02 November 2009

Rename additional mailboxes in Outlook

Outlook can open additional Exchange mailboxes when configured with an Exchange account. Microsoft's grand wisdom led them to store (and cache) the names of the mailboxes in the end user's registry. They also couldn't be bothered being consistent, so mailboxes randomly appear as either "Mailbox - John Doe", or just "John Doe". Not content with these problems, they also made sure additional mailboxes in Outlook always appear in alphabetical order, with no way for the user to rename or re-order them.

A bit of ugly registry editing lets you rename the mailboxes, at least:

1. Fire up ye olde Registry Editor.
2. Fight your way to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\(the profile).
3. Go through each key, looking for values with the name "001f3001". You'll find one for each mailbox (plus a few for other random crap).
4. Edit the value as desired.
5. Open Outlook, admire your perseverance - and curse Microsoft (again).

Credit to Ruben for this information.

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