendar items to go to the correct location without moving them manually.
IMAP doesn't do calendaring or contacts, but it's often a good way to share
mail.

--
Brian Tillman

23 Jun 2005 8:38 PM

Richard Tubb

Hi,

Thanks both for the suggestions.

After a couple of days of the users trying it out, we've decided upon the
shared mailbox being the "Default Mail Store" as it's the mailbox most used.
The users themselves them move any e-mails or Contacts they deem private to
their own mailbox, but I've also set rules up to re-direct as much
automatically as I can.

Thanks again for your input!

Regards,

Richard Tubb.
www.netlinktrading.co.uk

Show quoteHide quote

"Brian Tillman" <tillman1***@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:u2DOLmzdFHA.3328@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> Richard Tubb <rich***@netlinktrading.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> My question is - what would you suggest the best practice is for
>> making sure any private e-mails or contacts go to their correct PST.
>> i.e. "sent" e-mails get re-directed to the correct "sent" folder
>> (mails sent from the private address go into the private sent folder,
>> not the shared sent folder) and so on.
>
> For the Sent items, you can create rules that move copies of the sent
> messages to their respective Sent Items folder and disable the option of
> saving sent items.
>
>> It doesn't seem possible to set a different "Default Mail Store" for
>> each individual e-mail box (pst) - are rules the only way to work
>> around this, or should I be looking for another solution - IMAP
>> mailbox, etc?
>
> As Mr. Averello said, a better choice may be to have the private PSTs be
> the delivery locations, since that's the only way to get new Contacts and
> Calendar items to go to the correct location without moving them manually.
> IMAP doesn't do calendaring or contacts, but it's often a good way to
> share mail.
> --
> Brian Tillman