data files and receiving email

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For the past week I thought I couldn't receive email. It turns out I can, but
not in the way I wanted to. I found this out merely by bumbling my way
through drop down menus and troubleshooting lists (I didn't set my Outlook
up, or otherwise I might understand what this all means), and here's what
seems to be my issue:

I have three separate 'Data Files' in my Outlook; one is for me, one is for
the other user of my computer, and one is simply called 'Outlook.' I am
guessing that this is because my friend who set it up thought that by naming
places for email to be directed, that it would be the same thing as setting
up two separate Outlook accounts (in other words, that when I logged on, my
email would be in my inbox, and when my flatmate logged on, his email would
go to his inbox). But that's not how it's worked. Instead, I log in, I turn
on Outlook, nothing is ever in my inbox, and only today I discovered that it
could be found in a thing called a Data File and really I just want Outlook
to come on and for me to work directly out of it and not from a different
folder. That said, there begins a new problem, because I also wanted my
flatmate and I to have separate Outlooks.

Can anyone help? I've never used outlook before and am at a loss. I have
Office XP.
 
lindy dog said:
I have three separate 'Data Files' in my Outlook; one is for me, one
is for the other user of my computer, and one is simply called
'Outlook.' I am guessing that this is because my friend who set it up
thought that by naming places for email to be directed, that it would
be the same thing as setting up two separate Outlook accounts (in
other words, that when I logged on, my email would be in my inbox,
and when my flatmate logged on, his email would go to his inbox). But
that's not how it's worked. Instead, I log in, I turn on Outlook,
nothing is ever in my inbox, and only today I discovered that it
could be found in a thing called a Data File and really I just want
Outlook to come on and for me to work directly out of it and not from
a different folder. That said, there begins a new problem, because I
also wanted my flatmate and I to have separate Outlooks.
Click to expand...

If you're using Windows 2000 or XP, the best solution is for each of you to
have your own Windows login. That way you can each have your own Outlook
settings and your mail and that of your flatmate will be completely separate
(unless you both use the same ISP account to receive your mail - i.e., your
mail addresses are the same or they're aliases of each other delivered to
the same mailbox at your ISP. This is definitely the way to go if you can.

If you can't or don't want to do it that way, then you need separate mail
profiles. This will allow you to each have your own Inbox, Contacts, etc.,
that are separate. Create a new mail profile with Control Panel's Mail
applet. See this for more information:
http://www.howto-outlook.com/Faq/newprofile.htm . You can password protect
your own Personal Folders file (Outlook Data File and PST are synonyms for
the Personal Folders file) so that it can't be accessed by another. You
have to close and restart Outlook to switch mail profiles. This is the
second best choice, since it allows you to have separate mail configurations
even though you don't have separate Windows usernames.

Finally, if you still don't wish to do even that, you can create rules that
will move messages received by your account to one folder and messages
received by your flatmate's account to another folder, which you'll both be
able to see. These folders can be in the same PST or in separate PSTs. You
can also have separate Calendar, Contacts, and so on, but one set will be
the default which you'll both have to share and which will be the default
location for adding new items. Incoming messages will be delivered to a
shared Inbox prior to rules moving them to separate folders. Sent Items
will all be stored in a single Sent Items folder, unless you take pains to
move them elsewhere via rules. When composing new messages, one of you will
have to deliberately choose the sending account each time so that the sender
address is correct.
 
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