How can I change my default inbox and sent folders in Outlook 2010?

I have two parent folders:

1. Outlook data

Inbox
Sent
Deleted

2. IP address

Inbox
Sent
Deleted

Now my default Sent and Inbox folders are under the IP Address folder.

How can I change the default Sent and Inbox items to be under Outlook data?

Solution 1:

Go to File > Account Settings > select the account & click on 'Change'. Click on 'More Settings' then 'Sent Items' tab. Then change from 'Save sent items in the following folder on the server', to 'Save sent items in the sent items folder on this computer... Davsmg

Solution 2:

You are much better off just disabling automatic saving of messages in the Sent Items folder and then creating a rule that stores a copy of all sent email in the desired folder.

1. File - Options - Mail - Save Messages Un-check the "Save copies of messages in the Sent Items folder"

2. File - Manage Rules and Alerts - Apply Rule on Messages I send 2.1 Don't check anything on the first screen 2.2 Check "move a copy to the specified folder" 2.3 Click on "specified" (at the bottom) and select the folder 2.4 Finish the rule

Voila! All your sent items are now saved to the specified folder. Note that this won't apply to messages you send on other clients (such as a mobile or web client).

Solution 3:

I assume Outlook Data is a .pst file?

In 2007:

Go to Tools -> Options -> Mail Setup -> Data Files. You can choose the default folder there.

In 2010:

Go to File -> Account Settings -> Data Files tab. You can choose the default folder there.

Solution 4:

Be CAREFUL, especially in Outlook 2010, because if you are connecting to an Exchange Server (MS Exchange 2010 for me) then you will see a WARNING that says changing the default folders (Inbox or Sent Items) will result in storing your email ONLY on your local PC. Whether this is absolutely the case, or not, I would not risk it (unless you have control of the exchange server and can do what you want... but then you probably would not be reading this!)

A BETTER SOLUTION for Outlook 2010: I found this excellent article on goovyPost http://www.groovypost.com/howto/microsoft/how-to-automatically-bcc-in-outlook-2010/ that explains how to set up Outlook 2010 to blind copy (BCC) yourself on all of your emails. You will have to do this first if you want to then use rules...

Once you set up automatic BCC, you can then set up Outlook rules for incoming messages to go where-ever you want them. One quick method guide is here http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-outlook/archive/2012/04/23/quick-rule-creation-in-outlook-2010.aspx, and you can just search Google for many other sites that tell you how.

I hope this helps you as much as it helped me!