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Outlook 2010 to Outlook 2013 migration considerations

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**Summary:**This article outlines some important things to consider as you plan an Outlook 2010 to Outlook 2013 migration.

Audience: IT Professionals

Are you a user?

If you’re not an administrator, this article is not for you. But we can point you in the right direction if you are looking for info about What's new in Outlook 2013 for users.

Are you an admin?

If you’re an administrator, this article tells you about the Outlook 2013 features you need to be aware of prior to rolling this release or updates out to your organization.

In this article:

  • Outlook data files (.pst and .ost)

  • Outlook profile file (.prf)

  • Click-to-Run

Outlook data files (.pst and .ost)

By default, when Outlook 2013 is installed, a new compressed version of the Outlook data file (.ost) is created. This new compressed version of the .ost is up to 40% smaller than the size of the .ost files that were created in earlier versions of Outlook. If you must keep Outlook 2013 from creating a new compressed Outlook data file (.ost), use the Outlook Group Policy template (Outlk15.admx) to enable the Do not create new OST file on upgrade policy. Find this setting under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Outlook 2013\Account Settings\Exchange. There’s more information here: Plan a Cached Exchange Mode deployment in Outlook 2013.

Outlook profile file (.prf)

With the MSI version of Outlook 2013, you can continue to use the Outlook profile file (.prf) to provide options for specifying additional Outlook settings or MAPI services or for deploying one or more personal Outlook data files (.pst). The Outlook 2013 .prf file format has changed but the Outlook 2010, Outlook 2007, and Office Outlook 2003 versions of the file will work with Outlook 2013. If you plan to update the .prf file for an Outlook 2013 deployment, we recommend that you re-create the .prf file by using the Office 2013 Office Customization Tool (OCT) for MSI installations, export the settings to a new .prf file, and use that file to specify the additional Outlook settings or MAPI services that you want.

Note that configuring new Outlook profiles by using .prf files may not be necessary because Outlook can automatically create a new Outlook profile using the Account Auto Configuration process. For the most part, the only time that you will have to use a .prf file to create an Outlook profile is if you also have to deploy one or more .pst files together with the profile. Otherwise, you can use the OCT for MSI or Click-to-Run installations to deploy the registry settings that are listed in Click-to-Run.

Outlook coexistence (for testing)

You can install a Click-to-Run version of Outlook 2013 to run side-by-side with Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010 for testing purposes, but it is unsupported with earlier versions of Outlook like Outlook 2003. Also, if you install a Click-to-Run version of Outlook 2013 side-by-side with Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010, you cannot run them at the same time.

If you must install an older version of Office after you have installed the Click-to-Run version of Office 2013, you must uninstall Office 2013 first. Side-by-side Office versions are only supported when they are installed in ascending version order.

Microsoft does not support installation of the MSI version of Outlook 2013 side-by-side with an earlier version of Outlook.

Click-to-Run

The MSI and Click-to-Run versions of Office 2013 and Outlook 2013 have different configuration options and administration tools. For more information, see Office Customization Tool (OCT) reference for Office 2013 and Overview: Office Deployment Tool.

To configure Outlook profiles for Click-to-Run installations of Outlook 2013, you may have to deploy one or more of the registry settings that are listed in the following tables.

  • To have Outlook create a new Outlook profile that has the default settings and does not require user intervention, deploy the registry setting that is listed in the following table.

    Create new Outlook profile with default settings

    Root Data type Key Value name Value data

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER

    DWORD

    Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Autodiscover

    ZeroConfigExchange

    1 = Create profile with default settings

  • If you have to configure Cached Exchange Mode setting for new profiles, you can also deploy the registry setting that is listed in the following table.

    Configure Cached Exchange Mode setting

    Root Data type Key Value name Value data

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER

    DWORD

    Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Cached Mode

    Enable

    0 = Force Online Mode

    1 = Force Cached Exchange Mode

  • If you have to manage the location of the .ost file that is created for a new Cached Exchange Mode profile, you can deploy the registry setting that is listed in the following table.

    Specify location of .ost file

    Root Data type Key Value name Value data

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER

    Expandable String

    Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook

    ForceOSTPath

    Type the full path of the location for the .ost file

If you want to configure the default settings but allow users to change them, you can set the same registry settings as listed above but make the changes under the key Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook.

See also

Changes in Outlook 2010