Where Does Outlook Store Favorites?

Favourite, the word itself defines its speciality. There is always something favourite in things you do, tasks you perform, targets you achieve, etc. Calling something Favourite is like giving preference to it. Similarly Ms-Outlook has something for managing Favourites and this Favorite thing is nothing but the Favorites Folder by Outlook. This Favorites folder of Outlook combines different accounts in one section. All your Favorites items or folders of different accounts can be placed in one folder named as Favorites Folder.

So the question arises here is: Where does MS Outlook store its Favorites folder?

In most of the discussions users say Favorites information of Outlook is stored in Outlook.xml file, and if you need to backup Favorites folder then you have to save this Outlook.Xml file somewhere. The default location path of Outlook.xml file is :
c:\users\username\appdata\roaming\Microsoft\Outlook

I configured my Exchange Account with Outlook 2013 in order to check the location. However, I found out that it was wrong based on my testing. Now I deleted the Outlook.xml file but the Favorites folder is still available when I open Outlook. When I terminated Outlook, a new Outlook.xml file is generated. I tried to replace the new Outlook.xml file with the tested one and now what happened is that the new Outlook Client won’t display Favorites folder. So what I found is, Outlook Favorites folder is not stored in Outlook.xml file. If you want to access other local MS Outlook item, you can use Outlook PST Viewer to view the data file.

Where Is Outlook Favorites Folder Stored?

1. My Favorites folder is still shown as it did before, with my Outlook or Exchange Server Account.

2. I can see the same folders listed when I logged on to the account using Office Web App (OWA).

3. Outlook and OWA have their Favorites Folder synchronized. As I added a folder to Favorites in Outlook, I got the same in OWA too. You can see the same below:

4. The folder I added in Outlook is automatically added to OWA too.

5. These were the scenarios for Exchange Account. Let’s talk about the other accounts in Outlook too.

(i) When I added an IMAP account in Outlook the Inbox folder automatically got added to the Favorites folder of Outlook.

Steps To Reset Favorites:-

1. Press Window + R to start Run box> Now type “Outlook.exe\resetnavpane” and then press Enter. From here, you can reset your Favorites.

2. As you reset your Navigation pane using “resetnavpane” command, it automatically regenerates the Navigation pane for the current profile. As Navigation pane is a part of Outlook Favorites, it will reset too.

Some Default Favorites Folder of Different Account Types:-

1. Exchange Account – Inbox, Sent items, Deleted items
2. IMAP Account – Inbox
3. There is no default folder in POP3 account.7

Conclusion :-

1. Favorites folder is not stored in Outlook.xml file.
2. Information of Favorites folder is stored in mailbox.
3. Exchange and Outlook Account Favorites folder synchronizes automatically.
4. When you use Outlook with POP3 account nothing is added to Favorites folder.
5. When you use Outlook with IMAP account Inbox is added to Favorites folder.