Hello Team,

I have some question.

What is the option of setting a default data file is used for?  I am setting the default data file for that account which is selected as default email address?

Can I change the default data file of POP account to a data file of a IMAP account

Can I change the default data file of Exchange account which is in cached mode to a pst file?

What is the option of setting a default data file is used for? 

The data store designated as the "default data file" contains the default contact/calendar folders for the Outlook profile.

Understanding Outlook PST and OST Data Files
http://www.contactgenie.info/understanding-outlook-pst-ost-data-files/

Result  in Outlook 2013- when we created an IMAP profile . we make an OST file for IMAP account and it is new in Outlook 2013

When you have added POP account and imap account you can click on Set as default option in the data files tab and you can set this for any data file : I have configured POP account of O365 mailbox and a IMAP account of Gmail, I can go into data files Tab and shift the default data file from Gmail to pop office365 account.
When you have added Exchange Account you will not be given to choose the default data file of Any IMAP account. We can only choose Exchange account ost file or POP data file .pst file as Default Data files and when we click on IMAP data file and hit set as Default data file button. I get an error msg that states that 

"The selected Outlook data file (.pst) format cannot be used. Outlook data files (.pst) must use the same format as offline Outlook data files (.ost). Select a matching oulook data file (.pst) or turn off cache mode in the account settings" 
even if i put the exchange mode in Online mode that error is showing when i select the default data file for any IMAP data files.

when i remove exchange account and then i select the data file of IMAP account to be default then it is set as default properly.

I think it is the default behaviour when an Exchange Account is added it takes priority and dont let default data files to be added of IMAP account. as imap data files in OL 2013 is .ost file


You know why i am setting data files as default. I use mail merge in word and when i select Default data file then it chooses the default data file to send emails and store in the send items of that folder.

• Edited by Aquib Qureshi 18 hours 7 minutes ago correction

You know why i am setting data files as default. I use mail merge in word and when i select Default data file then it chooses the default data file to send emails and store in the send items of that folder.

The purpose of setting a "default data file" is to designate which data store will contain the "default contact/calendar" folders for the Outlook profile regardless of the email accounts. Has nothing to do with mail folders.

Suspect what you really want to be doing for your purposes is changing the "default email account" - not the "default data file".

Karl, thank you for your support.

But i am doing practal here and i do mail merge and when i change the default data files. emails are getting sent and i can see msgs in the outbox folder for which i have choosen as default data file.

I think you should try that in your system and let me know. as i am able to do this in multiple system and with same behavior. 

Open mail merge and then sent emai by finishing it. you will see that email in the outbox . which you have selected the default data file.

My question to you is.
when i remove my exchange account from the profile i am able to select IMAP ost file as default but when i add exchange account i am not able to set IMAP's data file as default data file and i gets error that is 

"The selected Outlook data file (.pst) format cannot be used. Outlook data files (.pst) must use the same format as offline Outlook data files (.ost). Select a matching oulook data file (.pst) or turn off cache mode in the account settings" 

Does the exchange account take precedence? do you have any reference article to it?

Thank you for you help once again. I appreciate it if you do it in you Lab and i am pretty sure you'll see the same behavior too.

• Edited by Aquib Qureshi 16 hours 13 minutes ago correction

Result  in Outlook 2013- when we created an IMAP profile . we make an OST file for IMAP account and it is new in Outlook 2013

When you have added POP account and imap account you can click on Set as default option in the data files tab and you can set this for any data file : I have configured POP account of O365 mailbox and a IMAP account of Gmail, I can go into data files Tab and shift the default data file from Gmail to pop office365 account.
When you have added Exchange Account you will not be given to choose the default data file of Any IMAP account. We can only choose Exchange account ost file or POP data file .pst file as Default Data files and when we click on IMAP data file and hit set as Default data file button. I get an error msg that states that 

"The selected Outlook data file (.pst) format cannot be used. Outlook data files (.pst) must use the same format as offline Outlook data files (.ost). Select a matching oulook data file (.pst) or turn off cache mode in the account settings" 
even if i put the exchange mode in Online mode that error is showing when i select the default data file for any IMAP data files.

when i remove exchange account and then i select the data file of IMAP account to be default then it is set as default properly.

I think it is the default behaviour when an Exchange Account is added it takes priority and dont let default data files to be added of IMAP account. as imap data files in OL 2013 is .ost file


You know why i am setting data files as default. I use mail merge in word and when i select Default data file then it chooses the default data file to send emails and store in the send items of that folder.

• Edited by Aquib Qureshi Saturday, May 02, 2015 1:22 PM correction

Karl, thank you for your support.

But i am doing practal here and i do mail merge and when i change the default data files. emails are getting sent and i can see msgs in the outbox folder for which i have choosen as default data file.

I think you should try that in your system and let me know. as i am able to do this in multiple system and with same behavior. 

Open mail merge and then sent emai by finishing it. you will see that email in the outbox . which you have selected the default data file.

My question to you is.
when i remove my exchange account from the profile i am able to select IMAP ost file as default but when i add exchange account i am not able to set IMAP's data file as default data file and i gets error that is 

"The selected Outlook data file (.pst) format cannot be used. Outlook data files (.pst) must use the same format as offline Outlook data files (.ost). Select a matching oulook data file (.pst) or turn off cache mode in the account settings" 

Does the exchange account take precedence? do you have any reference article to it?

Thank you for you help once again. I appreciate it if you do it in you Lab and i am pretty sure you'll see the same behavior too.

• Edited by Aquib Qureshi Saturday, May 02, 2015 3:16 PM correction

Thank you for you help once again. I appreciate it if you do it in you Lab and i am pretty sure you'll see the same behavior too.

Yes I see the same behaviour. OST files for Imap accounts was introduced in OL'2013 so suspect that is the reason but entirely puzzled about why you are so concerned about it. Please see the reason for setting a data file as the "default" which is purely for where your default contact/calendar folders are located. In the case of an IMAP account in OL'2013 - if you ever delete the account from the profile - all data in the contact/calendar folders will be lost. That said, it also has nothing to do with why you are trying to set a different default data file.

Any further follow-up discussion specifically to not being able to set an IMAP OST file as a default data file when an Exchange account is also configured would best be posed in one of the following forums depending on which version of Exchange you are using

Exchange Server 2013 - Outlook, OWA, POP, and IMAP Clients
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/exchangesvrclients/threads

Exchange Previous Versions - Outlook, OWA, POP, and IMAP Clients
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/exchangesvrclientslegacy/threads

Thank you for your help. I learned a lot from your website