How to force the location of the .ost file used by Outlook 2003 in Cached Exchange mode

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How do I force the location of the offline folders .ost file that Outlook 2003 uses in Cached Exchange mode?

There are at least three ways to do this, depending in part on the build of Outlook 2003:

1. If you are deploying a new Outlook mail profile or modifying an existing profile to add Cached Exchange mode, you can specify the location of the file. On screen 18 of the Custom Installation Wizard or screen 13 of the Custom Maintenance Wizard, after you select Configure an Exchange Server connection, click the More Settings button. Check the box for Enable offline use and edit the path as desired. The default path is:

		 %USERPROFILE%\local settings\application data\microsoft\outlook\outlook.ost
	

If the outlook.ost file already exists, Outlook will create a file named outlook1, outlook2, etc. to avoid overwriting an earlier file. Note that you can use the %userprofile% environment variable to point to the user's home folders.

2. If you are using Outlook 2003 pre-SP1, you can use a registry value named ForcePSTPath to set the default path for both new .pst files and new .ost files. The Microsoft Knowledge Base article How to configure the default personal folders file path for Outlook 2000 describes how this registry value works. For Outlook 2003, create the registry value in the HKEYLOCALMACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\ key.

3. If you are using Outlook 2003 SP1, you can apply a hotfix and then use a registry value named ForceOSTPath to set the default path just for .ost files. Details are in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article You cannot specify a separate folder to store the .ost file when you use the value in Outlook 2003. Presumably, support for this registry value will be included in Office 2003 SP2.
After you apply method #2 or #3, whenever the user creates a new profile or modifies an existing profile to use Cached Exchange mode, Outlook will place the .ost file in the desired location. Note that existing mail profiles are not affected.

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