Outlook 2000 in a Nutshell

Appendix B. Registry Keys

Outlook stores many of its program settings in the Windows Registry. For the average user, the structure and data contained here is of no real interest—it’s enough that the program simply works, and remembers the contact you last looked up or the position of a dialog. There are some administrative tasks, however, that can only be accomplished by working directly with the Registry. The categories stored in your personal Master Category List, for example, are saved in the Registry, and if you want to back them up or share them, this is where you’ll have to come to do it (see Chapter 3 for the steps involved).

All of the keys listed in Table B-1 are found under the root entry: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\. This list is not intended to be exhaustive. Registry keys are added according to the program components, forms, and options installed, so the entries present on any given system will likely differ from those listed.

Warning

Always make a backup copy of the Registry before making any changes here, and know how to restore this backup should the need arise. Windows depends on information stored here, and if you inadvertently delete a critical key, you could render your system unusable.

Table B-1. Outlook’s Registry Keys

Key	Description
Office\9.0\Outlook	General Outlook key
Office\9.0\Outlook\Appointment	Appointment/Calendar settings
Office\9.0\Outlook\Categories	Master Category List
Office\9.0\Outlook\Contact	Contact settings
Office\9.0\Outlook\Contact\QuickFindMRU ...