[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Change Outlook's Default Attachment Folder here

[HilltownRoots]

Tried it in Outlook 2007. Didn't work. The path was the same to get to the "correct" key, but when I tested the change, I still get the same old default attachment folder contents. I did close and restart Outlook. I verified that the registry change took. I changed the drive to M: where I store all my stuff that I am likely to attach. I redid the change selecting a folder on the C: drive thinking I may need to stay on the same drive where Outlook is installed. It didn't make any difference. Any thoughts?

[justrick]

It might just be a different registry key for Outlook 2007. I'll do some searching and update the post if I find anything.

[davejoh]

Hmm. I am curious, Rick, why don't you store your documents in the My Documents folder? That's been the stadard location for 20 years now... it seems you're just making your workflow needlessly complicated by not using it.

[number6]

What a coincidence. I use a folder called Data instead of My Documents too. There is a way to change the location and name of My Documents to your choice, but I wouldn't do that because I don't like to keep my data in a system folder. Hence my using the Data folder instead of My Documents.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310147

[justrick]

Well, Davejoh, I've had the same arrangement for more than 20 years, and I'm not looking to change now. Besides, why can't I store my documents wherever I want? It's Outlook that's needlessly complicating my workflow by not letting me set a default folder, the same way I can in Word. It has a million bloat-generating features that I don't need and never use, but lacks something as simple as a default-folder setting.

[justrick]

Excellent point. I don't necessarily want my most important documents to reside in a system folder either. That's the first place a hacker or bit of malware would look, no?

[number6]

Correct, and it also makes it harder to do backups because it's not treated as a normal folder.

[davejoh]

Well justrick, you were used to using DOS once too. Are you still using that?
The reason to use the Documents folder is that so many apps expect you to store your data there. Backup programs, productivity apps, and the gammut of WIndows software have been engineered for years to look for your stuff in the "known folders" of My Documents, My Pictures, etc. If you really want to use a different file location for your data, you could redirect My Documents to this other location. That's a system supported workaround, and does not rely on potenially dangerous hacks to the registry like the one you were experimenting with.

[number6]

For one thing, My Pictures, My Videos, etc. is new as of 2000 or XP, I believe, so many older programs don't use those folders.

Also, registry hacks don't seem dangerous to me. It's backed up daily and anyone who edits the registry should have sense to back it up externally.

[justrick]

So, Davejoh, your takeaway here seems to be that I should work the way Microsoft wants me to (nay, forces me to), not the way I want to. Thanks, but no thanks.

[davejoh]

Wow, Justrick, we're being very formal with each other. May I call you Rick?

I only bring it up becuase we all adopt the PC's standard conventions in so many other ways, choosing to save files in the OS's designated location doesn't seem that egregous to me, and it would shortcut soooo much potenial heartache. It's like insisting that you'll continue to smack yourself with a hammer because it's your choice to do so. And when you consioder that you can easily redirect My Docs to any location (such as yor Data folder) and you choose not to, that seems almost like you're begging for the universe to rain inconvenience down upon you.

[justrick]

Only if I can call you Dave...

You can't honestly be saying that I should store my data in "the OS's designated location" (whatever that's supposed to mean) rather than where I want to store it, and that failing to do so is the equivalent of "smacking myself with a hammer." It's that kind of thinking that has helped put Microsoft in the boat it's in today.

Perhaps you can explain why Word, Excel, and most other apps let you set your own default directory for data stores. Oh, right, because it's up to the user, not the OS. Come on...you haven't got a leg to stand on.

[davejoh]

I suppose I'm a lover, not a fghter. It's not worth it to me to fight Windows, so I just store the files in the known folders and move on with my life.

[number6]

Isn't using Windows always a fight? :D

[archetype]

I and a bazillion other business users do not use My Documents or any other local storage: we use a personal network share on a NAS or file server so that storage is central, managed, and backed up. There are about 20,000 workstations in our enterprise. Even though I often carry a laptop, I can log into any one of that 20,000 and have immediate access to my files. That's efficient, cost-effective for the enterprise and it's security/managemt goals, and a component of how I get my work done.

Many home users with tiny home networks are beginning to do the same thing with a storage appliance that centralizes this function and offers better management and a single backup process instead of multiple ones on multiple computers.

Let's not let a personal philosophy or agenda blind us to the idea that one size doesn't fit all. We all have different requirements and an OS-imposed single solution won't cut it.

[BigAlofSfS]

Absolutely agree with archetype - I use one laptop for both work and personal life, with work files being stored on a server and "Documents", "Pictures" etc reserved for my personal stuff. Most of my email attachments are received at work, so Outlook constantly returning to the Documents folder is a major pain. Because of the project nature of my work I often deal with 5 emails in a row with attachments associated with the same project. For each attachment Outlook returns me to the last folder I used in Documents and I have to navigate through to the correct folder on the server - even though I just saved an attachment in that very folder just 30 seconds ago. This costs me dozens of extra mouse clicks, amounting to thousands over a week's work.

One answer could be to set yourself up as two users - a work user and a personal user. Then "Documents" for the work user could be on the server. That could solve my particular problem, but it does not solve the general problem. Also, I am not enthusiastic about separating my work and personal persona like that - if I am at work and an IM arrives about a personal topic, I don't want to have to log off as "work" and logon as "personal" just to check something that should only take 10 seconds to deal with.

So Rick's original idea sounds like a life saver for me. Does it work, and could Rick tell us if he found a way of solving the iTunes problem?



Alan