Outlook Answer Book, The: Useful Tips, Tricks, and Hacks for Microsoft Outlook® 2003

File Maintenance

12.44. Where Does Outlook Express Store My Messages?

Outlook Express stores all of its data (including mail folders, e-mail messages, local IMAP and Hotmail folders and messages, and all subscribed newsgroups and downloaded news messages) in DBX files located in a single folder for each identity, called the store folder. (You'll sometimes hear the terms store root or store root folder.) By default, this folder location takes the following form: C:\Documents and Settings\<Windows User Name> \Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\<GUID representing current the Outlook identity>\ Microsoft\Outlook Express. (GUID stands for Globally Unique Identifier and is simply a unique number used to represent something—an Outlook Express ...